Dr. Karl A. Leib

Dr. Karl Leib, Associate Professor in History and Political Sciences, is a native New Yorker from the land north of New York City known as “Upstate,” where we had colorful autumns, cold winters, and a few modest-sized mountains. He grew up in the Hudson Valley north of New York City, and attended graduate school in the Finger Lakes region of central NY. He is an ardent film fan, especially of American film noir movies of the 1940s and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. He has been at CBU since 2004. “I’m interested in all areas of political science but my background is in world politics, especially foreign policy making and the politics of space exploration. In recent years however, I have become increasingly focused on issues of international law and the global environment. Within the field of American politics, I’m interested in Constitutional law, federalism issues, and the role of news media and popular culture. I think that popular culture has an important relationship with politics and society, so I like to use movies, fiction, music, or art whenever possible in my classes.” Dr. Leib helped develop the Global Studies minor at CBU and has taught the Foundations of Global Studies a couple of times. Other courses he teaches include, but are not limited to, Politics and Science Fiction, International Law, Survey of Politics on Film, and The Holocaust: Political and Religious Dimensions. He is the author of “State Sovereignty in Space: Current Models and Possible Futures,” Astropolitics, 13:1-24, 2015.