Prior to her role in USIU-A, Margee Ensign served for seven years as president of the American University of Nigeria (AUN). Prior to AUN, she served as Dickinson’s 29th president. 

Ensign was also Associate Provost for International Initiatives, Dean and Professor, School of International Studies, University of The Pacific (1999-2010), worked in Rwanda & Uganda (2003-9), and held administrative and faculty positions at Columbia and Tulane Universities.

Ensign received the 2011 African Leadership Award in Educational Excellence. In 2015, the Women of Jama’atu Nasril Islam in Nigeria recognized her for her contributions to leadership, philanthropy, and education of women and girls in northeast Nigeria. She is a widely published scholar whose work focuses primarily on the challenges of international development as well as on the implications of development assistance. 

Ensign earned her B.A. from New College in Florida and her Ph.D. in international political economy from the University of Maryland.