Wesley Reisser

Wesley J. Reisser is a member of the State Department’s civil service, where he has spent the past twenty-two years working on numerous foreign policy issues including human rights and humanitarian issues at the United Nations, Israel-Palestinian negotiations, the wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and human rights issues in Syria and Iran, as well as serving as one of the leads in developing U.S. foreign policy to address the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people around the world. Dr. Reisser holds a Bachelors Degree, Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in International Affairs and History from The George Washington University, and a Masters Degree in Geography from the same institution that focuses on borders and peace settlements. In 2010, he completed a Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA with a dissertation on American border proposals and peacemaking efforts following World War I. Dr. Reisser taught geography at the George Washington University, including courses on political geography and energy resources. He is a regular lecturer on Middle East Geography, Multilateral Diplomacy, and Middle East Peace at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. His first book, “The Black Book: Woodrow Wilson’s Secret Plan for Peace” was published in April, 2012, followed by the first interdisciplinary college energy textbook, "Energy Resources: From Science to Society" in 2019. Dr. Reisser chaired the 2019 and 2024 AGS Geography 2050 symposia. Besides his professional work, in 2011 Dr. Reisser founded an Eastern European dance group in Washington, DC called the Carpathia Folk Dance Ensemble which has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, he was named the National Geography Bowl Champion.