Biographical Statement

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), my wife Patricia M. Trudeau and I served as Peace Corps Volunteers in Choluteca, Honduras, in the mid-1960s. Following that, I did my graduate work at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill; my major field of study was Latin American politics.  I joined the faculty of the Political Science Department at Providence College in September, 1970, as an Assistant Professor, and am now Professor of Political Science.  My research has focused on Central America, and has resulted in papers, articles, and a book on Guatemala.  I'm currently editor/moderator of an Internet-based discussion list, H-Teachpol, which focuses on pedagogical issues in political science, and Secretary of the Central American Section of the Latin American Studies Association.

At Providence College, in addition to my research and my teaching in Political Science:

• I am the faculty administrator for the Angel courseware system Providence College has installed. 
• I've been associated with the Feinstein Institute for Public Service since its inception.
  • As a member of the Faculty Research Team during the Institute's design phase, I helped develop the Institute's structure and its programs.
  • One result of that involvement was a shift towards using community service as part of my classroom work; my teaching has been much more interesting (for me, at least) since I've begun to incorporate Service-Learning into some of my courses. 
  • From 1998 to 2001, I had a joint faculty appointment with the Feinstein Institute.
• I have served as Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of the Latin American Studies Program.
• From September, 1994, to January, 1997, I served as President of the Faculty Senate of Providence College. 
• I served as Director of the Providence College Center for Teaching Excellence from July, 1997 to June, 1999. 

Philip A. Smith, O.P., President of Providence College, awarded me the President's Distinguished Faculty Award in September, 1997.

After finishing a two year term at the Center for Teaching Excellence, I  returned to full-time teaching in the 1999-2000 academic year. 

As of July, 2001, I have again become Chair of the Political Science Department.

Over the years, I have received three Fulbright awards; these have allowed me to spend extended time in Argentina and Guatemala and to travel throughout South America. 

In the community, I am a founding member of The Tomorrow Fund, a non-profit organization that supports children with cancer and their families, through the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Department at Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence.  I served as a Board member for the Fund, from its inception in early 1985 until 1995.  During that period, a major fundraising effort succeeded in helping to create a new clinic, The Tomorrow Fund Clinic, in the new Hasbro Children's Hospital.