Ezra Spira-Cohen, PhD is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs and has taught in the Political Science Department at 大菠萝福利导 since 2024. Dr. Spira-Cohen arrived in New Orleans in 2014 to earn a PhD in Political Science at Tulane University. Before coming to New Orleans, undergraduate studies were completed at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, majoring in Comparative Development, Human Rights, and Spanish. After college, Dr. Spira-Cohen lived in Brazil and received a master’s degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, with a focus on the politics of sustainable development.
Growing up in a rural part of Western Massachusetts inspired research on land and the environment, including the close interactions between urban and rural communities and the contemporary issues that connect cities and the countryside. Dr. Spira-Cohen has published research on social movements, institutional change, environmental policy, and land policy, and has published research on and worked in the areas of international education and intercultural communication. Additional interests include travelling, community building, cultural and culinary exchange, languages and linguistics, and the performing arts.
