Mark Juergensmeyer

Professor, University of California Santa Barbara

Mark Juergensmeyer is a professor of sociology and global studies, and founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Prior to his work at UCSB, Mr. Juergensmeyer was the chair of the Pacific Rim Research Program, University of California system (1994-97). Before that, he was the Dean of Asian and Pacific Studies and Professor of Religion and Political Science at the University of Hawaii.

Mr. Juergensmeyer has published more than 200 articles and a dozen books. His most recent book, “Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence,” is based on interviews with violent religious activists around the world. It includes interviews with individuals convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, leaders of Hamas and abortion clinic bombers in the United States.

Mr. Juergensmeyer earned a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.