Leslie Schumacher

Leslie Rogne Schumacher is a professor at Harvard University, where he teaches courses on international relations, global leadership, and civil discourse. He also serves as faculty affiliate in Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. Leslie previously held positions in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; Cornell University; Wells College; and the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy. He continues to sit on the Fulbright Committee for European Programs at Cornell. From 2016 to 2019, Leslie served as the fourth David H. Burton Fellow at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. 

Leslie earned his PhD in European and Middle Eastern history from the University of Minnesota and is widely published in the fields of Mediterranean studies, British history, refugee affairs, and diplomacy and international relations. Following the publication of his first book, The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain: Democracy and Diplomacy, Orientalism and Empire (2023) he was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His forthcoming book, Transnational Nationalism in the Mediterranean Sea: Origins and Aftermaths (2026), explores nationalist views of the Mediterranean in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Libya. His passion for outreach education led him to work on refugee resettlement efforts in Greater Philadelphia, for which he was rewarded with an appointment as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He also serves as academic director of the Great Books Summer Program. 

Leslie is a popular speaker and is regularly consulted by major media outlets on foreign policy, European and Middle Eastern affairs, and immigration policy. In his spare time, he and his wife, a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and an expert on ancient Pompeii, enjoy traveling, biking, hiking, skiing, and reading. They divide their time between Cambridge, Quebec, Italy, and Poland.

Language spoken: English