Prof. Patrick McNamara

Community Development & Social Entrepreneurship

Patrick McNamara, PhD has worked locally and internationally with universities, corporations, governments, NGOs, and foundations for 30 years. He is the Director of the International Studies and directs grant projects at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Patrick has consulted with over 300 clients and presented workshops in the US, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Vietnam, Japan, Israel, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Patrick currently leads a number of different projects including:

  • Principal Administrator of the US Department of State-sponsored $1,500,000 project Partnership 2020: Leveraging US-India Cooperation in Higher Education to Harness Economic Opportunities and Innovation.
  • Principal Administrator of the UNO-Pakistan University Linkages Project.
  • Principal Administrator for over $3 million in grant funding in Afghanistan working with American University – Afghanistan, Kabul University, Kabul Polytechnic University, Balkh University, and high schools implementing a new Peace Education curriculum.
  • Academic Director for the $3.6 million Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) which trains the best and brightest young people from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in civic engagement.
  • Facilitator for Nebraska Humanities funded Muslim Communities Dialogue, a partnership between UNO’s Islamic Studies Program and Sustained Dialogue Initiative.

Previous projects and positions have included overseeing grant programs of $80 million annually at the Omaha Community Foundation; directing the Omaha Hate Crimes Project, a partnership funded by the US Department of Justice between the City of Omaha, community groups and law enforcement; and facilitating the U.S. Institute of Peace funded project on Transboundary Water Cooperation between Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.