The Department of Political Science is excited to announce four new scholars joining our faculty this fall semester! We are proud to welcome the following members:
Kirby Goidel was a professor in the Department of Communication and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University. Previously, he was the Scripps Howard Professor of Mass Communication in the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University where he also served as director of the Public Policy Research Lab. His research interests are motivated by questions of democratic governance, including whether citizens are up to the task of democratic governance, the willingness and ability of elites to manipulate public opinion, and the institutional mechanisms which translate democratic inputs into policy outcomes.
Johanna Dunaway was an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. Before joining the faculty at Texas A&M in Fall 2016 she was at Louisiana State University in the Department of Political Science and the Manship School of Mass Communication. Previously, Johanna was a Joan Shorenstein Fellow in the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and Public Policy, at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her research interests include news media and politics and political communication, with an emphasis on how the changing media environment is shaping news consumption and political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
Kristy Pathakis recently received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego Department of Political Science and School of Global Policy and Strategy. Her research interests include the investigation of the psychological underpinnings of political non-participation by marginalized or otherwise underrepresented groups and the design of solutions to increase participation.
Alicia Cooperman received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in May 2019. And was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University during 2019 – 2020. Her research interests include local and global challenges in the political economy of development, water and energy policy, civil society and accountability, and climate change.
On Sept. 1, 2022, the Department of Political Science became part of the Bush School of Government & Public Service.
