Contact Information

Don Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Practice
Knowlton School and the
​Center for Latin American Studies
The Ohio State University
296 Knowlton Hall 
Columbus, OH 43210      
Email: [email protected]

I am an Assistant Professor of Practice at The Ohio State University. Previously, I held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Tulane. I received a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University in 2014.

My research focuses on the politics of inequality and its consequences for economic development. I am currently working on a book project that demonstrates how exposure to international trade altered patterns of industrialization and state development across Latin America by reshaping the distribution of income within agrarian societies. 

As an international development consultant, I have worked with more than a dozen research centers and policy think tanks across Africa and Latin America to improve the quality of evidence and the methods of analysis driving their policy recommendations. 

Before beginning my doctoral studies I served with the U.S. Peace Corps in Bolivia between 2004 and 2006, where my work focused on regional economic development planning. 

I am the founder of TheLevelField.com, a data-driven conversation about the American Dream.

Please click here to view or download my CV.