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Professional Affiliation

Assistant Director of the Center for Presidential History and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Southern Methodist University

Expert Bio

Dr. Ashlyn W. Hand is the ¼ø»Æʦapp's Visiting Fellow for International Religious Freedom.

Dr. Hand is the Assistant Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, where she also teaches courses on U.S. foreign policy. She is the author of Prioritizing Faith: International Religious Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy (NYU Press, 2025), which examines the development and implementation of U.S. international religious freedom policy following the Cold War. Her current research examines how the history of international religious freedom can inform contemporary U.S. foreign policy and strategic competition.

She earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 and previously held fellowships at Johns Hopkins SAIS and Duke University. Her research has appeared in Foreign Policy, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Journal of Church and State. In addition to her academic work, she advises public- and private-sector organizations on U.S. grand strategy and international affairs. She is also a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Expertise

International Religious Freedom, Democracy and Authoritarianism, Human Rights, Strategic Competition