Hire a UNC Political Science Ph.D.

Our graduate students represent an extraordinary pool of talent and scholarly accomplishment. This year, we are proud to draw your attention to several Ph.D. candidates seeking academic appointments. We invite you to contact them directly regarding their credentials and areas of expertise. If you would like more information about Ph.D. job placement, please contact Chris Reynolds at ckreynolds@unc.edu.

On the National Market

American Politics

Adam Chamberlain is a Ph.D. candidate with interests in political organizations, elections, context, and historical political science. Adam’s dissertation, “The Effect of Context on Third Parties and Third Party Support in the United States,” studies how context affects third party support in modern presidential elections, the development of third party voting in the 1800s through an empirical case study of Vermont from 1841-1854, and third party behavior in an electoral context that allows cross-endorsements (fusion balloting). The dissertation takes a multi-methods approach that includes regression models, both OLS and logistic, spatial analysis and GIS mapping, and interviews. Adam also has ongoing research on interest groups and Canadian elections. At this time, he has two forthcoming articles (one at The Social Science Journal and the other at Politics & Policy) and one article under review.
Adam has taught one semester of Introduction to Government in the United States and one semester of State and Local Politics in a traditional classroom setting. Adam will be teaching State and Local Politics in an online setting this Fall. His teaching interests include American government, political parties and interest groups, voting and elections, state and local politics, Canadian politics, and introductory courses in public policy. Adam is looking for a tenure-track position at a college or university that values dedication to both teaching and research. Adam’s CV can be found at http://www.unc.edu/polisci/grad_bio/ChamberlainCVSept2009.doc.

Christopher G. Faricy is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His areas of concentration are American politics and public policy. Christopher’s research focuses on political institutions, political economy, public policy, and urban economic development.
Christopher is currently finishing his dissertation, “The Politics of Public versus Private Social Welfare”, which analyzes political party motivations and strategies in financing public versus private social welfare benefits as well as the resulting policy effects. Christopher theorizes that political parties' choice between tax incentives and direct expenditures in funding social programs is primarily motivated by a desire to alter the balance between public and private power in society. It includes empirical work focusing on the role of political party control in determining the direction of the social welfare expenditure ratio, the effectiveness of tax incentives in stimulating private-sector social expenditures, and considers how changes to direct versus indirect social spending influences economic inequality. Christopher’s first empirical chapter from the dissertation, “The Politics of Modern Social Policy in America: How Partisanship Influences Indirect versus Direct Social Spending, 1967-2006” has been invited to be revised and resubmitted at The Journal of Politics. Christopher co-authored along with Michele Hoyman a previously published piece in Urban Affairs Review.
Christopher has been teaching at the secondary and post-secondary levels for twelve years. He has a M.A. in Social Science Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Prior to entering graduate school, Christopher instructed classes in Advanced Placement Government, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomists at Bloomfield Hills Lahser high school. His teaching interests include public policy, political economy, economic development, the U.S. Congress, political parties and organizations, social policy, religion and politics and race and politics. He has instructed courses in State and Local Politics as well as Introduction to American Government. Christopher also taught the online version of State and Local Politics for two semesters. His CV and other information can be found at http://faricy.wordpress.com/

Patrick R. Miller is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His concentrations are American politics and quantitative research methodology. Patrick's main research interests include political psychology, public opinion, elections, and race. He has also completed the Certificate Program in Survey Methodology at the UNC Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. His current research program focuses on the role of emotion in political behavior. His dissertation, "Emotion as a Function of Sophistication: Bringing Emotion into Rational Political Thought and Action," examines the psychological processes that elicit emotion in reaction to political stimuli and the consequences of those processes for learning, attitude formation, and electoral behavior. This work argues against stereotypical notions that emotion is a low information heuristic, and shows strong evidence that political sophistication is the key mechanism that elicits emotion in political contexts. His dissertation employs a multi-method approach, utilizing existing national surveys, an original survey of 300 respondents, an experiment with over 800 participants across seven conditions, content analysis, and analysis of client-side paradata from original web surveys. Other projects he is currently working on examine ageism in candidate evaluations, racial threat in response to Latino population growth, and negativity in campaign advertising. Patrick has several manuscripts under review. He has taught in both on campus and online formats, and his previous courses include American Government, Political Psychology, Southern Politics, and State & Local Politics. Patrick’s teaching interests include American Politics, political behavior courses, campaigns and elections, the media, race, and survey and experimental methods. His CV and other information are available on his website: http://www.unc.edu/~millerpr

