Faculty

Our faculty are dedicated to the creation and transmission of knowledge about politics and political science. The department promotes original research, creative teaching, and public service in and outside the discipline of political science. 

We value distinguished disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, teaching, advising, publicly engaged scholarship, and civic education that disseminate knowledge and skills about politics and political science to widely diverse audiences.

The Department of Political Science draws upon visiting lecturers, scholars, and professors who bring their expertise in many areas of study. Graduate students come from all over the world and occupy a unique position as both students and graduate assistants/instructors who bring their diverse research interests to their teaching. Staff members with many years of experience provide professional support to faculty and students and offer unique research and internship opportunities. Together faculty, graduate students, and staff are dedicated to providing students with the support they need to learn and excel in today’s political world.

Core Faculty

Name Contact Office Office Hours Specialties
Scott Abernathy

abernath@umn.edu

612-624-3308

1246A Social Sciences Building Not teaching spring 2024 Education policy & methods, democracy, US government, education reform, bureaucracy 
Mark Bell

msbell@umn.edu

612-626-2889

1378 Social Sciences Building Virtual: Weds 12:00-2:00pm International security, nuclear weapons, US foreign policy
Anuja Bose

a-bose@umn.edu

612-625-8857

1354 Social Sciences Building In-person: Tues & Thurs 11:30am-12:30pm, 2:30-3:30pm Black political thought, anti-colonial & anti-imperial thought, critical race and feminist theory, modern & contemporary political theory
Teri Caraway
Director of Undergraduate Studies

caraway@umn.edu

612-624-3839

1311 Social Sciences Building Not teaching spring 2024 Comparative political economy of labor, Southeast Asian politics, transnational labor issues, gender & comparative politics
Kathleen Collins

colli433@umn.edu

612-626-7489

1224 Social Sciences Building In-person: Tues 12:30-1:00pm in 120 Blegen Hall; Weds 1:15-2:45pm in 1224 Social Sciences Building Islam & politics, soviet & post-soviet political development, Central Asia & the Caucus, democratization & political transition
Arash Davari

davar008@umn.edu

612-624-0862

1231 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: by appointment only Political theory
Tanisha Fazal
Associate Chair

fazal007@umn.edu

612-624-8261

1333 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Weds 11:30am-1:00pm Sovereignty, international security, armed conflict, military medicine, laws of war
Christopher Federico

federico@umn.edu

612-625-7217

1435 Social Sciences Building Virtual: Fri 2:30-4:00pm Political psychology, race & politics, quantitative methods, ideology & belief systems
John Freeman

freeman@umn.edu

612-624-6018

1246B Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: by appointment only Political economy, international relations, methodology
Paul Goren
 

pgoren@umn.edu

612-624-7513

1339 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Mon 1:30-3:00pm, by appointment Political psychology, voting behavior, public opinion
Lisa Hilbink

hilbink@umn.edu

612-626-0160

1373 Social Sciences Building Not teaching spring 2024 Comparative judicial politics & constitutionalism, Latin American & Iberian politics, democratization
James Hollyer

jhollyer@umn.edu

612-624-0030

1380 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Weds 4:00-6:00pm Patronage, corruption, transparency, methodology, comparative & international political economy
Timothy R. Johnson

trj@umn.edu

612-625-2907

1433 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: by appointment only Supreme Court oral arguments, decision making, and nominations & confirmations; executive/judiciary relations; US politics
Andrew Karch
Department Chair

ajkarch@umn.edu

612-624-1393

1414A Social Sciences Building In-person: Thurs 9:30-11:30am, by appointment Social policy in the United States, federalism & state politics
Helen M Kinsella

kins0017@umn.edu

612-625-6103

1325 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: by appointment only International relations, law, security, norms, & institutions; political thought; feminist theory
Ronald Krebs

rkrebs@umn.edu

612-624-4356

1233 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Tues 2:30-4:30pm International relations theory, international security, counterterrorism, language & politics, sociology of war
Howard Lavine

lavine@umn.edu

612-624-1389

1360 Social Sciences Building Not teaching spring 2024 Political psychology, partisanship, personality & politics
Kevin Luo

