Emma Sky

About

Emma Sky is the founding director of Yale's International Leadership Center and a lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, where she teaches courses on grand strategy, great power competition, and Middle East politics. 

A veteran diplomat and conflict resolution expert, Sky has spent decades working at the intersection of international security, governance, and peacebuilding. She served as political advisor to the commanding general of U.S. forces in Iraq, development advisor to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, political advisor to the U.S. Security Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk under the Coalition Provisional Authority. 

She also spent a decade in the Palestinian territories supporting institution-building and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence initiatives. Beyond government service, Sky has advised on poverty reduction, human rights, access to justice, and security sector reform across the Middle East, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa. She is the author of two acclaimed books on Iraq and the Middle East.

Courses taught

GLBL 101: Gateway to Global Affairs
GLBL 271 / GLBL 713 / MMES 271: Middle East Politics
GLBL 889: World Fellows Seminar on Good Society
GLBL 344: Grand Strategy
GLBL 7220: Rethinking Special Operations
GLBL 7240: Great Power Competition and Cooperation