Theodore A. Johnson
Theodore A. Johnson is an assistant professor of conflict and coexistence in the Slifka Program. Prior to his appointment at Brandeis, Johnson was a senior program manager and in-house legal counsel with Mercy Corps and Conflict Management Group. There he managed the organization's work with UN humanitarian organizations including WHO, FAO, UNCTAD, and UNEP.
Johnson has served as a consultant and trainer in numerous negotiation- and dispute-resolution programs in various conflict areas including South Africa, Cyprus, the Caucuses, and the Middle East. In post-Aparthied South Africa, he assisted in building community-mediation processes. In Cyprus, he assisted in a Track II capacity-building process and with the Cyprus American Scholars Program. In the Caucuses, Johnson worked with young leaders from several communities in Armenia to develop negotiation and leadership skills. In the Middle East, he has conducted extensive work in Iraq with Kurdish universities to design and implement conflict-resolution programs, and in South Central Iraq with regional and local leaders from Shi'ite communities. In each of these programs, the aim was to build negotiation, communication, and problem-solving capacities.
Johnson has also designed a nationally recognized, community-based youth conflict resolution program that has been used extensively in Boston and Chicago.
Johnson holds a J.D. from Western State University, a master's degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and is an A.B.D. for his Ph.D., also from the Fletcher School at Tufts.