The McCourtney Institute for Democracy has supported the work of more than 50 faculty and graduate students in the College of the Liberal Arts since 2019:
2024 Grant recipients
- Anthony Albanese, sociology PhD student, for “When the Leader Falls: Invincibility and Charisma as Interpreted by the Far Right”
- Ugyan Choedup, post- doctoral teaching fellow of history, for “Colonial Genealogies of Tibetan Democracy in Exile”
- Elaine Hui, associate professor of labor and employment relations and Asian studies, for “Impact of Chinese Multinational Corporations in the U.S. on Industrial Democracy”
- Kayla M. Kemp, sociology and criminology PhD student, for “Segregation Academies as Potential Sources of Social Polarization”
- Jacob Lee, associate professor of history, for “The Laws of Nations: Legal Jurisdiction and the Struggle for Sovereignty in Indian Territory”
- Valerie Li, political science PhD student, for “Drivers Of “Connective Actions: An Experimental Study of The Determinants of Protest Spillovers in Authoritarian Contexts”
- Tommaso M. Milani, George C. and Jane G. Greer Professor of Applied Linguistics, Jewish studies, African studies, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, for “Political Polarization in Online Discourse about Israel/Palestine on U.S. College Campuses”
- Vineeta Yadav, associate professor of political science, and Bumba Mukherjee, professor of political science, for “Female Leaders, Conflict-Affected Rural Zones, and Civic Engagement: Evidence from Field Experiments”
- Muyun Zhou, comparative literature and Asian studies PhD student, for “Circulatory Entanglement: An Interethnic Genealogy of the Baodiao Movement”
2023 GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Jamie Henton, history PhD student, for “Reclaiming the Sacred Heart: Choctaw Spaces and Places in the Segregated South, 1945-1970”
- Jake Nabel, Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and assistant professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies for “Democracy without Liberalism: Paradigms of Collective Self-Government from the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East”
- Nitheesha Nakka, political science PhD student, for “Race, Gender, and Digital Politics: Examining Subnational Political Elites on Twitter”
- Flora Oswald, psychology PhD student, for “A Visual Lens on Protest Depiction.”
- James Piazza, Liberal Arts Professor of Political Science, for “Misogyny, anti-Democratic Attitudes, and Tolerance of Political Violence”
- Dorothea Roumpi, LER Alumni Endowed Early Career Professor and assistant professor of human resource management, for “Diffusion of Organizational Transgender-Friendliness Through an Interlocking Directory Network: The Role of Corporate Elite’s Political Ideology”
- Daniel L. Tavana, assistant professor of political science, for The Kuwait National Election Study
- Christopher Thrasher, history PhD student, for “Against the American Confederacy: the American Revolution and the Native South”
2022 GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Daryl Cameron, associate professor of psychology, for “Empathic Choices, Democratic Norms, and Moral Responsibility” was a 2023 Society for Personality and Social Psychology fellow
- Gary Fong, political science PhD student, for “Do Voters Perceive Politicians as Authoritarians?”
- Edward P. Green, history PhD student, for “Nation Building and the Development of Interdependent Sovereignty in the Choctaw Nation, 1700-1920”
- Elizabeth Kadetsky, associate professor of English, for “The Tanesar Mothers: Ethics, Global Voices, and Museums”
- Publication: “The Goddess Complex,” The American Scholar, March 2023
- Sara Liao, assistant professor of Asian studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, for “Contentious Politics: Digital Media and Transnational Feminist Activism”
- Video podcast: “Digital Intimacy: Young Women and Social Transformation in Asia,” June 2022
- Arif Memovic, political science PhD student, for “Understanding How Individual Level Attributes of Those Committing Political Violence Affect Americans Attitudes Regarding Punishment”
- AnneMarie Mingo, assistant professor of African American studies, for “Foundations for Political Freedom: Black Women’s Political Organizing in the Southern United States”
- Publication: Have You Got Good Religion?: Black Women’s Faith, Courage, and Moral Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, University of Illinois Press, March 2024
- Fernando Ismael Quiñones Valdivia, communication arts and sciences PhD student, for “Undocumented Time: Rhetorics of a Colonial Moment”
- Publication: “Colonial Imaginations: Solitude in the Cartas y Relaciones of Hernán Cortés,” Philosophy and Rhetoric, July 2022
- Dara Walker, assistant professor of African American studies, for “High School Rebels: Black Power, Education, and Youth Politics in the Motor City, 1966–1973” is currently writing her book manuscript, High School Rebels: Black Power, Education, and Youth Politics in the Motor City, 1966-1972
- Wayne Wapeemukwa, philosophy PhD student, for “Partisans of the Soil: Land, Race, Capital, and Indigenous Dispossession, 1870–1920”
- Christopher Zorn, professor of political science, for “Public Defenders in Pennsylvania: Resources, Results, and Ramifications”
2021 GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Austin Gaffin, comparative literature and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies PhD student, for “Homophilia as Filiation: The Then and There of Democratic Inclusion in Postwar France”
- Simon F. Haeder, assistant professor of public policy, for “Politics and Medicare Advantage: How Privatizing Medicare Affects Public Opinion Among America’s Seniors”, presented the paper “Beyond Covid: The New Politics of the Safety Net,” at the APPAM 2022 fall conference
