Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou

Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou

Harvard University, Center for European Studies | Bedford, Massachusetts

  • Former Vice Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

Dr. Prodromou is a retired, senior U.S. diplomat, having served (2004-2012) as vice chair of the U.S. Commission on  International Religious Freedom.  Since 2011, she is a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group: Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society.  She is an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, where she co-chairs the Southeastern Europe Study Group and the Study Group on Muslims and Democratic Politics. Beginning in 2014, she will be Visiting Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Prodromou is a recognized authority on issues of religion and geopolitics, and religious freedom, human rights, and democracy, with particular expertise on Orthodox Christianity and Islam in Europe and the Middle East.

Prodromou has been an invited consultant to the U.S. diplomacy and defense communities, as well as international organizations, such as  NATO, United Nations, and the European Union.  In addition to publishing widely in journals such as Orbis, Survival, Journal of Democracy, Social Compass, Journal of Faith and International Affairs, she is a contributor to numerous collected volumes and is co-editor and contributor to Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars. She is a frequent contributor and commentator in media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, and The Hill’s Congress Blog, as well as on television and radio outlets such as VOA and NPR. She has been quoted as an expert in leading international print media.

She holds a doctorate and master’s in political science from MIT, and M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a bachelor’s in international relations from Tufts University.  She is married to Dr. Alexandros K. Kyrou, and they live with their daughter in Massachusetts.