Jaimie Bleck is a Ford Family Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in African politics with a focus on democratization, education, participation, and citizenship. Her work has appears in the Journal of Modern African Studies, Comparative Political Studies, and Democratization. Her current research in Mali is funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and USAID. She received a BA in Political Science at the University of Chicago and a PhD in Government from Cornell University. She has consulted for Freedom House, Winrock International, CARE, and the World Bank. Before attending graduate school, she worked on the Africa Education Initiative in Central and Southern Africa.