International Organization and Law:
Great Lakes of North America

Dr. Mary H. Durfee, Associate Professor of Political Science
Department of Social Sciences
Michigan Technological University

Education

B.A., History and Soviet Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder
M.A., Government, Cornell University
Ph.D., Government, Cornell University

Research and Teaching Interests

Durfee’s research lies in the realm of international regime development and US-Canada relations. She has written on pollution prevention in the Great Lakes. She teaches international law and American foreign policy. She co-teaches with Dr. David Shonnard (Chemical Engineering) Sustainable Futures I, a course on comparative public policy and engineering. She served as a consultant to the EPA’s Science Advisory Board on a subcommittee devoted to the diffusion of new environmental policies and tools. She is a past member and co-chair of the Lake Superior Binational Forum and recently was invited to discuss citizen participation in the Great Lakes at an international water forum hosted by the University of Sonora, Mexico.

Related Activities

Special Assistant to the Provost for general education, assessment, and accreditation
Secretary of the international law section of the International Studies Association
Co-PI on an NSF IGERT devoted to sustainability

Selected Publications

Thinking Theory Thoroughly: Coherent Approaches to an Incoherent World, 2nd Ed., James N. Rosenau co-author. Westview Press, 2000. First Edition published in 1995.

The Social Diffusion of Ideas and Things, Paul Lopes and Mary Durfee, eds. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, November 1999, Vol. 556.

“When the Natural World Presents Facts to Political Theorists” Law and Society Review, 2003 Vol 36, Issue 1.

“An Education Program in Support of a Sustainable Future” Coauthors: J. W. Sutherland, V. Kumar, J. C. Crittenden, M. H. Durfee, J. K. Gershenson, H. Gorman, D. R. Hokanson, N. J. Hutzler, D. J. Michalek, J. R. Mihelcic, D. R. Shonnard, B. D. Solomon, S.Sorby, , ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Expo, Nov. 16-21, 2003

“Diffusion of Pollution Prevention Policy,” in Paul Lopes and Mary Durfee, eds., Annals, November 1999, pp. 108-119.

A Vision for Lake Superior, Pew Case in International Diplomacy, 1995.

"Negotiations for the Renewal of the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting Great Lakes Water Quality," Frederick Inscho co-author, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Winter 1995, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 51-69.