Our Leadership

As an expert in comparative education, Dr. Christensen has served as a consultant and researcher in the U.S. and abroad for organizations including the World Bank, Urban Institute and the Bertelsmann Foundation. Her recent research has focused on the global reach of Massive Open Online Courses and has appeared in such publications as Nature and The Atlantic and online at Slate. Her research has been featured across major media outlets including Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Prior to coming to the UW, Dr. Christensen spent a decade working in international education. At the University of Pennsylvania, she served as the inaugural Executive Director for Penn Global. There, she developed a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening Penn’s global engagement. As an adjunct faculty member, she taught a seminar on comparative higher education policy. She holds a master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a master’s and doctoral degree from Stanford University.

Anita Ramasastry is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and the Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the University of Washington School of Law. She is an expert in the fields of anti-corruption, commercial law, sustainable development and business and human rights. She is one of the leading academics and a pioneer in the field of business and human rights.

She currently serves as a member and past chair of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, having been appointed as a rapporteur by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016. Ramasastry is also a founding co-editor in chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal, published by Cambridge University Press. She is the Co-President of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association and launched its annual research scholars forum.

As of 2019, Ramasastry is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption. She served a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Human Rights from 2012-2016. Ramasastry sits on the advisory boards of the Institute of Human Rights and Business, and Global Witness. In 2022, she has joined Transparency Internationals International Advisory Council In the past she has advised and worked with development organizations including the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Commission, the Commercial Law Development Program of the US Department of Commerce and USAID.

Ramasastry has been recognized by the students as the Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year on numerous occasions. In 1998, she received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award during her second year of teaching, and in 2002, she received the UW Outstanding Public Service Award for her work focused on domestic violence.

An economist by training, Dr. Latsch has taught economics and international studies at the University of Oxford, Northwestern University and at the UW, receiving several teaching awards. His academic expertise is in development economics and economic history, especially of sub-Saharan Africa and Britain. He directed the BA and MA programs in International Studies at the UW’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies where he had appointments as lecturer, professor, and Director of Academic Services until 2018.

A native of Germany, Dr. Latsch holds master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Oxford.