I am thrilled to be stepping in as the new Director of Graduate Studies for our department. I am deeply grateful to Keith Schnakenberg who served in this role for the past three years. I have learned so much from him about advocating for students, thinking outside the box to support them, and understanding that there are many different paths to success in graduate school. Keith put student well-being at the center of his leadership, and I hope that I can continue that spirit as I take the reins.
As I step into this position, I am reminded of how difficult graduate school can be. Although it has been about a decade since I started graduate school, some things still feel familiar. The challenges of completing difficult problem sets, managing an extensive reading load, asking (and answering) important research questions, finding mentors, and meeting milestones, all against a backdrop of uncertainty in what will happen next, all remain familiar. Yet, despite the stress and anxiety that comes with graduate school, I am also reminded of some of the high points. Graduate school not only helps students grow academically and professionally, but it can result in lifelong friendships. As I take on this role, I want to encourage graduate students to find their unique path, be that in choosing the right subfields and coursework to help them thrive, navigating an academic job market, or finding a career path in other professional settings. To help students thrive along their paths, I hope to provide consistency, structure, and clear communication to help reduce uncertainty as students progress through the program.
Being a graduate student in a program like ours is an incredible opportunity. Students get to spend five years asking questions that help us better understand “who gets what, when, and how” (Lasswell 1936); and they have access to world class, cutting-edge training to help them answer those questions. As prime examples of applying our training to answer important questions, I’d like to feature our students currently seeking employment as they approach graduation.
Annie Jarman advances our understanding of women’s underrepresentation in politics by using cutting-edge computational models to study the causes and consequences of gendered hostility online. Her research has been recognized with the Sophonisba Breckinridge Award for Best Paper on Women and Politics at MPSA (now invited to revise and resubmit to the British Journal of Political Science) and with Honorable Mention for Cutting Edge Research on Women and Politics by the Empirical Study of Gender Networks (EGEN).
Amaan Charaniya studies topics related to territorial disputes, conflict resolution, public opinion, and political methodology with a regional focus in South Asia. His research is motivated by two central questions: Why do states fight over territory? And, how does public opinion change in response to territorial conflicts? His research has been invited to revise and resubmit to International Organization, and other work has been recognized with the APSA Foreign Policy Section Best Paper Award and the Antoinette Dames Prize.
Rex Deng examines how political elites use media communication and co-optation to foster voluntary mass compliance in both authoritarian and democratic contexts. He investigates how autocrats manipulate domestic and international information environments to sustain regime legitimacy, how parties communicate with voters to retain public backing when their reputation is at risk, and how governments use development projects to foster trust among resistant citizens. His research on how entertainment media fosters political compliance in autocracies received the Rebecca Morton Poster Award and the Timothy E. Cook Best Graduate Student Paper Award; his research on negative propaganda in autocracies has been invited to revise and resubmit to the Journal of Politics.
Jordon Newton focuses on the ways that institutions, particularly elections and legislatures, affect representation in American politics. In particular, he is interested in the ways that these institutions shape the behavior of elected officials and candidates, and the way that these designs may contribute to polarization. His research on term limits and strategic candidate entry has been published in Legislative Studies Quarterly.
Raduan van Velthem Meira investigates recent changes in the public’s political behavior across Latin America, focusing on the conservative turn and the rise of the populist radical right, as well as the impact of the Venezuelan diaspora across the region. Skilled in a range of quantitative methods, statistical software, and languages, he has supported several large-scale research efforts, and is seeking employment in research, consulting, and analytic positions both within and outside of academia.
In closing, I hope that you will join me in celebrating our students’ successes this year. Graduate school is filled with countless challenges. We need to celebrate the wins, no matter how small, to push ourselves to achieve more than we thought was possible.
