News

Dr. Zoe Ang joined our department as a Lecturer and Undergraduate Academic Coordinator

| Read Story

Information on Zoe Ang and her new position here!

Congratulations William Lowry on The Last Sanctuary

| Read Story

The Last Sanctuary is a warning about the possible consequences of severe climate change but also ultimately a reflection on courage, love, and redemption in a changing world.

Ted Enamorado was selected to be a Faculty Fellow at CRE2 for Spring 2024

| Read Story

Ted Enamorado was selected to be a Faculty Fellow in residence at the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity for Spring 2024 semester.

Professor William Nomikos received a grant the from 2023 TITLE VIII National Research Competition

| Read Story

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research’s 2023 TITLE VIII National Research Competition awarded Nomikos with a grant.

Diana O'Brien won awards for "Representation and the Trade Roots of the Gender Wage Gap"

| Read Story

"Representation and the Trade Roots of the Gender Wage Gap" won the following awards: Southern Political Science Association 2023 Best Paper, SPSA's 2023 Marian Irish Award and the Midwest Political Science Association's 2023 Sophonisba Breckinridge Award.

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Anna Wilke

| Read Story

Anne Wilke gives details about her life you may not have known.

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Matthew Hayes

| Read Story

Matthew Hayes gives details about his life you may not have known.

Taylor Carlson’s Through the Grapevine Under Contract

| Read Story

Taylor Carlson signed a contract with University of Chicago Press for Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy. Carlson gave a talk on this as part of the American Politics Speaker Series sponsored by the Ash Center for Democratic Convergence and Innovation and the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University.

Diana O'Brien's paper "Women Grab Back" was accepted by APSR!

| Read Story

"Women Grab Back: Exclusion, Policy Threat, and Women's Political Ambition" by Amanda Clayton (Vanderbilt), Diana Z. O'Brien (WashU) and Jennifer M. Piscopo (Occidental College)

Anne Wilke was an invited researcher for J-PAL Africa!

| Read Story

Anne Wilke became an invited researcher for J-PAL Africa.

Diana O'Brien's "Do Women Make More Protectionist Trade Policy?" was accepted by APSR

| Read Story

Previous work suggests that observing women officeholders increases women’s political ambition. Yet, jumps in women’s representation in the United States’ “Years of the Woman”—following the Anita Hill testimonies and the election of Donald Trump—are linked to women’s exclusion from political decision-making. Drawing on focus groups with prospective women candidates, we theorize that exclusion when combined with a gendered policy threat increases women’s political ambition. Using survey experiments replicated across different samples, we show that women who read about an all-male city council poised to legislate on women’s rights report increased ambition compared with their pretreatment ambition levels and to women in other treatment groups. Women’s increased sense of political efficacy drives these results. 

Diana O'Brien's co-edited paper "Gender & Political Representation in Times of Crisis"

| Read Story

Politics is increasingly dominated by crises, from pandemics to extreme weather events. These Critical Perspectives essays analyze crises’ gendered implications by focusing on their consequences for women’s descriptive and substantive representation. Covering multiple kinds of crises, including large-scale protests, climate shocks, and war and revolution, the contributions reveal three factors shaping both the theoretical conceptualization and empirical analysis of crisis and women’s representation: (1) the type of crisis, (2) the actors influenced by the crisis, and (3) the aftermath of the crisis. Together, the contributors urge scholars to “think crisis, think gender” far beyond the supply of and demand for women leaders.