Congratulations to Douglas Becker on receiving the Ole R. Holsti Distinguished Scholar Award
On Saturday, September 27, 2025, Dr. Douglas Becker, POIR Associate Professor (Teaching), delivered a luncheon address at the International Studies Association (ISA)-West annual conference as this year’s recipient of the Ole R. Holsti Distinguished Scholar Award. Named after the renowned specialist in international politics and foreign policy decision-making and former president of the ISA-West, this award recognizes scholars with exceptional scholarly achievements in international relations, teaching and mentoring, and for their service to the IS A-West region.
Dr. Becker’s research focuses on the role of historical memory in shaping national identity, foreign policy, and public diplomacy. Among other publications, Dr. Becker recently co-edited Defending Memory in Global Politics: Mnemonical In/Security and Crisis (Routledge, 2025) with Erica Resende and Dovilė Budrytė, and contributed “The Rationality and Emotion of Russian Historical Memory: The Case of Crimea” to the collectionCrisis and Change in Post-Cold War Global Politics: Ukraine in a Comparative Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2018) and “Memory and Trauma as Elements of Identity in Foreign Policymaking” in Memory and Trauma in International Relations: Theories, Cases and Debates(Routledge, 2014). Dr. Becker also hosts and co-produces The Scholar’s Circle podcast.
Dr. Becker has been actively involved in the ISA-West as a member of the governing board, Program Chair, Vice-President, and President. Dr. Becker played an instrumental role in bringing the ISA-West annual conference to Pasadena in 2011, and continues to encourage faculty and students to participate in the program. This year, Dr. Becker chaired a panel with POIR/USC undergraduates students who took his IR 499: Historical Memory, Identity and International Politics course in Fall 2024. Nadia Al-Ani presented “The Gendered Legacy of Colonialism: How the ‘Most Moral Army’ Perpetuates Misogyny”; Celine Bacily presented “Rewriting the Past, Controlling the Present: The Role of Historical Memory in China’s Cycle of Narrative Control”; Amelia Barlow presented “Intervention as a Dirty Word: The Historical Memory of the U.S. Occupation and Non-State Resistance in Haiti”; Catherine Charlton presented “Case Studies of the Intersection of the National Myth with Memory and Soft Power”; Joshua Pan presented “Reclaiming the “Heart of Serbia: Serbian Historical Memory and Foreign Policy”; and Lauren Riley presented “Kyrgyzstan and the Development of Post-Soviet Policy: The Importance of Historical Memory in Developing Independence.”
POIR congratulates Dr. Becker on this outstanding accomplishment!