Col. Dennis Foster is Department Head and Professor of International Studies and Political Science at Virginia Military Institute. He teaches courses on international politics, American foreign policy, terrorism, domestic politics, and war, religion and war, and research design.

His research, which has appeared in such outlets as the British Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Political Psychology, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Foreign Policy Analysis, focuses on the impact of domestic factors on international conflict propensity, leadership psychology and war, the determinants of strategy choice by insurgent (especially terrorist) groups, and conventional and nuclear deterrence.