College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

Behavioral and Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni

2005 Distinguished Alumni

Blaire Harms

BA International Relations, Class of 1990

Honor Year: 2005

Blaire Harms is currently a Faculty Associate in the Peace & Security Division of the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) where she develops and executes workshops on civil-military related issues related to religious and ethnic violence, reintegration of ex-combatants, women’s integration into the armed forces and national security institutions and managing refugee crises.  She is also the Institutional Capacity Building Country Integrator for several countries in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility related to Maritime Security operations and planning.  Prior to joining ISG in 2014, she worked as a Liaison for mil-to-mil exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with emphasis on Japan, India, Indonesia, New Zealand and Mongolia.  Blaire was commissioned into the U.S. Army from the Chico State ROTC program.  She retired from the Army in 2012 after a 21 year career in the US Army Military Intelligence Corps and as a Strategic Plans and Policy officer.  Her previous military assignments include multi-national military training and exercise planning for US Army Pacific, teaching Political Science and Comparative Politics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and postings to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the 82d Airborne Division, and the 2d Infantry Division in South Korea.  She has a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Rutgers University.  Her dissertation work focused on the role of religious elites in democratizing societies.  She was the 2005 BSS Distinguished Alumni and she served on President Zingg’s Advisory Board from 2006-2012 and is a founding member of the new Chico Women’s Philanthropy Council.  She has a son who is a US Army Infantry Lieutenant at the 82d Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, NC; and a daughter who a first year Psychology student at Newcastle University in the UK.