2024-25 PhD Candidates

Nakiessa Abbassi

Working Dissertation Title: "The Peoples’ River: Equitable River Restoration and Decision-Making in the Los Angeles River Corridor"

Fields: U.S. Politics, Public Policy, Environmental Law and Policy, Environmental Justice, Ecological Restoration, Urban Agriculture, Community Resilience

Committee: Craig Kauffman (chair), Joe Lowndes, Alison Gash, and Patricia McDowell (Geography)

 

 

Mary Follo

Working Dissertation Title: "The Politics of Placement: State Preemption of Housing Policy"

Fields: American Politics, Public Policy, Land Use Policy, Governance, and Urban Politics

Committee: Alison Gash (chair), Ronald Mitchell, Daniel Tichenor, and Rebecca Lewis (Planning, Public Policy and Management)

Website

 

Parichehr Kazemi

Working Dissertation Title: "Visualizing Resistance, Capturing Repression: Exploring the Role of Women's Image-based Activism in Iran"

Fields: Social Movements and Resistance Studies, Social Media and Digital Technology, Women and Gender Studies, Iranian Studies, Visual Theory, Authoritarian Regimes, Interpretive Methods. Regional Focus: Middle East and North Africa

Committee: Erin Beck (chair), Tuong Vu, Gerald Berk, Jillian Schwedler (CUNY – Hunter College), and Anita Weiss (International Studies)

 

Madison Schroder

Dissertation: "Politics of the People? Examining Out-of-State Interest in United States Direct Democracy Campaigns"

Fields: American Politics Subfield: American Political Economy, State Politics, Campaign Finance

Committee: Neil O'Brian (chair), Daniel Tichenor, Chandler James, and Aaron Gullickson (Sociology)

Haifa Souilmi

Dissertation: "Unmaking Democracy: Civil Society, Media  and  Democratic Backsliding in Nascent Democracies"

Fields: Comparative Politics, International Relations, Democracy and Authoritarianism, Civil Society, Media, Religion, Politics of the Middle East and North Africa

Committee: Craig Kauffman (Chair) , Tuong Vu (Co Chair), Members: Craig Parsons, Sharan Grewal (American University), and Whitney Phillips (Journalism)

2023-24 Placements

Saima Ahmed

• Initial Placement: Assistant Professor in International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Dissertation: "Why Do States Adopt Carbon Taxes When They Do?"
• Committee: Ronald Mitchell (chair), Jane Cramer, Craig Kauffman, and Richard York (Sociology)

Craig Asberry

• Initial Placement: California Polytechnic State University
• Dissertation: "Congress Speaks: Communication Strategies and Preference Formation in the U.S. House of Representatives"
• Committee: Daniel Tichenor (chair), Alison Gash, James Conran, and Ryan Light (Sociology)

Joshua Baker

• Dissertation: "Myths of Missile Defense: International Ambition Driven by Domestic Politics"
• Committee: Jane Cramer (chair), Lars Skalnes, Daniel Tichenor, and Gordon Lafer (Labor Education & Research Center)

Jessica Reanne

• Initial Placement: OurSchool
• Dissertation: "Staging an Insurrection: The Application of Theatre and Memory on January 6th"
• Committee: Alison Gash (chair), Anita Chari, Priscilla Yamin, and Faith Barter (English)

Maxim Tyan

• Dissertation: "Prospect Theory-Based Explanation of Majority Nationalist Mobilization: Cases of Russia and Kazakhstan"
• Committee: Craig Parsons (chair), Tuong Vu, Mikhail Myagkov, and Julie Hessler (History)

2022-23 Placements

Dustin Ellis

• Initial Placement: University of Oregon
• Dissertation: "States of Detention: American Exception(alism) and the Origins of Migration Crises"
• Committee: Daniel Tichenor (chair), Priscilla Yamin, Debra Thompson, and Laura Pulido (Ethnic Studies)

Kahina Marie Freeman

• Dissertation: "The Shadows of American Law: Enmity, Intersectionality and Police"
• Committee: Alison Gash (chair), Gerald Berk, Debra Thompson, and Jeffrey Ostler (History)

2021-22 Placements

Alex Farrington

• Initial Placement: Fair Housing Council of Oregon
• Dissertation: "Autonomous Problem-solving and the Creation of Community-controlled Housing Alternatives in the United States"
• Committee: Alison Gash (chair), Gerald Berk, Anita Chari, and Howard Davis (Architecture)

Thuy Nguyen

• Initial Placement: Reason Foundation
• Dissertation: "Political Determinants of COVID-19 Mortality; Factional Politics in Vietnam; Rising Media Enclave Extremism"
• Committee: Tuong Vu (chair), Yeling Tan, Clare Evans, and Michael Dreiling (Sociology)

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman

• Dissertation: "The Clothing Curse: Institutional Causes and Political Consequences of Clothing Export Dependence in Developing Countries"
• Committee: Tuong Vu (chair), Lars Skalnes, Craig Parsons, and Woan Foong Wong (Economics)

John Rivera

• Dissertation: "Good Order and Discipline: The Politics of Exclusion in the American Military"
• Committee: Jane Cramer (chair), Craig Parsons, Priscilla Yamin, and Ellen Scott (Sociology

2020-21 Placements

Malori Musselman

• Initial placement: Organizer, American Association of University Professors
• Dissertation: “Faith and Change in Communities of Peril”
• Committee Chair: Joseph Lowndes

2019-20 Placements

Crystal Brown

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor in the Social Science Department; Director of the Society, Policy and Technology Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Dissertation: “Never at Home: Immigrant Integration in Denmark and Sweden”
• Committee Chairs: Jane Cramer and Daniel Tichenor