Jamie Monogan is spending the 2009-2010 academic year as a lecturer in applied statistics at Washington University in Saint Louis. His concentrations are in American politics and quantitative methodology. Jamie’s research focuses on the interplay between the mass public and political elites with respect to public opinion, elections, and policy making. His dissertation, The Long Term Consequences of Immigration Politics, studies what motivates elites’ position-taking strategies and what the consequences of this behavior are for the electorate. The dissertation includes both empirical and formal components. The empirical work focuses on state legislative behavior and state-level partisanship, while the formal work considers how elites deal with environments that are changing in predictable ways. Jamie has been published in The Journal of Politics , State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Publius, and The Political Methodologist.
Jamie has taken extensive course work in methodology at UNC. In addition he has participated in the EITM and ICPSR summer institutes. He has served as a statistical consultant at UNC’s Odum Institute and as a teaching assistant at ICPSR.
Jamie has taught Introduction to Government in the United States for three semesters as well as several methodological short courses at the Odum Institute. His courses at Washington University include Time Series Analysis and Spatial Data Analysis. His teaching interests include American government, public opinion, voting & elections, state politics & policy, introductory statistics, regression analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, structural equation modeling, and time series. Jamie is looking for a tenure-track position at a university which values research and publication. Jamie’s CV and other materials can be found at his webpage: http://stats.wustl.edu/~jmonogan/

Nicholas Pyeatt is a Ph.D. candidate with interests in congressional behavior, primaries, elections, and candidate entry. Nicholas’ dissertation, “Ideology and Candidate Emergence: Entrants Against Congressional Incumbents,” studies the effect of congressional ideology on the entry decisions of those challenging congressional incumbents in both primary and general House elections, and in Senate general elections. Two papers based on the dissertation are currently under review. In addition, Nicholas has several projects underway independent of the dissertation. He has made numerous presentations at academic conferences and has extensive experience as a teacher. Nicholas has taught four semesters of Analyzing Public Opinion and two semesters of Political Parties and Elections at UNC. This Fall, he will be teaching the American Political System at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. His teaching interests include American government, political parties, voting and elections, public opinion, Canadian politics, and introductory courses in European politics. Nicholas is looking for a tenure-track position at a college or university that values high quality teaching and research. Nicholas’ CV can be found at http://www.unc.edu/depts/polisci/grad_bio/pyeattV1-1.pdf

Patrick C. Wohlfarth is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His areas of concentration are American politics and quantitative research methodology. Patrick specializes in judicial politics, executive politics and interinstitutional politics. Specifically, his research examines judicial influence on the executive branch, bureaucratic politics, executive branch litigation on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the influence of public opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court. Patrick’s dissertation, How the Prospect of Judicial Review Shapes Bureaucratic Decision Making, examines the degree to which federal agencies alter their regulatory behavior as a means to avoid costly and potentially unfavorable litigation. The empirical study, which is supported by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, incorporates original data collection of regulatory behavior by the Environmental Protection Agency, National Labor Relations Board, and Federal Trade Commission.
Patrick’s published research has appeared in The Journal of Politics. He also has two research projects currently under review that have each received an invitation to “Revise and Resubmit” the manuscript, one from the American Journal of Political Science and the other from The Journal Politics. His teaching interests include American government, judicial politics, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Presidency, bureaucratic politics, constitutional law, introductory statistics & regression analysis, and time series analysis. Patrick has taught Introduction to Government in the United States for four semesters. He has also taught four semesters of The Adversary System, which is an introductory criminal justice course conducted through the UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center for Continuing Education. Patrick’s CV and other information are available on his website: http://www.unc.edu/~pcwohlf

Alixandra B. Yanus is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her scholarly interests lie in the areas of American politics and research methods, especially judicial politics and interest group politics. Her dissertation, “Neither Force Nor Will: A Theory of Judicial Power,” examines the traditional wisdom that the judiciary is a “hollow hope” because it cannot compel other policy actors to comply with its decisions. Using evidence from media coverage and interest group activity, she argues that this view underplays the tremendous agenda-setting power that the judiciary derives from its most fundamental function: the ability to make judgments.
Alixandra’s research has appeared in Justice System Journal and Law & Policy, as well as numerous edited books and other outlets. She is also an author of the bestselling American government textbook, American Government: Roots and Reform (with Karen O’Connor and Larry J. Sabato).
Alixandra has taught two semesters of Introduction to American Government in the classroom, and is currently teaching an online section of the same course. In addition to Introduction to American Government, she looks forward to teaching courses addressing judicial politics, public law, interest groups, women and politics, the media, state and local politics, and introductory research methods. More information is available on her website, www.unc.edu/~yanus/Home.html

International Relations

Andrew Pennock is an award winning teacher and Ph.D. candidate studying international relations, comparative politics, and public policy. His dissertation research centers on the political dynamics of trade, domestic inequality, and redistribution. As a course instructor, he received the John Patrick Hagan Award for best graduate student instructor in Political Science for teaching Introduction to International Politics. In the public policy arena, Andy has worked on the federal, state and local levels. To learn more about Andy, please visit his website: http://www.unc.edu/~pennock/

