Biography

David Dumke serves as the Executive Director of UCF Global Perspectives & International Initiatives. His responsibilities include overseeing all the programs and centers under the Global Perspectives umbrella, working with faculty, departments, and colleges to identify international opportunities, and establishing international partnerships which support academic programs, dialog, and collaborative research. He also co-hosts the WUCF-TV Global Perspectives show. Dumke was founding director of UCF’s Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research & Studies, as well as the Office of Middle East and South Asia Initiatives. He also teaches Middle East Politics, Diplomacy, and U.S. Foreign Policy, is a regular participant at national and international conferences, and has written extensively on American foreign policy. In 2019, he co-authored and edited Aspiring Powers, Regional Rivals: Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the new Middle East with Dr. Gönül Tol of the Middle Eastern Institute (MEI).

Dumke has worked in a number of fields including government, politics, government affairs/public relations, business, and academia. After spending the early part of his career working in the U.S. Congress, he has accumulated a diverse set of professional experiences, generally focusing on the international government-business-policymaking nexus. In the government affairs/public relations realm, Dumke has represented clients in numerous fields, including foreign affairs, international business, defense policy, energy, and natural resources. His work includes representation services in Washington, DC. He has also implemented government affairs strategies on the international level. Dumke has worked extensively in the Middle East and North Africa with the public and private sectors – including governments, businesses, NGOs, educational organizations, and private-sector entities. This included advising the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, and working on that country’s first democratic presidential election campaign. Dumke served in Congress as an aide to House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Michigan), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), as well as working on a variety of state and federal election campaigns. In Congress he worked on a wide range of issues, including those pertaining to international affairs, trade, and appropriations. He held a top security clearance. He received a B.A. from Indiana University and an M.A. from Georgetown University.