Yongwoo Jeung

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Incheon National University
• Dissertation: “Labor Market Policy American Style: State Capacity and Policy Innovation, 1959-1968”
• Committee Chair: Gerald Berk

Jessica Neafie

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbeayev University
• Dissertation: “Investigating the Effects of the Global Economy on Policy and Practice in Developing Countries: Foreign Direct Investment and the Environment”
• Committee Chair: Ronald Mitchell

Alberto Lioy

• Initial placement: Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Latin American Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Kralové, Czech Republic
• Dissertation: “Electoral Revolutions: A Comparative Study of Rapid Changes in Voter Turnout”
• Committee Chair: Craig Kauffman

2017-18 Placements

Cary Fontana

• Initial placement: US Department of Homeland Security
• Dissertation: “Regionalist Party Electoral Outcomes and the Supply-side of Party Politics”
• Committee Chair: Craig Parsons

John Valdez

• Initial placement: Visiting Assistant Professor, College of Wooster
• Dissertation: “Building More Bombs: The Discursive Emergence of US Nuclear Weapons Policy”
• Committee Chair: Jane Cramer

Patrick Van Orden

• Initial placement: Policy Analyst, Oregon Homecare Commission, State of Oregon
• Dissertation: “The Foreign Policy of Revolutionary Leaders: Identity, Emotion, and Conflict Initiation”
• Committee Chair: Tuong Vu

2016-17 Placements

Thibaud Henin

• Initial placement: LTA Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Concordia University in Montreal
• Dissertation: “The Strategic Use of Transnational Private Standards: Strengthening or Weakening Government Regulations?”
• Committee Chair: Ronald Mitchell

Gulce Tarhan Celebi

• Initial placement: Instructor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Hacettepe University
• Dissertation: “The Constitutional Court of Turkey from State-in-society Perspective”
• Committee Chair: Tuong Vu

2015-16 Placements

Robin Barklis

• Initial placement: Adjunct Faculty, Department of Political Science, Linfield College
• Dissertation: “Together in Time: Historical Injustice, Collective Memory, and the Boundaries of Membership”
• Committee Chair: Deborah Baumgold

Lisa Beard

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of American Politics, Western Washington University
• Dissertation: “If We Were Kin: Race, Identification, and Intimate Political Appeal”
• Committee Chairs: Daniel HoSang and Joseph Lowndes

Mehmet Celil Celebi

• Initial placement: Instructor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon
• Dissertation: “Contesting Democracy: A Relational Approach to the Study of Regime Change in Turkey Under the JDP Governments Until 2013”
• Committee Chair: Craig Parsons

Meian Chen

• Initial placement: Senior Analyst, innovative Green Development Program (iGDP)
• Dissertation: “Seizing the Opportunity: Climate Politics in Developing Countries”
• Committee Chair: Ronald Mitchell

David Root

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science; University Pre-Law Advisor, University of Indianapolis; Attorney at Law – Indiana
• Dissertation: “The Chief Justice: Democratic Leadership of Judicial Decision-making in the Hidden Branch”
• Committee Chair: Alison Gash

John (Jay) Steinmetz

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Fort Hays State University
• Dissertation: “Reel American Creed: Race and Liberalism in Hollywood Cinema”
• Committee Chair: Gerald Berk

2014-15 Placements

Jessica Hejny

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Middle Tennessee State University
• Dissertation: “Pragmatist Policymaking: Rethinking Deliberation and Experimentation in Contemporary Environmental Governance”
• Committee Chair: Gerald Berk

Kelley Littlepage

• Initial placement: Instructional Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Houston
• Dissertation: “Crafting International Legal Orders: Horizontal Legal Intergration and the Borrowing of Foreign Law in British Courts”
• Committee Chair: Craig Parsons

Kathryn Miller

• Initial placement: Joint Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies Program, Oberlin College
• Dissertation: “Violence on the Periphery: Gender, Migration, and Violence against Women in the US Context”
• Committee Chair: Daniel Tichenor

Joshua Plencner

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, State University of New York-Oswego
• Dissertation: “Four-color Political Visions: Origins, Affect, and Assemblage in American Superhero Comic Books”
• Committee Chair: Joseph Lowndes

Jeremy Strickler

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Service, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
• Dissertation: “Between Guns and Butter: Cold War Presidents, Agenda-Setting, and Visions of National Strength”
• Committee Chair: Daniel Tichenor

Nicolas Thompson

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida
• Dissertation: “Imagining the Fed: Central Bank Structure and United States Monetary Governance (1913-1968)”
• Committee Chair: Gerald Berk

2013-14 Placements

Debasis Bhattacharya

• Initial placement: Professor, Amity University Gurugram, National Capital Region, India
• Dissertation: “Legislative-Executive Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy: Continuum of Consensus and Dissension in Strategic Political Decision Process from 1970-2010”
• Committee Chair: Priscilla Southwell

Jekatyerina (Katya) Dunajeva

• Initial placement: Assistant Professor, Pázmány Péter Catholic University; Researcher and Program Manager, Center for Teaching and Learning, Central European University; Senior Researcher, Public Policy and Management Institute, Lithuania
• Dissertation: “‘Bad Gypsies’ and ‘Good Roma’: Constructing Ethnic and Political Identities through Education in Russia and Hungary”
• Committee Chair: Craig Parsons

Abdurrahman Pasha

• Initial placement: Graduate Student in Social Work, Case Western University
• Dissertation: “Between Conservatism and Socialism: Political Ambiguity and the Self-help Cooperative Movement in Los Angeles, 1931-1940”
• Committee Chair: Joseph Lowndes