Amy Patterson,
Associate Professor, Department Chair, Political Science
(616) 526-7028
apatters@calvin.edu
Office: DeVos Center 261J
Weekly Schedule
(Knightvision login required)
Educational Background
Professor Patterson graduated magna cum laude from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 1989 with a bachelor of arts in political science and international affairs. She completed her Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1996 with a major in political science and a minor in African studies. She joined the political science department faculty at Calvin College in 2001 after teaching at Anderson University and Elmhurst College.
Academic Interests
African Politics, Latin American Politics, Development, Democratization
Recent Activities
Professor Patterson recently published a book entitled The Politics of AIDS in Africa; she also edited the 2004 volume, The African State and the AIDS Crisis. After spending time conducting research in Zambia in 2007 with McGregor Summer Research Fellow Kyla Vander Hart, she went to Ghana in 2008 to study the role of the African church in politics, particularly on issues like AIDS, development and poverty. Part of her time in Ghana was spent conducting Calvin's fall Ghana semester program.
Hobbies
Reading, running, cooking, ballroom dancing, spending time with family
Additional Information
Read about Professor Patterson's 2007 research in Zambia (59 KB 
)
Curriculum vitae (145 KB )
