I study agenda-setting in public policymaking and institutional change in democratic institutions. My books and current projects have explored a variety of institutional changes (the rise in the use of omnibus legislation in Congress, the decline in the use of treaties to codify US international policy and the rise in Presidential use of Executive Agreements). Current projects explore the establishment and evolution of the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, devolution and agenda-setting in the UK, and the decline of member engagement in the US Congress. In terms of policy areas, I study environmental policy, health policy, water policy, Native American policy, higher education policy, and US foreign policy.
keywords
Political Institutions: Congress and Legislative Institutions, Institutional Change, the Presidency, Presidential-Congressional Relations, Political Parties and Interest Groups, Federalism. Public Policy & Administration: Agenda-Setting & Policy Change, Environmental Policy (Western water policy), Health Policy, Domestic Politics of US Foreign Policy, Native American Policy, Budgeting Politics & Process, Higher Education Policy. Research Methods: Research Design, Quantitative Techniques.
Teaching
courses taught
PSCI 3011 - The American Presidency and the Executive Branch
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2025 / Fall 2025
Examines the constitutional, institutional and historical development of the presidency and the federal bureaucracy. Explores the changing role of the executive branch in the U.S. political system over time and competing views of executive power.
PSCI 3163 - American Foreign Policy
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Examines foundations, assumptions, objectives, dynamics, and methods of U.S. foreign policy since WWII. Gives special attention to domestic and external problems of adapting U.S. policy to the changing world environment. Recommended prerequisite: PSCI 2223.
PSCI 4028 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025 / Fall 2025 / Spring 2026
Offers subjects not covered by existing courses. Offered when the department approves a special topic. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours for different topics.
PSCI 4716 - Selected Policy Problems
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2026
Integrates general principles of policy inquiry with documents and other literature on specific problems in public policy, in order to evaluate courses of action. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours on different topics.
PSCI 7126 - Introduction to Public Policy
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2026
Designed for graduate students specializing in the field of public policy in the political science program. Surveys a wide variety of approaches to the analysis and understanding of public policy. The course is not a survey of any particular set of substantiative policy areas but instead is intended as an examination of the enduring puzzles that analysts of public policy commonly confront, the kinds of research methodologies that they employ, and a selection of the techniques that they bring to bear on their research questions.
