News & Events

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  UH Political Science Mayoral Runoff Poll Shows Whitmire in the Lead

  UH Political Science faculty members Jeronimo Cortina and Brandon Rottinghaus completed a poll about the upcoming Houston Mayoral runoff. The results are summarized here: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/polls/2023/11/27/470475/john-whitmire-leads-sheila-jackson-lee-in-houstons-mayoral-runoff-new-poll-finds/

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  In Memoriam: Francisco Cantu (1983-2023)

  Our community remembers the life and career of Associate Professor Francisco Cantu.

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  Records Shattered by NCAA Medalists

  Houston track and field junior De’Vion Wilson (POLS major) medaled and broke school records at the NCAA Championships. The Houston men finished the championships with 17.33 points, the most points earned by the Cougars since 2019.

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  Mentored Teaching Program a Success

  Six PhD students from the University of Houston and Rice University completed the "Mentored Teaching Practicum," a program sponsored by an APSA Centennial Grant.  This unique program matched the six students with a mentor from Houston Community College (HCC) who instructed them on best practices for engaging community college students.  The students then taught their own classes at HCC, consulting with their mentors along the way.

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  Professor Simas' Paper Wins Award

  Professor Elizabeth Simas co-authored a paper that won the 2023 Lupia-Mutz award for best publication using Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences data.  The committee reported that they "received nearly 20 nominations, all of which were excellent. Yet, [Simas's] paper really stood out as superb."  The paper is entitled "Moral Rhetoric, Extreme Positions, and Perceptions of Candidate Sincerity."

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  PhD Student Samantha Chapa wins Scholarship

  Congratulations to Samantha Chapa, who has been selected as one of the fellows in our Public Scholarship Program 2023-2024. These fellows work with We are excited to work with the American Political Science Association to produce public facing summaries of the articles published by the American Political Science Review.

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  PhD Student Dissertation Awards

  PhD Student Naomi Nubin was awarded the Jo Ann Gibson Robinson Dissertation Award for her project "Faces of Citizenship: Intersectionality, Welfare Generosity, and Citizen-Engagement in the Era of Partisan Polarization", from the Association for the Study of Black Women in Politics.  In addition, Nubin was also selected as a 2023-2024 PhD Dissertation Visiting Fellow by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.  Congratulations Naomi!

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  PhD Student Selected for Executive Council

  PhD Student Naomi Nubin was recently selected to be the Graduate Student Representative for the Executive Council of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS).  Nubin is the first student in our program’s history to be selected for this role, which is an extraordinary honor.  More information about NCOBPS can be found here.
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  UH Professor on the 118th Congress

  Associate Professor Jason Casellas took part in an APSA webinar, "Making Sense of the 118th Congress: What's Happened and What to Expect." Watch the video HERE, which is part of APSA's new Educate series of videos.
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  Professors Awarded $95,000 Grant

  Associate Professors Jennifer Clark and Boris Shor were awarded a $95,000 grant from the Energy Transition Institute at UH. The project will study the politics of renewable energy policies at the state level to understand what the political conditions are to enable the innovation, introduction, and spread of carbon mitigation policies. The grant will fund original surveys and graduate student Research Assistants.
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  Professor Casellas Helps ABC News on Election Night

  Professor Jason Casellas joined the ABC News "Decision Desk" to analyze 2022 midterm election returns. Casellas is fourth from the left in the picture above.
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  PhD Student Burak Giray Receives Prestigious Fellowship

  PhD Student Burak Giray has received a DAAD PRIME Postdoctoral Fellowship that will fund him for 18 months to do research in Germany and Sweden. Giray was one of 22 fellows selected from 231 applicants for this prestigious grant. He will be working on a project that will create an original dataset on the effect of public services that international peacekeepers provide to countries in conflict.
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  Graduate Students Taking Part in Selective Institute

  PhD students Naomi Nubin and Samantha Chapa were recently selected for a highly competitive summer fellowship through the American Political Science Association's Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER). Nubin's research focuses on welfare policy in the US, and she plans to use this fellowship to promote accessibility and to bridge the gap between research and advocacy. Chapa's research interests include race, ethnicity, immigration, and politics. Through this opportunity, she hopes to create research that improves the lives of diverse groups, such as migrants.

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  Professors Simas and Badas Win Best Article Award

  Associate Professor Elizabeth Simas and Assistant Professor Alex Badas have been awarded Best Law and Courts Journal Article for their joint publication, "The Supreme Court as an Electoral Issue: Evidence from Three Studies," which appeared in "Political Science Research and Methods (2021): 1-19."

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  Professor Kistner Wins Best Dissertation Award

  Assistant Professor Michael Kistner has been awarded the Christopher Z. Mooney Best Dissertation Prize for his dissertation, "Fundraising for the Caucus: Money, Party Politics, and Policymaking in American Legislatures," in the category of best PhD dissertation in American state politics and policy in 2021.

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  POLS Professors Win Major UH Awards

  Ryan Kennedy has received the Excellence in Scholarship and Research Award at the level of Associate Professor at the University of Houston. Associate Dean and Professor Susan Scarrow has been awarded the CLASS Distinguished Faculty Award. Associate Professor Elizabeth Simas won the CLASS Ross Lence Teaching Excellence Award.