María José Urzúa Valverde is an assistant professor (“profesora asociada”) in the Department of International Studies at ITAM. She holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University, a master's degree in Politics from the same university, and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from ITAM. She was a Fulbright-García Robles scholar from 2018 to 2021, and in 2022, she received Princeton University’s George Kateb Preceptor Award for excellence in teaching.

Her research agenda focuses on human rights in the international system, the influence of civil society and bureaucracies in international organizations, the funding of these organizations, and polarization around international norms. In her academic publications and research projects, María José uses mixed methods to theorize and empirically analyze these topics. María José is also interested in Mexico’s foreign policy and Latin America’s international relations, conducting academic research and public scholarship on these subjects.