Dr. Kibbe earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Drake University in 1982, a Master's in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1986, and a PhD in Political Science from UCLA in 2002. Before returning to graduate school at UCLA, she worked on South African politics for a number of years at a research organization in Washington, D.C. Immediately prior to coming to Franklin & Marshall, she returned to D.C. for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at The Brookings Institution.