UPDATES
Talbot Andrews, a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University, has accepted a postdoctoral research associate position at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Politics
Peter Bils, previously a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University, is now assistant professor of political science and economics at Vanderbilt University.
Travis B. Curtis is now a fellow at the Dartmouth College Dickey Center, following the completion of his doctoral work at Emory University.
Ted Enamorado, previously assistant professor of political science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is now assistant professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis.
Ioannis Evrigenis, professor of political science and classics at Tufts University, has been selected as the International Relations (IR) Program director.
Leslie Finger, previously a lecturer on government and social studies at Harvard University, is now assistant professor of political science at the University of North Texas.
David Fortunato, previously associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University, is now associate professor in the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego.
Michelle Io-Low, a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University, was named a Young NUS Fellow by the National University of Singapore.
Sean Kim Butorac, previously a PhD candidate at the University of Washington, is now assistant professor of political science at North Central College.
Matt Lamb is now assistant professor of political science at Austin Community College, following the completion of his doctoral work at Rice University.
Daniel T. R. Masterson, previously a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Immigration Policy Lab, is now assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jamila Michener is now associate professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University, where she was previously assistant professor.
Thomas Pepinsky, professor of government at Cornell University and former APSA Treasurer, has been named a Tisch University Professor at Cornell.
Alyssa Prorok, assistant professor of political science at the University of Illinois, was named a 2020–21 David F. Linowes Faculty Fellow.
Emma Rodman is now a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Politics following the completion of her doctoral work at the University of Washington.
Guillermo Toral is now assistant professor of political science at Vanderbilt University following the completion of his doctoral work at MIT.
Dawn Teele is now associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was previously Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor.
Nora Webb Williams, previously assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, is now assistant professor of political science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Baobao Zhang, previously a postdoctoral fellow in political science at MIT and PhD candidate at Yale University, is now a Klarman Fellow in the Cornell Society of Fellows. ■
SPOTLIGHT
APSA Members Awarded 2020 Carnegie Fellowships
On May 12, 2020, the Carnegie Corporation of New York announced its 2020 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows, including eight political scientists. The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program recognizes an exceptional group of both established and emerging scholars, journalists, and authors with the goal of strengthening US democracy, driving technological and cultural creativity, exploring global connections and global ruptures, and improving both natural and human environments. Each fellow will receive $200,000 in support of high-caliber scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society.
Cathy J. Cohen is the David and Mary Winton Green Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. She is the founder of the Black Youth Project, which conducts the GenForward survey of young adults across the country every two months. GenForward, which focuses on how race and ethnicity shape the way the respondents experience and think about the world, will form the basis of Dr. Cohen’s Carnegie project.
Sarah E. Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, is a lawyer, activist, and professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Kansas. Her Carnegie project will profile contemporary Native American women in the United States, with a particular focus on how they conceive of, and work toward, more democratic societies.
Paul Gronke is a professor of political science at Reed College specializing in elections, and co-editor of PS: Political Science and Politics. For his Carnegie project, Dr. Gronke will focus on the beliefs and actions of 10,000 local election officials and explore the role these “stewards of democracy” might play in restoring public confidence in our elections and, by extension, in our public institutions and our democracy.
Jason Lyall is the James Wright Chair in Transnational Politics and associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, where he directs the Political Violence FieldLab at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. For his Carnegie project, Dr. Lyall will investigate the delivery of humanitarian aid in violent settings, seeking to understand when and why such programs can be effective instead of unintentionally prolonging conflicts.
Yonatan L. Morse is an assistant professor of political science at University of Connecticut. He has worked extensively in sub-Saharan Africa, studying comparative politics and various aspects of authoritarianism. His 2018 book, How Autocrats Compete: Parties, Patrons, and Unfair Elections in Africa, looks at governments that initially come to power in fair and competitive elections but later resort to violence and repression to maintain control.
Michael A. Neblo is professor of political science at The Ohio State University. His work seeks to revitalize our democracy and restore public trust in government by developing new ways to connect citizens with their elected representatives. Working with 13 Congress members, his Connecting to Congress project has combined emerging technology with academic research to develop deliberative “tele-townhalls,” during which a diverse group of citizens meet with their representatives.
Thea Riofrancos is an assistant professor of political science at Providence College with interests in resource extraction, renewable energy, climate change, green technology, social movements, and the left in Latin America. She examines what conditions make resource extraction the focus of political conflict and the consequences of that conflict.
Amy Erica Smith is Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor and an associate professor of political science at Iowa State University. Dr. Smith’s Carnegie project will explore how faith shapes individual responses to climate change. Using Brazil and Kenya as case studies, Dr. Smith will show that contrary to popular belief, Christian and Muslim theology often promote environmental protection. ■
Knight Foundation Awards New Grants to Support Internet Governance Research
This June, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a new series of grants for research on the rules, norms, and governance of the internet and digital platforms. The grants— totalling $1.7 million distributed across 20 institutions—will support “research to inform the national conversation on technology policy issues, including free expression online and the scale and power of digital platforms.”
The awards mark the culmination of the foundation’s $50 million commitment to catalyze new research on how technology is transforming our democracy. So far, this commitment has contributed to the establishment of new research centers at five universities around the country, and is supporting a range of ongoing research at a growing network of institutions of higher learning, independent research organizations, and policy think tanks focused on technology, democracy, and governance. Through these investments, the Knight Foundation hopes to catalyze rigorous, independent research and insights that advance current debates in this space in support of effective solutions.
Among the awardees of the new research grants are Howard University political scientists Ravi K. Perry, Keneshia Grant, and Bahiyyah Muhammad, who won a $250,000 grant to support a new research initiative on the impact of digital manipulation on Black communities. The Howard University grant is one of only two in that amount—the other going to the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Perry will serve as lead investigator accompanied by co-investigators Grant and Muhammad. Of the forthcoming research, Dr. Perry commented: “[w]e expect the… project with Knight Foundation to help Blacks in DC identify misinformation. Thereafter, we seek to develop the tools needed to help Black American citizens to identify which of their social media “friends” or “followers” are internet bots or human beings.”
Also among the awardees are social scientists from American University, George Mason University, California State University (Northridge), the University of Florida, and the University of Michigan. The grants will also support research at law schools, NGOs, and policy think tanks across the United States. ■
Adapted from the Knight Foundation website.
APSA Statement Condemning Systemic Racism
The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have reignited protests and calls for justice in the United States and across the world. These murders are among the latest in a long history of police brutality and violence upon members of the African American community. The American Political Science Association recognizes and condemns in the strongest terms the systemic racism that contributed to these deaths and shares the justified outrage it has provoked. We strongly support the right to protest and are alarmed by the government’s violent responses to peaceful protesters, including excessive uses of force in the name of order. We are also alarmed at the opportunistic criminal conduct of some who do not share the protesters’ commendable goals. These actions are a severe violation of democratic principles.
Political scientists have long examined the linkages between race, power, governance, social injustice and oppression. This scholarship has made an invaluable contribution to our discipline and to public discourse. It has illuminated the sources and structures of pervasive inequality and human rights abuses in the United States, as well as the resulting social, political, and public policy consequences. A more just society will require more of this knowledge but also action by all of us within the discipline to examine and address how our own programs, procedures, teaching, and scholarship may be shaped by or contribute to upholding, rather than dismantling, systems of oppression. As an association, we recognize our responsibility to elevate the existing scholarship, support scholars, and promote new research and pedagogy in this area, and continue to examine our own policies and programs towards the realization of a more informed and just society. ■
