 U.S. public opinion ... we cracked it |  Epistemologists, all! |
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 Goodbye Biden ... hello new syllabus |  What a fun semester in Govt 110 (easy for me to say...) |
 Is that Bernie Sanders?! |  US Politics Spring 2023 - happy to announce they've solved all our problems |
 PolComm Capstones done! |  More Capstones done! |
 Research Design ... & some physics too |  Inequality in the morning - pandemic style (May 2022) |
 Inequality in the afternoon - this time with pizza (May 2022) |  Inequality is also outside |
 PhD seminars should always conclude with margaritas (December 2021) |  My first Inequality in the U.S. class (Fall 2019) |
 Political Research (Spring 2019). ARrrrr..... |  Political Communication Capstone (Spring 2019). They made it! |
 U.S. Politics (Fall 2018). More good times. |  U.S. Politics class (Fall 2017). Good times. |
 U.S. Politics class with our wonderful TAs (Fall 2017) |  Public Opinion class (Fall 2017) |
 U.S. Politics students meet David Fahrenthold (Fall 2016) |  U.S. Politics class (Fall 2015) |
 My first U.S. Politics class meets David Gregory (Fall 2014) |  Exit polling! 2016 election (1) |
 Exit polling! 2016 election (2) |  Exit polling! 2016 election (3) |
 Exit polling! 2016 election (4) |  Exit polling! 2016 election (5) |
 Exit polling! 2016 election (6) |
Politics is stressful. My students help me cope.
Fall 2025
Seminar in American Politics (Govt 711)
​This course will introduce you to the field of U.S. politics, covering canonical works with an eye toward recent developments. While focused on the politics of just one nation, the field of U.S. politics has been an incubator of novel theorizing and methodologies, many of which have been taken up by scholars across the field of Political Science. Thus, you should understand this course not only as offering a deep understanding of U.S. government and politics but also as providing insight into the broader field. We will cover a wide range of topics in the study of U.S. politics. We begin with American political culture and traditions, major political institutions, and state and local politics; we then cover political parties, interest groups, and elections; we end with the study of public opinion, political communication, social groups, and representation. Finally, this course will also help you to develop your scholarly writing skills and ability to identify ways in which you might meaningfully contribute to the field.
Spring 2025
Political Opinion in the U.S. (Govt 402)
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What does the U.S. public think about government and politics, and why? In this course, students will read contemporary scholarly works on U.S. political opinion. The course will cover debates over voter decision-making and competence, the causes and effects of partisan identification, the nature of ideology, various aspects of political polarization, the political relevance of social identity groups, and more. Students will complete several short papers as well as an original research paper on U.S. political opinion. Students who enroll in this course should be familiar with statistical analysis.
Fall 2024
Research Design (Govt 715)
This seminar offers an introduction to the philosophy of social science and empirical research design and practice. The course begins with an introduction to the philosophy of science and social scientific inquiry. This is followed by a brief tour of common empirical research designs, including survey, interview, experimental, comparative case study, and content analysis approaches. The final portion of the course focuses on various practical dimensions of social scientific practice, ranging from finding a research question to producing replicable research to reducing value bias. Students will be asked to actively participate in class discussions and activities throughout the semester, take two exams, and complete an original research design on a topic, and using an approach, of their choosing.
Fall 2024
Politics in the US (Govt 110)
Government 110 offers a broad introduction to U.S. politics, examining the structure of the national government as well as the methods by which citizens influence it. Students will learn about the following specific topics: the nation's founding; federalism and the separation of powers; the principal institutions of the U.S. government, including the Presidency, federal bureaucracy, Congress, and Judiciary; civil rights and civil liberties; and democratic politics, including elections, political parties, public opinion, and media. The course will proceed with an eye to current events, particularly recent and upcoming elections.
Spring 2022
Inequality in the US (Complex Problems course)
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Economic and associated social and political inequalities have always been a part of human societies, although their extremity, character, and relationship vary over time and from place to place. Unfortunately, Americans today are living through a period of acute inequalities, despite the U.S. ideal of equality. What causes socioeconomic inequality? How is it manifested? Why do we tolerate it? And, how might we remedy it? These are some of the questions we will seek to answer in this interdisciplinary course. We will read and discuss some of the best scholarship on these topics from Economics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Readings will be supplemented with short videos by the authors of many of these works. Student learning will be assessed via class participation, essay exams, and a scaffolded research project.
Spring 2020
Political Behavior (PhD seminar)
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This seminar is an introduction to the subfield of political behavior. The focus is on the U.S.; however, most weeks include an example of research from comparative politics. We begin by studying two phenomena that organize political opinion—political ideology and partisanship—as well as political polarization and related phenomena. We proceed to the micro-foundations of political opinion and action: political values, social identity and intergroup prejudice, emotion, personality, and biopolitics. We conclude the semester by looking at influences outside the individual that shape and/or interact with individuals’ political predispositions—social influences, media effects, and campaign effects.