Dr. Tina Bertrand
Professor of Political Science
Dr. Tina Bertrand’s goal is to introduce her students to a world beyond what many of them have experienced; and, in doing so, she hopes to enhance their understanding about a world that is becoming more interconnected each day.
She accomplishes it through her classes in Political Science, where she specializes in international political economy, by studying the nexus of conflict resolution in the political/economic arena, and through sponsoring the McMurry chapter of Model U.N., giving students a chance to experience different cultures first-hand through a trip each year to the National Model U.N. conference in New York City.
“The New York conference is one of the best for our students. It’s one of the largest. The students have access to diplomats from the United Nations,” said Dr. Bertrand. “Our students have an opportunity to meet their counterparts from around the world.”
Professor Bertrand joined the McMurry family in the fall of 1999. Before coming to McMurry, she was a visiting professor for one year at Roanoke University after receiving her Ph.D. from Emory University. Prior to that, she worked for two years for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), where she monitored the changing political climate in Russia during one of the most turbulent times in modern Eastern European history. Her experience and consistent leadership has allowed the McMurry Model UN chapter to become one of the most respected small-college programs in the nation, with the honor of being selected to participate in the prestigious Global Model UN Conference in August. She also has been recognized by her peers, being named the McMurry professor of the Year for 2009.
Dr. Bertrand’s vision for her students is “very simple and very straight forward – to globalize the way they think about the world.”
“The reality is our world is so interconnected. What happens in the world does impact our students.
The Model UN helps Dr. Bertrand’s students learn how to work together as a team and collectively problem-solve: skills that will benefit the students in whatever their career path.
“At some point in their careers, they will have to be a team player on a group project. The will have to look at a problem from another person’s perspective,” said Dr. Bertrand. “There is a direct correlation between what they learn in the Model UN and what they will do in the real world.”
Dr. Bertrand will continue to prepare her students to be equipped for their future, both in the global sense and in their personal and professional lives.
