Elizabeth Kunce joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in September 2019.
Dr. Kunce’s professional background includes work with both civilian and security actors across a broad scope of operational settings from gang-ridden communities to international disaster response operations. She has worked within the United States criminal justice system primarily in the areas of police reform, race and police-community relations as well as various local, state, and federal gang and gun violence interventions. Elizabeth has extensive experience working with the United States Department of Defense (US DoD) in civil military coordination, training and operational planning humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations across the US INDOPACOM region.
Dr. Kunce worked at CFE-DMHA, a direct reporting unit of US INDOPACOM, from 2004-2011 and again from 2016-2019 during this time managed a variety of training programs and exercises, drafted policy recommendations and lessons learned reports, and supported numerous plans and real-world operations.
Dr. Kunce holds a MPA (2000) with a focus in community planning from the University of Rhode Island and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2015). Other professional work has included serving as a consultant for at-risk youth leadership programs, teaching at the university level and serving as Executive Director for a Hawai‘i –based nonprofit that provides care to human trafficking, torture, and immigrant domestic violence survivors in Hawai‘i.
