Biosketch
Jim began the Ph.D. track in terrorism studies in 2016 after doctoral work in criminology at Northeastern University. He earned an AB in government from Harvard College and an MA in journalism from Northeastern, with a thesis on ethics. A journalist for nearly two decades before moving into higher education administration in 2002, he also taught journalism 2004-17 at Northeastern and then at Merrimack College. As of 2019 he is assistant vice chancellor in external relations at the University of California, Merced. In 2005-06 he worked in NATO’s Theater Psyops Support Element in Afghanistan and returned to the country twice as a writer; he has written commentary on the Afghan war and reviewed books for The Boston Globe. He sits on a Selective Service local board and is an honorary deputy sheriff. His research interests are counterterrorism and counterinsurgency propaganda and terrorist credit-claiming and recruitment messaging.
