Rachel Robinson is the interim dean of the School of International (SIS) at American University.
She has been at SIS for nearly 20 years, advancing from assistant to full professor. She joined
the dean’s office in 2022 as assistant dean of faculty affairs and subsequently served as senior
associate dean, overseeing tenure and promotion and faculty hiring.

A sociologist and demographer, she studies organizations, development, and global health
programs in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on reproductive health, HIV, and sexual and gender
minority populations. She is the author of the 2017 book, Intimate Interventions in Global Health:
Family Planning and HIV Prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa (Cambridge University Press), and
has also published in journals such as World Development, Population and Development
Review, and Global Public Health. Ongoing projects in Nigeria explore citizen oversight of social
protection programs and the impact of material insecurity on noncommunicable disease
outcomes. Her research has been funded by the MacArthur Foundation, the National Institutes
of Health, and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. 

Robinson teaches courses on statistics, global health, population studies, and development.
She received her BA from Swarthmore College, as well as dual MAs and her PhD in Sociology
and Demography from the University of California, Berkeley.