Steven Heydemann serves as associate vice president of the Jennings Randolph Fellowship program and as special advisor to the Muslim World Initiative in the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention.  In December, he will become USIP's Vice President for Grants and Fellows. Heydemann is a political scientist whose research and teaching focus on the comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East.  His interests include authoritarian governance, economic development, social policy, political and economic reform, and civil society. In addition, he is involved in research on the relationship between institutions and economic development, and on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. From 2003-2007, Heydemann worked as director of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University. Previously, he served as program director at the Social Science Research Council (1990-1997), where he ran the Council’s program on International Peace and Security and its program on the Near and Middle East. Heydemann completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.