Robert Elias

Robert Elias is the author of a debut novel, The Deadly Tools of Ignorance: A Debs Kafka Mystery. His short story, "The Secret Life of Leon Trotsky" appeared in the Exquisite Corpse (edited by Andrei Codrescu) and Nine. He's working on two more mystery novels: Amsterdamned (the second in the Debs Kafka series) and Sold on Murder.

Elias teaches law and politics at the University of San Francisco, where he runs the Legal Studies Program, and offers courses such as, “Law, Politics and the National Pastime.” He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, and the University of Strasbourg. He’s the author and editor of six non-fiction books, including Baseball and the American Dream, The Politics of Victimization, Rethinking Peace, Victims Still, The Peace Resource Book, and Victims of the System. He's published dozens of essays on baseball, crime, victimization, human rights, alternative development, and political movements.

Aside from writing his next mystery novels, Elias is working on non-fiction book projects, The Empire Strikes Out: Baseball & U.S. Foreign Policy and Legends of Baseball: Men & Women Who Made A Difference. He’s the Editor of Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, and Associate Editor of New Political Science, Radical America, the Encyclopedia of Peace, Violence & Conflict, and the International Review of Victimology.

Elias received a Fulbright Award to teach human rights at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, received two MacArthur Grants, and held the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at USF in 1991. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Peace & Conflict Studies Program and at the Center for the Study of Law & Society at the University of California, Berkeley. He's also taught at Tufts University (Boston), the University of Maryland (Europe and College Park), New College of California, Penn State University, and at Pennsylvania's Rockview State Prison. He has been a researcher at the Institute for Defense & Disarmament Studies (Boston), Oxfam America (Boston), the Vera Institute of Justice (New York), the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva), and the International Institute of Human Rights (Strasbourg).

Elias comes from a Czech, English, and Irish-Catholic working class family in New York City. He’s worked as a disc jockey at WMFO-FM in Massachusetts, and has been a co-host of "USF Today" at KUSF-FM. He lived and worked in Europe for almost two years. He’s traveled widely in Europe, the former Soviet Union, northern Africa, the South Pacific, and in Latin America - including a "Social Policy" tour of Cuba, and a "Baseball for Peace" tour of Nicaragua. Many years ago, Elias was offered a minor league baseball contract by the San Francisco Giants, which he foolishly turned down.

Elias lives in Mill Valley, California. His wife, Jennifer Turpin, is a sociologist and the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of San Francisco. He has two younger children, Madeleine and Jack, and an older son, Andre, a graduate student in music at the University of California, San Diego.

AWARDS & GRANTS
Sarlo Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of San Francisco (2006)

Finalist: Dark Oak Mystery Award (2005)

Carnegie Foundation Travel Grant, “Ethics and International Affairs” Conference, Brown University (2002)

Sporting News Book Award Finalist (2002)

Frank Beach Award for Leadership in Service, University of San Francisco (2001)

Who’s Who in America (2001 - )

Thomas Erlich Service Learning Award Finalist, Campus Compact, Brown University (2001)

Jesuit Foundation Award, for Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, San Francisco (2001)

Project Censored Award (Sonoma State University) (for Peace Review coverage of two of Top 25 Most Censored Stories for 1999), San Francisco (2000)

Davies Forum Professor, "The Politics of the American Dream" University of San Francisco (1998)

Faculty Development Grant, University of San Francisco, for "The Victim Movement" (1997)

Distinguished Research Award, University of San Francisco (1996)

National Jesuit Book Award, nominated for Victims Still (1995)

Faculty Development Grant, University of San Francisco, for“Post-Cold War Socialism Reader”(1994)

Lane Foundation Grant, Peace Review (1992,1994,1996-2005)

Faculty Development Grant, University of San Francisco, for "More Than the Melody," a pedogogical sourcebook on the politics of musical lyrics (1992)

John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant, for Peace Review (Eastern Europe Issue)(1991)

Deer Creek Foundation Grant, to develop Internship/Fieldwork program for Legal Studies, Peace & Justice Studies (1991)

National Endowment for the Humanities Chair, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA(1990)

John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant, for Peace Review (Africa Issue) (1990)

Hans von Hentig Award (Outstanding Contribution), World Society of Victimology, nominated for victim research (1990)

Faculty Development Research Grant, University of San Francisco (1990)

Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Outstanding Book Award, nominated for The Politics of Victimization (1988), Victims Still (1994)

Denis Carrol Prize (Best Criminology Book), nominated for The Politics of Victimization, International Society of Criminology (1987)

Fulbright Award, University of Perideniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka, Lecturing on Politics and Human Rights (1987)

United Nations University for Peace Grant, "The Challenge to Peace in Central America" to Teach/Direct Intensive Course on peace studies and Central America in San Jose, Costa Rica (1987)

Nuclear Awareness Project Grant, Topsfield Foundation (1986)

Summer Institute on Global Education for High School Teachers, Co-Sponsored by Tufts Peace & Justice Studies Program and Educators for Social Responsibility, Boston Foundation (1986)

Canadian Studies Faculty Enrichment Grant, Comparative Urban Politics: The United States and Canada, Canadian National Government (1986)

Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award, nominated for Victims of the System (1985), The Politics of Victimization (1988), Victims Still (1994)

President's Innovative Fund (Tufts University)(1984, 1985)

Leslie T. Wilkens Book Award (Best Criminal Justice Book), nominated for Victims of the System (1984), The Politics of Victimization (1987), Victims Still (1994)

Stephen Schafer Memorial Award (Outstanding Contribution to Victimology), National Association of Victim Assistance, nominated for Victims of the System (1984), The Politics of Victimization (1987), Victims Still (1994)

Scholar in Residence, Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (summer 1984)

Boston International High School Project, Copley High School, Massachusetts Department of Education Grant (1983)

Transnational Education Project Grant, World Policy Institute (1983)

International Institute of Human Rights, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, summer fellowship (1982)

International Labor Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, summer intern (1982)

National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute on Ethics and Criminal Justice, Boston University, Boston, MA, summer fellowship (1981)

International Human Rights Teaching Institute, Center for Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, NY, NY, summer fellowship (1980)

U.S. Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Research Fellowship (1978)

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in Political Science (1975)