- Tom Hogan, professor of practice, School of Labor and Employment Relations, for “Virtual Transformational Leadership Development Experience”
- Publication: “The Virtual Transformational Leadership Development Experience: Creating a Classroom of the Future,” International Journal of Business & Management Research, June 2021
- Jia Li, political science PhD student, for “Mark Dictators’ Calendars: Election Schedule sand Political Participation in Autocracies”
- Publication: “How Personalist Parties Undermine State Capacity in Democracies,” Comparative Political Studies, March 2023
- Catherine Mendel, anthropology PhD student, for “Unseen Moral Ecologies and Conservation: How Inclusion in Natural Spaces Impacts Engagement”
- Bumba Mukherjee, professor of political science, for “Party Systems, Financial Crisis and Right-Wing Authoritarian Populists in Developing Country Democracies”
- Publication: Chapter 12: “Authoritarian regimes and the reversal of economic reforms,” in Research Handbook on Authoritarianism, May 2024
- James Piazza, Liberal Arts Professor of Political Science, for “Elite Incivility, Political Polarization, Trust in Political Institutions and Support for Political Violence in Democracies”
- Publication: “Demographic Change Threat, Preference for Nondemocratic Governance, and Support for Political Violence,” Social Science Quarterly, June 2024
- Publication: “Political Polarization and Political Violence,” Security Studies, June 2023
- Eric Silver, professor of sociology and criminology, for “Public Sphere Polarization: A Focus on Moral Intuitions, Political Ideology, Systemic Racism Beliefs, and Christian Nationalism”
- Publication: “Social Order and Social Justice: Moral Intuitions, Systemic Racism Beliefs, and Americans’ Divergent Attitudes Toward Black Lives Matter and Police,” Criminology, February 2022
- Pamela VanHaitsma, assistant professor communication arts and sciences and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, for “The Erotic as Rhetorical Power for Civic Engagement: Teaching, Speaking, and Writing by Romantic Friends, 1848–1922”
- Publication: “LGBTQ+ Epistolary Rhetoric/Letter Writing,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, March 2021
2020 GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Eliana Hadjiandreou, psychology PhD student, for “Empathic Response and Prosocial Intentions Between Political Outgroups”
- Publication: “The Role of Comparative Victim Beliefs in Predicting Support for Hostile Versus Prosocial Intergroup Outcomes,” European Journal of Social Psychology, February 2021
- Publication: “Stereotypes About Compassion Across the Political Spectrum,” Emotion, April 2022
- Jens-Uwe Guettel, associate professor of history and German, for “Radical Democracy in Germany 1871-1918” was awarded a NEH Fellowship for his book on Radical Democracy in Germany, 1871-1923
- Michele Kennerly, associate professor of communication arts and sciences for “Automatic Athens: Technology, Place, and Democratic Promise, 1820-2020”
- Publication: “Cybernetics in the Republic,” History of the Human Sciences, February 2023
- Cyanne Loyle, associate professor of political science, for “Rebel Rules: The Impact of Rebel Group Judiciaries on Democracy and Rule of Law”
- Publication: “Rebel Justice during Armed Conflict,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, July 2020
- K. Bailey Thomas, philosophy PhD Student, for “Insidious Ignorance”
- Publication: “Intersectionality and Epistemic Erasure: A Caution to Decolonial Feminism,” Hypatia, June 2020
- Joseph Wright, professor of political science, for “Technology and the Personalization of Politics”
- Publication: “The Digital Dictators: How Technology Strengthens Autocracy,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2020
- Wayne Yeung, comparative literature PhD student, for “The Nation and its Discontents: Ethnographies of the People from the Peripheries”
2019 GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Brendan Bolte, political science PhD student, for “Rebel Electoral Competition and Local Economic Reconstruction After Civil War”
- Publication: “Security Consolidation in the Aftermath of Civil War: Explaining the Fates of Victorious Militias,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, March 2021
- Kerby Goff, sociology PhD student, for “Protestant Missionaries, NGO formation and Contemporary Civil Society”
- Publication: “Organizations and Religious Restrictions: An International Overview of the Intersection of State and Non-Governmental Organizations and Religious Groups,” Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, September 2021
- Sophia McClennen, professor of comparative literature and international studies, for “The Revolution will be Satirized”
- Publication: Pranksters vs. Autocrats (2020 Brown Democracy Medal), March 2023
- Michael Nelson, associate professor of political science, for “Do Incumbents Benefit from Attacks on Democratic Institutions?”
- Publication: “The Costs of Court Curbing: Evidence from the United States,” The Journal of Politics, April 2023
- Eric Plutzer, professor of political science, and Joe Phillips, political science PhD student, for “Negative Emotions, Hope, and Political Mobilization”
- Publication: “Reassessing the Effects of Emotion on Turnout,” The Journal of Politics, July 2023
- Vineeta Yadav, associate professor of political science, for “Elite Religiosity and its Consequences for Democratic Institutions and liberal Civil Liberties: A Comparative Study of India”
- Publication: Religious Parites and the Politics of Civil Liberties, April 2021