A respected academic in the areas of government studies, political science, and international relations, David Dessler holds an MA and a PhD in government/international studies from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Several years before securing his PhD, David Dessler began teaching at the College of William & Mary (W&M).

Mr. Dessler would remain at W&M for the next 33 years, rising through the ranks to become a full tenured professor in its Department of Government. As an assistant professor in 1991, he won the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award. That same year, he published an International Studies Quarterly article on causal war theory that would prove highly influential in academic political science literature in subsequent years.

More recently, Mr. Dessler merited inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Princeton Review’s “The Best 300 Professors.” In 2013, the W&M faculty elected him president of the Faculty Assembly.