Faculty

Primary Faculty

Brian Blankenship

Brian Blankenship

Asst. Professor

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Brian Blankenship is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami. He joined the department in the fall of 2019. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of international relations, international security, and international cooperation, with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the politics of...
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Jennifer Marie Connolly

Jennifer Marie Connolly

Assoc. Professor

(305) 284-2401
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Jennifer M. Connolly is a public management scholar with a focus on local governance. Her research is motivated by a desire to understand how local governments can best serve the interests of their residents through their management structure, their policies, and the services they provide. Dr. Connolly’s research centers on three broad...
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Cali A Curley

Cali A Curley

Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies

(305) 284-6867
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Cali Curley joins the University of Miami as an Assistant Professor from the O'Neill School at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Cali earned her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Florida State University in 2014. Her primary research emphasis is on local government policy design and adoption, specifically...
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Louise K. Davidson-Schmich

Louise K. Davidson-Schmich

Professor

(305) 284-2143
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Louise K. Davidson-Schmich is Professor of Political Science and Director of Undergraduate Studies/ Associate Chair for Political Science. Her research interests include gender and politics as well as politics in long-term democracies. Davidson-Schmich is the author or editor of five books including the forthcoming Gender, Leadership and Crisis:...
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June Teufel Dreyer

June Teufel Dreyer

Professor

(305) 284-2403
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JUNE TEUFEL DREYER is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, where she teaches courses on China, U.S. defense policy, and international relations. Professor Dreyer has lectured to, and taught a course for, National Security Agency analysts, consults for organizations including the National Geographic...
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Laura Gómez-Mera

Laura Gómez-Mera

Assoc. Professor

(305) 284-3116
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Laura Gomez-Mera is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of International Political Economy (IPE) and Political Economy of Development, with a regional focus on Latin America. She holds a doctorate (DPhil) in  International Relations...
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George A Gonzalez

George A Gonzalez

Professor

(305) 284-1738
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George A. Gonzalez (Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1997) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He has been at the University of Miami since 1999. Prof. Gonzalez's area of research specialization is U.S. environmental politics and policy (e.g., energy, pollution, global warming). His books include: Energy...
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Casey A Klofstad

Casey A Klofstad

Professor
Chair, Political Science

(305) 284-8861
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Casey A. Klofstad holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. His teaching and research addresses how society and biology influence human behavior. Through a ten-year panel study of college undergraduates who were randomly assigned to their dormitories, he has shown that everyday casual conversations about politics can cause...
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Gregory Koger

Gregory Koger

Professor
Director, Hanley Democracy Center

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Gregory Koger is a professor of political science at the University of Miami. Koger specializes in legislative politics and political parties. After earning his B.A. at Willamette University, Koger worked as a legislative assistant in the U.S. House for over two years, where he served as a liaison to the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee....
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Matthew David Nelsen

Matthew David Nelsen

Asst. Professor

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Matt Nelsen is an assistant professor within the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami. His research examines how local-level institutions, especially schools and neighborhoods, act as microcosms of democracy. He finds that these institutions can simultaneously serve as sites that exacerbate existing racial...
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Raymond Orr

Raymond Orr

Professor

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I am the Elizabeth B. White Endowed Chair and Professor of Political Science. Before joining UM, I was the Mae and John Hueston Distinguished Professor in Native American and Indigenous Studies and Associate Professor at Dartmouth College. My prior appointments include serving as the Department Chair of Native American Studies at...
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Costantino Pischedda

Costantino Pischedda

Associate Professor

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I hold a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University and an MA in Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). In 2015-16 I was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance (Princeton University) My research interests cover...
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Stephanie Puello

Stephanie Puello

Asst. Professor

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Dr. Stephanie Puello is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. Her research agenda seeks to interpret and address how public policy and administration shape the political capital and civic standing and identity of targeted groups. She specializes in issues of voting rights, disenfranchisement, election administration,...
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Ruowen Shen

Ruowen Shen

Assistant Professor

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Michael Touchton

Michael Touchton

Assoc. Professor
Global Health Associate Faculty Lead - UMIA

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Dr. Touchton studies the political economy of development and underdevelopment in a comparative setting. His areas of interest include how countries attract investment and promote economic growth, how they reduce poverty and promote human development, and how they redevelop following the departure of major industries. Much of his research occurs...
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Joseph E Uscinski

Joseph E Uscinski

Professor

(305) 284-3717
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Joseph E. Uscinski received his bachelor’s degree from Plymouth State University, his Master’s from University of New Hampshire, and his Doctorate from University of Arizona. His research has appeared in Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Critical Review among...
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Lecturers

Fernand Amandi

Fernand Amandi

Lecturer

(305) 284-2401
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Fernand R. Amandi is the managing partner of Bendixen &Amandi, the nation’s leading multilingual and multiethnic public opinion research and strategic communications consulting firm. Over the last 25 years, Bendixen & Amandi (B&A) has conducted large-scale projects for numerous corporations, multinational institutions,...
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Marcia A Beck

Marcia A Beck

Lecturer

(305) 284-1663
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Dr. Marcia A. Beck (Ph.D. University of Notre Dame) specializes in Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics and foreign policy.  In these fields she is the author of Russia’s Liberal Project: State-Society Relations in the Transition from Communism (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000) and several...
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Jorge M. Gonzalez

Jorge M. Gonzalez

Lecturer

(305) 284-2401
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Dilara Hekimci

Dilara Hekimci

Lecturer

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Dilara Hekimci-Adak is a lecturer at the University of Miami. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Florida International University, where her dissertation focused on opposition parties’ strategies to counter populism in Turkey and Hungary. Additionally, she earned a second Ph.D. from...
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Katrin Fraser Katz

Katrin Fraser Katz

Professor Prof. Practice

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Dr. Katrin Fraser Katz is a Scholar-in-Residence in the Master of Arts in International Administration (MAIA) program at the University of Miami. She is also an Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident) in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC and the Van Fleet Nonresident Senior Fellow...
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Bradford R McGuinn

Bradford R McGuinn

Senior Lecturer
Director of MAIA Program

(305) 284-4015
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Dr. McGuinn is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Political Science and Director of the MAIA program. He holds a PhD in International Studies, with concentration in Middle Eastern studies, from the University of Miami. His fields of research and teaching include international security, Middle Eastern studies, civil-military relations and...
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Sharon McIntyre

Sharon McIntyre

Lecturer

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Dr. Sharon McIntyre is involved in research and practice related to policy analysis, public sector ethics, public sector DEI initiatives, human rights, social change, intercultural communication, and various levels of peacebuilding programs (civil society and government). She emphasizes experiential and applied learning of viable, multi-track...
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Arthur Marshall Simon

Arthur Marshall Simon

Senior Lecturer

(305) 284-4013
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Arthur M. Simon holds business and law degrees from the University of Miami, a master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Ph.D. in public administration from Florida State University.  His resume includes professional experience as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, an appellate attorney in Miami, a...
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Sylvia A Thompson

Lecturer

(305) 284-3497
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Dr. Thompson has been a Lecturer in the University of Miami Political Science Department for over 25 years.  She specializes in multiple areas of American Government -- and brings practical experience with government, politics, media and interest groups into the classroom. She was Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union...
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Ellen S. Venzer

Ellen S. Venzer

Lecturer: Judge in Residence

(305) 284-3111
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Judge Ellen Venzer has been an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at UM for over 28 years, teaching a variety of courses including: The Philosophy of Sentencing and Children and the Law at UM’s School of Law. She joined the department to teach Crime and Punishment and Hot Topics in the Legal System....
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