About Me

Cliff Staten is Professor Emeritus (retired) of Political Science and International Studies at Indiana University Southeast. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida with his wife, Shan, who is the Executive Director of Housing at Florida State University. Cliff received his Ph.D. in Political Science in 1987 from the University of North Texas. He taught at the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas State University prior to coming to Indiana University Southeast (IUS) in the fall of 1989. From August 1998 through July 2010 he served as Dean of the School of Social Sciences. He received the IUS Distinguished Teaching Award, the IUS Distinguished Research Award, the IUS Chancellor’s Diversity Award, and the Karl Metz Award for Distinguished Service to the Indiana Academy of Social Sciences. He was also member of the Indiana University Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching. He traveled and studied throughout Mexico and Central America/Caribbean with a special focus on Nicaragua and Cuba. He also traveled throughout southern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Europe. He taught advanced courses on Latin American politics, US foreign policy, terrorism, and international political economy. He was the Director of the Indiana Consortium for International Programs University-level Model United Nations Program for 18 years. In addition to numerous articles and chapters in books on a variety of topics, he wrote two books: The History of Cuba 2nd edition (ABC-CLIO, 2015, original edition 2003) and The History of Nicaragua (ABC-CLIO, 2010). He has written on Hezbollah and his most recent research on the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia focuses on how this revolutionary/terrorist organization adapts to changing political environments. He is also writing a textbook on International Political Economy.  He retired in May of 2020.