Dr. Lena Andrews is the author of Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II (Mariner), and a military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency
Event Description
Valiant Women tells the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. Although these women remain largely unknown and unheralded by the American public, Andrews argues that their work—both individually and in total—was at the heart of the Allied strategy that won World War II. Relying on new archival research and first-hand interviews with surviving veterans, Andrews contends that women in uniform were an essential part of the military engine of World War II, and that they had a significant impact on the supply functions that underwrote the American victory. In doing so, she dispels the long-held myth that servicewomen’s contributions to World War II were peripheral and narrow, and instead illustrates that American women were at the very center of this war.
Speaker Bio
Lena Andrews is the author of Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II (Mariner), and a military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a member of the Security Studies Program. Lena has spent over a decade in the foreign policy and national security community, and previously worked at the RAND Corporation and the United States Institute of Peace. In all of her work, Lena is committed to bridging the gap between academia, policy, and the broader public, and has participated in several initiatives dedicated to this goal, including the International Policy Scholars Consortium and Network (IPSCON) and the Bridging the Gap Project.
Honoring Catherine M. Kelleher
Each year during Women's History Month, we host a special Forum to honor CISSM's founder, Dr. Catherine M. Kelleher, for her contributions to the field of international security policy. Professor Kelleher was a champion for women in the field through mentorship and her founding of Women in International Security (WIIS).
Dr. Kelleher is also the inspiration for the Catherine M. Kelleher Fellowship Fund for International Security Studies, which supports an exceptional graduate student pursuing her master’s or doctoral degree at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.
With great sadness, we share the news that Catherine passed away on February 15, 2023.
Learn more about Catherine M. Kelleher
Support the Catherine M. Kelleher Fellowship for International Studies