Department of Government Faculty

Lecturer

Lecturer

Richard Benedetto is a retired White House correspondent and columnist for USA Today and political columnist for Gannett News Service. He began teaching at AU in 2006. He reported on local, state and national government and politics for nearly 40 ye... [More]

Adjunct Associate Professor

Kamal Beyoghlow is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Government at American University but a full Professor of Strategy, the Middle East, N. Africa, and Islamic Studies at the US National War College.

Distinguished Adjunct Professor

Lecturer

Peter is a PhD student in the Department of Government writing a dissertation on Campaign Finance in American Elections. He also teaches Government 492 in the Fall Semester focusing on teaching political science. While at AU, Peter has done a number ... [More]

Assistant Professor

Kimberly Cowell-Meyers is Assistant Professor of Government. An AU alumna, she has taught at AU, St. Mary's College of Maryland and Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA. She is the author of Religion and Politics in the Nineteenth Centu... [More]

Professorial Lecturer

Mark Croatti teaches American Government and foreign policy-related courses at the American University, the George Washington University, the University of Maryland (College Park and Baltimore County) and the United States Naval Academy. He also cove... [More]

Associate Professor

Professor DeGregorio's research and teaching focuses on Congress, interest groups and political communications. In her recent book, Networks of Champions: Leadership, Access, and Advocacy, she examines the partnerships that form among officeholders, ... [More]

Assistant Professor

Dr. Diascro teaches courses on law and politics, and mass media and politics. After earning her doctorate in 1995, Dr. Diascro was on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Kentucky, where she was promoted with tenure... [More]

Assistant Professor

Chris Edelson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government teaching Civil Rights and Liberties. Prior to joining the AU faculty, Professor Edelson practiced employment discrimination law in Washington, D.C. and New York and also served a... [More]

Department Chair, Government

Professor Eisenstadt is chair of the Government Department. He studies democratization, identity and social movements, public opinion, political parties, and election finance, mainly in Latin America. His most recent manuscript Politics, Identity, an... [More]

Professor Emeritus

Assistant Professor

Borden Flanagan’s area of expertise is the history of Western political philosophy. His teaching and research interests include ancient, renaissance, modern and postmodern political philosophy, the theoretical principles of American government, and t... [More]

Lecturer

Don Fulsom is a freelance writer/editor/researcher who was a White House correspondent during the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton presidencies—and a UPI bureau chief in Washington for seven years. He is the political correspondent for the We... [More]

Professorial Lecturer

R. Sam Garrett holds a Ph.D. in political science, M.P.A. and B.A. (summa cum laude), all from American University’s School of Public Affairs. He serves as Analyst in American National Government at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Cong... [More]

Assistant Professor

Professor Glover teaches and does research in the field of comparative politics, with a concentration on Africa. Her past work has focused on democratic transition and consolidation in multi-ethnic states. She has lived and worked in southern Africa,... [More]

Professor Emerita

Director, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies

Eric Hershberg is Director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and Professor of Government at American University. From 2007-2009 he was Professor of Political Science and Director of Latin American Studies at Simon Fraser University,... [More]

Professor

Gregg Ivers is professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University, where he teaches constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, landmark law cases and numerous other courses that meet at the intersection of law, politics and society... [More]

Professorial Lecturer

Mark Kahan is an attorney and businessman. Beginning in 1972, he worked to reform energy and communications regulation at the New York Public Service Commission. In 1977, he moved to the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C. to deregulate the a... [More]

Adjunct Associate Professor

Victor Kamber has been associated with American University since 1966--attending the law school and serving as an adjunct professor in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and presently. Victor is a prodigious writer. He is the author of four books. His frequent ar... [More]

Associate Professor

Professor Lane's research and teaching interests focus on Comparative Politics, Research Methodology; and include Computer Modeling and Cognitive Science. She is the author of the recently published The Art of Comparative Politics and Political Scien... [More]

Associate Professor

Jennifer L. Lawless graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a B.A. in political science. She went on to receive an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. A nationally recognized expert on women's involvement... [More]

Assistant Professor

Adrienne LeBas (Ph.D., Columbia University) joined the Department of Government in the fall of 2009.  Prior to joining AU, LeBas was a Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, and Assistant Professor of Political Science ... [More]

Dean, School of Public Affairs

Dean of the School of Public Affairs and a specialist in Latin American politics and U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America, Professor LeoGrande has been a frequent adviser to government and private sector agencies. He has written five books, the l... [More]

Associate Professor

Alan M. Levine is an associate professor of political theory in the Department of Government. He previously taught at the University of Vermont and has been a Fellow at the Institute of United States Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of L... [More]

Lecturer

Andrew Lewis is a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Affairs, with fields in American Politics and Justice, Law, and Society. He is currently working on his dissertation which looks at how the internal politics of a denominational interest gr... [More]

Assistant Professor

Dr. Lu studies local governance, the political economy of institutional change, public opinion and political participation. He works extensively with standardized sampling survey data and qualitative evidence compiled following the anthropological tr... [More]

Professor

Since receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard, David Lublin has authored two books, The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress and The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change. He has published artic... [More]