Joe Weinberg is currently a visiting lecturer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. His concentrations are in International Relations and Comparative Politics, while his research focuses on Trade Policy formation—particularly on the politics of protectionism. His dissertation “Determinants of Agriculture Protectionism” applies popular formal models of trade policy formation to the real world example of agriculture protectionism both in the United States and internationally. This empirical approach to trade policy is made possible by the wealth of data in the field of Agriculture Economics and Weinberg’s interdisciplinary approach to problem solving.
Joe has taught Introduction to Government in the United States as well as six semesters of Introduction to International Relations at UNC-Chapel Hill. Additionally, he has taught US Foreign Policy at UNC-Greensboro, Politics of Developing Areas at Western Carolina University, a Senior Humanities seminar at University of North Carolina-Asheville and now Western European Politics at Georgia Tech. His teaching interests range from International Relations and International Political Economy to research design and any number of interdisciplinary courses. Any interesting topic with interested students within the broad field of political science would be welcomed. Applications to public policy and the opportunity to extend university research to the public/private sector are of particular interest to this former Capitol Hill staffer. Joe is looking for a tenure-track position at a university which values teaching as well as research. Joe’s CV can be found at http://www.unc.edu/depts/polisci/grad_bio/joecv.pdf

Reed M. Wood is a graduate student in Political Science at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill.  His areas of concentration are international relations and comparative politics.  Reed’s research centers on the dynamics of civil conflict, political violence, and respect for human rights among both state and non-state actors.  His dissertation focuses on the formation of insurgent strategies of violence towards noncombatants during civil wars.  It argues that violence is used to compel collaboration and mobilize resources when rebels are unable to successfully compete with the package of incentives and disincentives offered by the government.  The severity and scope of violence varies with the capacity of the insurgents to offer a competitive collection of goods and services to potential supports.  Insurgent violence is therefore a function of the group's capabilities relative to the government as well as the counterinsurgency strategies adopted by state forces.  This project, which is supported in part by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, uses an original dataset that captures the types, frequency, and scope of violence against non-combatant populations during civil conflicts for the period 1995-2005.
Reed has published in /International Studies Quarterly/ and has articles forthcoming in /Journal of Peace Research/ and /Human Rights Quarterly/. Reed also co-manages the Political Terror Scale (PTS) along with Dr. Mark Gibney.  His teaching interests include political violence, conflict processes, and human rights (broadly defined).  Reed has taught introductory courses in international relations at UNC and for the John’s Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.  Before entering graduate school Reed worked as a middle and high school social studies teacher in North Carolina.  More information is available on his website at www.unc.edu/~rmwood

Political Theory

Hollie Mann is an American Association of University Women Fellow for the 2009-10 academic year. Her primary area of concentration is political theory, with a secondary focus in comparative politics. She specializes in modern and contemporary political thought with strong interests in care ethics, feminism, the body, Aristotle, and John Stuart Mill.Hollie is currently finishing her dissertation, “Caring and the Work of Politics: A Critical Theory of Embodied Care,” which investigates the relationship between politics, the body, and practices of care. Specifically, this work considers how a particular kind of embodied politics can activate and sustain an ethic that cultivates citizens’ capacities and desires to care. The dissertation makes three contributions to our study of care: First, care should be conceptualized as more than a means to other ends. Care not only helps us achieve political ends like autonomy, justice, and equality, but Hollie’s rendering of Aristotle on virtue and habit suggests that care is something we should also value in and of itself. Second, the best citizen is a caring one, a claim that contrasts deeply with conventional understandings of citizenship, both ancient and modern. Third, this critical theory of embodied care illuminates the relationship between bodies, inequality, and carework.
Hollie’s article, “John Stuart Mill 's Feminism: On Progress, the State, and Gender Equality,” was co-authored with Jeff Spinner-Halev and is forthcoming in Polity. This paper argues that most interpretations of Mill’s feminism suffer from a failure to look at Subjection alongside his writings on progress and change, as well as his related views on politics beyond the state, views that are unconventional for a liberal.
Having taken graduate courses in a wide range of contemporary and canonical political thought, as well as courses in philosophy and Women’s Studies, Hollie has benefited from studying with scholars working on political questions from different and productive angles within a range of traditions. She has taught Modern Political Thought and Feminism and Political Theory numerous times in the UNC Political Science Department, as well as an introductory course on teaching for first-year graduate students. She has also been a Future Faculty Fellow at the UNC Center for Teaching and Learning. Further teaching interests include the history of political thought, comparative political theory, ancient and medieval political thought, and ethics of care. Hollie is looking for a tenure-track position at a university or college that values both research and teaching. Her CV and other information can be found at http://web.me.com/holliesuemann