Hire Our Students 

Our graduate program emphasizes rigorous and pluralistic methodological training along with a solid education in every branch of political inquiry.

Find out more information about our students on the job market:

Minhye Joo

Email: mjoo009@ucr.edu

Website: https://minhyejoo.github.io

Field of study:  American Politics and Mass Behavior

Dissertation title: How Does Contact with Street-Level Bureaucrats Impact Immigrant Incorporation?

Dissertation advisor: Jennifer L. Merolla and Nicholas Weller

Selected Working Papers:

“Where the American Dream Begins: How Does Contact with Street-Level Bureaucrats Impact Political Attitudes among Immigrants?”

“Ambition in the Time of Covid: How Caregiving Shapes Women’s Interest in Running for Office,” Co-authored, Under Review

“Conditional Love: When Do American Accept Undocumented Immigrants?” with Jieun S. Park

Awards:

American Political Science Association’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, 2023-2024

Russell Sage Foundation’s Dissertation Research Grant Scholarship, 2023-2024

UCR Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Research Grant, Fall 2023

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards, 2023-2024

Center for Ideas and Society’s Humanities Graduate Student Research Grant, 2023

Gabbert Fund Award for Dissertation Research, Winter 2023

ICPSR Department Award, Summer 2022

Fulya Felicity Turkmen

Email: fturk001@ucr.edu

Website: https://www.fulyafelicityturkmen.com

Field of study:  Comparative Politics/International Relations

Dissertation title: Remote Control?: Authoritarian Diaspora Engagement Policies and Emigrant Political Behavior

Dissertation advisor: Kim Yi Dionne

Publications: 

“Shifting Between Modes and Roles in Participant Observation.” 2023. Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 21(2), 41-44.

“Undergraduates and Political Science Research: Insights from Research Assistants in a Minority-Serving Institution Lab” with Zabdi R. Velásquez, Jasmine Esmail, Harry Stoltz, Owura Kuffuor, John Burnett, Naia Pizarro, Kimberly Aguilar, Allison Wang, Alex Kozak, Eun-A Park, and Kim Yi Dionne. (2023). PS: Political Science & Politics.

“Gender, Mobility, and Displacement: From the Shadows to Questioning Binaries” with Deniz Senol-Sert. 2022.  Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies.

“Othering and Blame During COVID-19:First Impressions and Lessons from Previous Pandemics” with Kim Yi Dionne. 2020.  International Organization.

Awards:

Princeton Dissertation Scholar Award (Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice)

UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) Dissertation Fellowship

Dissertation Year Program (DYP) Award

Humanities Graduate Student Research Grant

Gabbert Fund Award for Dissertation Research

Justin Freebourn 

Email: justin.freebourn@gmail.com

Website: justinfreebourn.com

Field of study:  American Politics/Mass Behavior

Dissertation title: Fiscal Policy Preferences in the U.S. Context: Theory, measurement, and practice

Dissertation advisor: Jennifer Merolla

Publications: 

"Preferences for Single-party versus Multi-party Governments in the Mass Public” with Shaun Bowler, Todd Donovan, and Jack Vowles. 2024. Party Politics.

"The Power of Equality? Polarization and Collective Mis-representation on Gay Rights in Congress, 1989–2019” with Benjamin Bishin and Paul Teten. 2020. Political Research Quarterly.

"Constituent communication through telephone town halls: A field experiment involving members of Congress” with Claire Abernathy, Kevin Esterling, Ryan Kennedy, William Minozzi, Michael Neblo, and Jonathan Solis. Legislative Studies Quarterly.

Working Papers:

"Scientific Duty: On a socio-politico-technical model of ideology” submitted to Journal of Politics.

"Quantitative Textualism: A computational method and legal theory for drawing valid inferences from survey data” submitted to American Journal of Political Science.

“Towards an Integrative, Mathematical Model of Corporate Social Responsibility in Market-based Economic Systems” submitted to Academy of Management Perspectives.

“Policy Solidarity: Revisiting the Agrarian Theory of Justice” with Victoria Lam. Submitted to Academy of Management Perspectives.

Awards:

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2018, 2022

Sean Long 

Email: slong008@ucr.edu

Website: https://seandlong.github.io/

Fields of Study: Mass Political Behavior, Political Theory

Dissertation Title: The Politics of White Violence

Dissertation Advisors: Loren Collingwood and Farah Godrej

Publications:

"White identity, Donald Trump, and the mobilization of extremism". 2022. Politics, Groups, and Identities, DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2022.2025868

"Demographic Change, White Decline, and the Changing Nature of Racial Politics in Election Campaigns" with Loren Collingwood and Stephanie DeMora. 2022.. In D. Osborne & C. Sibley (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 228-242). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

 "Can States Promote Minority Representation? Assessing the Effects of the California Voting Rights Act" with Loren Collingwood. 2021. Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 57(3) 731–762, DOI: 10.1177/1078087419896854

Working Papers:

"Whites Don’t Punish Politicians for Explicit Racial Appeals," with Charles Crabtree, Under Review

"Emotional Engagement in the Year of the Woman" with Stephanie DeMora, Christian Lindke, Jennifer Merolla, and Maricruz Osorio, Under Review

"Women and Political Ambition: Running for Us or Running for Me?" with Stephanie DeMora, Christian Lindke, Jennifer Merolla, and Maricruz Osorio, Under Review

Awards:

Graduate Student Mentorship Award: Dissertation related grant providing funding for one quarter to focus on research, UCR Political Science Department, Fall 2021

Graduate Student Research Award: Grant to field a survey experiment, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2021

ICPSR Departmental Award: Funding to attend Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2020

Digital Humanities Fellowship: Funding to attend the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria, UCR Graduate Quantitative Methods Center, Summer 2019

Eric Benjamin Mackey

Email: emack006@ucr.edu.edu

Website: ebmackey87.wixsite.com/mackeyeric/

Fields of Study: Political Theory

Dissertation Title: Elite Philanthropy, Neoliberal Distortive Ideology, and Democratic Theory: How Democracy Can Respond to the Power of Wealthy Philanthropists.

Dissertation Advisors: John Medearis

Working Papers: 

“Toward a Critique and Embrace of Ideology in Deliberative Democratic Theory.”

“Philanthropy and Disciplinary Gratitude.” 

Awards:

Graduate Research Mentorship: Dissertation-related grant providing for one quarter to focus on research, UCR Political Science Department, Winter 2022.

Nicholas T. Willis, PhD

Email: ntwillis15@gmail.com

Website: www.nicholastwillis.com/

Fields of Study: Comparative Politics, Political Theory

Dissertation Title: Pathways to Populism: Economics, Culture, and Ideological Convergence

Dissertation Advisors: Indriði H. Indriðason

Working Papers:

Willis, N. T. Ideological Convergence: Explaining Left and Right Populist Party Voter’s Behavior [Working Paper]. Department of Political Science, University of California - Riverside.

Indriðason, I. H. & Willis, N. T.  Competing with Allies (working title) [Working Paper]. Department of Political Science, University of California - Riverside.

Awards:

IQMR Departmental Award: Funding to attend the Institute for Qualitative & Multi-Method Research at Syracuse University, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2020