Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University
Amanda J. Van Dort is a 2026 American Democracy and Technology Fellow focused on combatting foreign actors’ use of gendered disinformation to destabilize democratic trust in the United States. She is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Nitz School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. Most recently, Amanda served as the Chief of Staff and Division Chief for Policy, Planning, and Public Diplomacy in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. As a Presidential Management Fellow, she held roles in the Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Van Dort received four Superior Honor Awards, three Meritorious Honor Awards, and the Franklin Award during her nine years of government service. Prior positions include Harold W. Rosenthal Fellow for the International Organization for Migration, and Country Director for Emerge Global – a non-profit that supports adolescent survivors of sexual assault and abuse in Sri Lanka. Van Dort holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School and a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University’s School of Health Sciences.