Lecturer

Christopher Malagisi is the Director of Political & Online Training at The Leadership Institute (LI) in Arlington, VA – a national conservative political training organization. He is responsible for training and organizing the Institute’s political, ... [More]

Professorial Lecturer

Matt Mandel currently serves as Legislative Director for Rep. Cliff Stearns (FL-06). He is the Congressman’s chief legislative advisor with a focus on the Congressman’s work on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Prior to his current position,... [More]

Assistant Professor

Thomas W. Merrill is an assistant professor in the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs at American University. His research and teaching interests include political philosophy, especially early modern political philosophy, bioeth... [More]

Lecturer

Kim Moloney is a Ph.D. Candidate in Public Administration at the School of Public Affairs. She expects to defend her dissertation in early 2010. Her dissertation, “Understanding the World Bank as an Organization: A Study of its Public Sector Manageme... [More]

Ambassador in Residence

Associate Professor

Candice J. Nelson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government. She is an expert on presidential and congressional elections, and also studies voting behavior, campaign finance, and campaign finance reform.

Associate Professor

Saul Newman is an associate professor in the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC. He received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the Department of Politics, Princeton University. Since then he has tau... [More]

Distinguished Professor

Born in Buffalo, NY, Professor O’Connor received her undergraduate, doctoral, and juris doctoral degrees from SUNY Buffalo. She then taught political science for seventeen years at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. In 1995, Professor O’Connor moved to... [More]

Adjunct Professor

Walter J. Oleszek is senior specialist in American national government at the Congressional Research Service. In 1993, he served as policy director of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. He is an adjunct professor of political scienc... [More]

Assistant Professor

Barbara Palmer is an expert on congressional elections and the success of women candidates. She is co-author of Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling, with Dennis Simon of Southern Methodist University, a book that explores how incumbency and redistri... [More]

Lecturer

Linda Mancillas Patterson is a Women's Research and Education Institute Congressional Fellow for 2010. During this fellowship, she will be working on public policy issues in the office of Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) from January to August 2010.... [More]

Lecturer

Julia Piscitelli is an expert on politics, media, congress and campaigns. She holds a Master’s of Public Administration from the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from Boston University. Her background is in political and media strate... [More]

Assistant Professor

Professor Reed specializes in parties and interest groups, campaigns and elections, and election and campaign finance law. Currently, Professor Reed is researching the voter mobilization strategies of parties, interest groups, and candidate campaigns... [More]

Assistant Professor

Jill Rickershauser just joined the AU community in the Fall of 2008. She feels very fortunate to begin her faculty career at a university with such engaged students and in such an exciting city.

Professorial Lecturer

Scholar in Residence

Maurice Roumani was Associate Professor of Political Science and Middle East Studies, as well as the founder and Director of the J.R. Elyachar Center for the Study of Sephardi Heritage at Ben-Gurion University. Dr. Roumani has held research and teach... [More]

Assistant Professor

Shanaysha Furlow Sauls is an assistant professor of political theory in the Department of Government. Prior to her appointment at American University, Dr. Sauls taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Hood College in Frederick, Mar... [More]

Assistant Professor

Professor Sherman brings over two decades of teaching, research and administrative experience to her classes in American Politics. As founding director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, D... [More]

Lecturer

Bill Shields is Director of Membership and Governance at the Chief Executives Organization, a select community of 2,000 leaders in 50 countries who serve at the highest levels of corporations, government and non-profit entities and who have distingui... [More]

Adjunct Professor

Michael Siegel is a Senior Training Specialist in the Division of Education, The Federal Judicial Center, Washington, D.C. He organizes, conducts, and evaluates education and training programs for federal court personnel in the areas of change manag... [More]

Associate Professor

Dr. Singerman is an Associate Professor and comparativist whose research interests focus on political change from below, particularly in the Middle East, and more specifically Egypt. Her work examines the formal and informal side of politics, gender,... [More]

Associate Professor

Professor Sykes's teaching and research focus on U.S. government and political development, comparative politics, public policy and administration, democratic theory, and gender studies. She is the author of several books and articles on comparative ... [More]

Assistant Professor

Dr. Jordan Tama specializes in national security policy and the foreign policymaking process. His PhD dissertation examined how national security advisory commissions can trigger important reforms. Dr. Tama has published articles on foreign affairs t... [More]

Associate Professor

Professor Taylor's teaching and research focus on urban politics, the politics of race and ethnicity, civil rights and liberties, and political culture both in the U.S. and West Africa. Among his published works include the book "Desegregation in Bos... [More]

Distinguished Professor

James A. Thurber is University Distinguished Professor of Government and Founder (1979) and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies (american.edu/ccps) at American University, Washington, D.C. Under his direction, CCPS organ... [More]

Professorial Lecturer

Carol Whitney is Co-Program Director of the Campaign Management Institute. She is a well-known political consultant whose firm, Whitney and Associates, Inc., specializes in strategic planning and training in politics, government, and the private sect... [More]

Lecturer

Tom Williams served on the staff of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for more than 25 years. When he left the Committee in January of 1999 and retired from federal service, he was the Democratic Staff Director under Arkansas Senat... [More]