Alexander Siedschlag was appointed the interim director of the School of Public Affairs, effective July 1, 2018. He is Professor of Homeland Security and Public Health Preparedness, in a joint appointment with the Department of Public Health Sciences at the School of Medicine, and is chair of the inter-college Master of Professional Studies Program in Homeland Security (iMPS-HLS). Alexander holds a master's degree and a doctoral degree in political science, sociology and psychology from the University of Munich and a venia legendi (“habilitation”) for political science from Humboldt University Berlin. He was most recently professor for Security Research and Chair of the Center for European Security Studies (CEUSS) at Sigmund Freud University, Vienna. Appointments included the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Ebenhausen/Germany, the Hochschule für Politik München and the University of Innsbruck. He then expanded his scope to include civil security research and has also served as an evaluator for the European Commission in the Preparatory Action (PASR) and the Security research theme in the 7th EU Framework Programme. He has so far authored six monographs, over 100 articles, and edited twelve anthologies.