Staff
David Shirk
Academic Coordinator, Justice in Mexico Project
Director, Trans-Border Institute
Dr. Shirk became the Director of the Trans-Border Institute in 2003. He is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department and received his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Shirk conducts research and publishes on topics related to Mexican politics, U.S.-Mexican relations, and law enforcement and security issues along the U.S.-Mexican border. Dr. Shirk is the Principal Investigator for TBI‘s Justice in Mexico Project, a bi-national research initiative focused on criminal justice and the rule of law in Mexico that is sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Recent publications by Dr. Shirk include Mexico’s New Politics: The PAN and Democratic Change (Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 2005); a co-edited volume, Reforming the Administration of Justice in Mexico (2007); “Slavery Without Borders: Human Trafficking in the U.S.-Mexican Context,” CSIS Hemisphere Focus, January 23, 2004; and a forthcoming co-authored book, Contemporary Mexican Politics (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, forthcoming).
Email: dshirk@sandiego.edu
Phone: (619) 260-2315
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Charles Pope
Assistant Director, Trans-Border Institute
Charles is currently the Interim Director of the University of San Diego Trans-Border Institute (TBI), an academic research institute dedicated to informing and educating the public about policy issues that affect the binational and border relationship between the United States and Mexico. Prior to his arrival at TBI, Charles worked for 6 years at San Diego Dialogue, a public policy research organization housed in the Division of Extended Studies and Public Programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His experience includes fiscal and event management, research and analysis, fundraising and development, and marketing and outreach. Charles graduated with a BA from the University of North Carolina in 1997 and in 2004 he graduated with an MPIA from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IRPS) at UCSD. He is currently enrolled in the Graduate School of Business at the University of San Diego, where his emphasis is corporate social responsibility. Charles is a native of San Diego and speaks both Spanish and Portuguese.
Email: cpope@sandiego.edu
Phone: (619) 260-4090
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Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira
Project Coordinator
Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira is the Coordinator of the Justice in Mexico Project at the
University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute. Mr. Rodríguez is a native of Aguascalientes, Mexico. He received his law degree at the School of Law at the Universidad Panamericana in Aguascalientes. He completed his postgraduate studies at the Universidad Panamericana and at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Spain, with specializations in Mexican Civil Law Procedure and Human Rights. Before coming to the United States, he worked as Chief of the Public Law Academy and full-time professor at Universidad Panamericana. Prior to that, he worked as a Legal Advisor for Governmental Offices in Mexico regarding human rights and communal rural property. He joined the Trans-Border Institute as a visiting scholar in January 2009, and stayed on to coordinate its multi-year project on public security and the administration of justice in Mexico. He recently authored two forthcoming studies on Mexican policing, and is coordinating the publication of an edited volume titled La reforma judicial en Mexico (forthcoming).
Email: orodriguez@sandiego.edu
Phone: (619) 260-2299
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Stephanie Borrowdale
Administrative Assistant
Stephanie Borrowdale recently obtained her bachelor’s degree in May 2009 from the University of San Diego in International Relations and Spanish, with a minor in Media Studies. She joined the Trans-Border Institute in January 2009 as an intern for the Justice in Mexico Project, and with the Institute as their Administrative Assistant.
Email: stephanieb@sandiego.edu
Phone: (619) 260-4148
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