Katelyn Finley

Biography

Katelyn Finley, Ph.D., is a Continuing Lecturer in the Departments of Global and International Studies and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Irvine in 2017, along with an M.A. in Social Sciences with a focus on Demographic and Social Analysis. Her research examines economic attitudes, support for income redistribution, and democratic transitions in post-communist Eastern Europe, with publications appearing in journals such as Problems of Post-Communism and East European Politics.

Finley has been commended for outstanding teaching by the School of Social Sciences consistently from Fall 2018 through Winter 2024. She teaches courses on conflict resolution, peacebuilding, mediation, and post-Soviet Eurasia. From 2014 to 2016, she served as a Teaching and Research Assistant for the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian People-to-People Reconciliation Project, where she developed an online conflict resolution course for students from Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia and co-facilitated annual conferences on conflict resolution.

Finley serves as a Board Member of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at UC Irvine and as Faculty Advisor for Students for Global Peacebuilding. She previously served as Director of the Certificate in Mediation Program from 2017 to 2020. Before her academic career, Finley worked as an Education Volunteer with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia from 2009 to 2011, teaching English language skills and promoting cross-cultural understanding.

Education

• Ph.D. in Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2017
• M.A. in Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2014
• M.A. in Social Sciences (Demographic and Social Analysis), University of California, Irvine, 2013
• B.A. in Economics; Politics; Concentration in Poverty and Human Capability Studies, Washington and Lee University, 2008

Distinctions

• Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2013
• Boren Undergraduate Scholarship, National Security Education Program, 2006
• James N. Danzinger Award for teaching excellence, Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2015
• Harry Eckstein Award for top political science graduate student, Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2014
• David Easton Award for best graduate student paper, Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2014
• Center for the Study of Democracy Fellow, University of California, Irvine, 2011
• Outstanding Teaching, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 2018-2024
• Graduate Dean's Dissertation Fellowship, Graduate Division, University of California, Irvine, 2016
• Dean's Prize for best presentation in the Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine Symposium of Graduate Student Research, 2014
• Pedagogical Fellowship, Center for Engaged Instruction, University of California, Irvine, 2014-2016