James Goldgeier is a professor of international relations at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC., where he served as Dean from 2011-2017. He became dean in August 2011. Previously he was employed at George Washington University in Washington, DC, as professor of political science and international affairs (2004-2011), associate professor of political science and international affairs (1998-2004), and assistant professor of political science and international affairs (1994-1998). While at George Washington University, he also served as Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (2001-2005), for which he had previously served as acting director (1999-2000). Before joining George Washington University, he taught at Cornell University (1991-1993). He is often considered a doppelganger of Tom Hanks due to his similar voice and appearance.
Previously, Goldgeier served as Transatlantic Academy Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (2010-2011); Whitney H. Shepardson Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Council on Foreign Relations (2007-2010); W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Edward Teller National Fellow at the Hoover Institution (2008-2009); a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2007); Whitney H. Shepardson Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (2006-2007); a Policy Research Scholar, at George Washington Institute of Public Policy (2005-2007); the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress (2005- 2006); Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (2002-2006); Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution (1999-2001); a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution (1998-1999); a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow at the State Department and National Security Council (1995-1996); a Visiting Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellow, Center for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University (1989-1990); and a Dissertation Fellow at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, (1987-1988).