Dr. Dennis Hart is the Executive Director of World Citizen Peace (WCP) and the founder and CEO of Optimus (IEC).

Dr. Hart served as a leader of Comprehensive Internationalization and international offices at leading universities for over a decade. In those roles, he provided overall leadership and administration for university-wide globalization efforts and ensured all these international initiatives and activities were consistent with the strategic planning, goals, and missions of the universities.

Dr. Hart served as the Senior International Officer at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the University of St. Thomas. He has also provided leadership for globalization at Michigan State University, University of Pittsburgh, and Kent State University.

Dr. Hart is an award-winning teacher and faculty member with a passion for internationalization. 

Between 1994 and 2008, he was a professor of Political Science at Kent State University where he taught courses on Comparative Politics, International Relations, American Politics. His teaching awards include the Distinguished Teaching Award from Kent State University and Who’s Who Among American Teachers, among others.

He is widely published, with internationally recognized and published research, including  an award-winning book and over 50 academic and popular articles, book reviews, and chapters. He areas of published research include nationalism and politics in North and South Korea as well as international educational trends in East Asia. He has authored over 30 grants to promote internationalization, worth nearly $4,000,000. These grants were provided by a wide range of government, university, private, and NPO organizations.

Dr. Hart has a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics. His Master of Arts is in Korean Studies and his Bachelor of Arts is in East Asian Studies. All his degrees are from the University of Washington, Seattle.

His experiences as a leader are strengthened by attending professional leadership development workshops offered by the world-leading organizations in internationalization:

• NAFSA Symposium on Leadership.
• AASCU/NAFSA International Leadership Institute.
• ACE/CIGE Institute for Leading Internationalization.