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Jan E. Leighley Named Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at AU School of Public Affairs

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Jan Leighley

The school is also hiring three new senior faculty members in the departments of Government and Public Administration and Policy.

Jan E. Leighley, professor of government at the School of Public Affairs (SPA), has been named interim senior associate dean for academic affairs for the school. In this newly-created position, she will provide leadership in the area of faculty affairs and graduate programming and will be responsible for all faculty actions, the handling of all issues that arise concerning faculty and graduate students in the school, and graduate and executive education curriculum planning and growth. Leighley assumes these responsibilities immediately and reports to SPA Dean Barbara S. Romzek.

Leighley has been a tenured faculty member in SPA’s Department of Government since 2010. Her research and teaching interests focus on American political behavior, voter turnout, media and politics, and racial/ethnic political behavior. She has published in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and American Politics Quarterly, among others. Her two books include Strength in Numbers? The Political Mobilization of Racial and Ethnic Minorities, (Princeton University Press), and Mass Media and Politics: A Social Science Perspective.” She served as editor (with Kim Quaile Hill) of the American Journal of Political Science from 2000-2004 and currently serves with Bill Mishler (University of Arizona) as editor of The Journal of Politics. She is currently working on a book-length manuscript on voter turnout in the U.S. from 1972 to 2008, co-authored with Jonathan Nagler (NYU). Formerly, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University and the University of Arizona, Leighley holds a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis.

Three Senior Faculty Searches Open in Departments of Government and Public Administration and Policy

SPA invites applications from accomplished scholars for the permanent position of senior associate dean for academic affairs and professor in one of the school’s three departments: Government; Justice, Law and Society; and Public Administration and Policy. The appointment will be at the rank of full professor with tenure. The position, which will begin in summer 2013, no later than August 15, 2013, offers the unique professional, research, social, and cultural opportunities of a top-ranked school and university located in Washington, D.C. In addition, the position offers the opportunity to take a critical role in formulating school policy and development and to serve on a dynamic leadership team.

The school also seeks applications for a tenure-line associate professor in civic engagement; a tenure-line associate professor in political communications; and a tenured department chair position in the Department of Public Administration and Policy.