kwluo@umn.edu

612-626-2906

1209 Social Sciences Building In-person: Mon 3:00-5:00pm Chinese politics, East Asian politics, state building, authoritarian politics & democratization, politics of development, comparative historical analysis
Nancy Luxon

luxon@umn.edu

612-625-7982

1350 Social Sciences Building In-person: Weds 12:00-2:00pm, by appointment Contemporary political & social theory, French political thought
Michael Minta
Director of Graduate Studies

mdminta@umn.edu

612-626-5632

1337 Social Sciences Building In-person: Tues 10:00-11:00am or by appointment Congressional politics, race & ethnic politics, interest group advocacy
C. Daniel Myers

cdmyers@umn.edu

612-626-8938

1309 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Mon 2:30-4:15pm, Tues 12:30-1:30pm, Fri 3:45-4:45pm American politics, political psychology, political communication, experimental methods, deliberative democracy
August Nimtz

animtz@umn.edu

612-624-1512

1327 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Tues & Weds 5:15-6:15pm or by appointment Marxism; political economy; politics of race, class & ethnicity; African politics; political development
Tricia Olsen

olsen@umn.edu

612-626-0213

1468 Social Sciences Building Not teaching spring 2024  
Kathryn Pearson

kpearson@umn.edu

612-626-2777

1439 Social Sciences Building Virtual: Mon 11:00am-1:00pm US Congress, women & politics, congressional elections & political behavior
David J. Samuels

dsamuels@umn.edu

612-624-9876

1446 Social Sciences Building In-person: Mon & Weds 10:00-11:00am Brazilian & Latin American politics, U.S.-Latin American relations, democratization
Anoop Sarbahi

sarbahi@umn.edu

612-624-8576

1466 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Mon & Weds 11:00am-12:00pm or by appointment Ethnicity, civil war, post-conflict transition, counter-insurgency
Anurag Sinha

asinha@umn.edu

612-624-4305

1460 Social Sciences Building Virtual: Mon & Weds 11:30am-12:30pm or by appointment Modern political thought

Paul Soper

Director of Internships

psoper@umn.edu

612-626-1002

1480 Social Sciences Building In-person: Weds & Fri 11:00am-12:00pm or by appointment American political thought, state government
Jane Sumner

jlsumner@umn.edu

612-626-1672

1331 Social Sciences Building In-person, virtual if needed: Weds 11:30am-1:00pm, by appointment Quantitative methodology, political economy, multinational corporations

Affiliated Faculty & Department Members

Name Contact Office Office Hours
Eugene Borgida

borgi001@umn.edu

612-625-3381

N387 Elliot Hall Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Christina Ewig

cewig@umn.edu

612-625-1884

255 Humphrey School of Public Affairs Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Catherine Guisan

guis0001@umn.edu

612-624-2569

1282 Social Sciences Building Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Lawrence Jacobs

ljacobs@umn.edu

612-625-3384

137 Humphrey School of Public Affairs Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Kati Mohammad-Zadeh

moha0030@umn.edu

612-327-1022

1414 Social Sciences Building Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Fionnuala Ni Aolain

niaol002@umn.edu

612-624-2318

334 Mondale Hall Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Melanie O'Brien mjobrien@umn.edu 333 Social Sciences Building In-person: Mon & Weds 1:00-2:00pm
Joe Soss

jbsoss@umn.edu

612-626-9865

261 Humphrey School of Public Affairs Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Benjamin Toff

bjtoff@umn.edu

612-625-4381

227 Murphy Hall Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024
Josef Woldense

jwoldens@umn.edu

612-624-0122

878 Social Sciences Building Not teaching PoliSci spring 2024

Emeriti Faculty

Name Contact Office
Raymond Duvall

rduvall@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
William Flanigan

flanigan@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Edwin Fogelman

fogelman@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Virginia Gray 612-624-4395 1280 Social Sciences Building
Daniel Kelliher

kelliher@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Samuel Krislov 612-624-4395 1280 Social Sciences Building
Wendy Rahn

wrahn@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Martin Sampson

marsam@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Thomas Scott

scott001@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
W. Phillips Shively

shively@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Kathryn Sikkink

sikkink@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
John Sullivan

jsull@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building
Joan Tronto

jctronto@umn.edu

612-624-4395

1280 Social Sciences Building

Lecturers

Name Contact Office Office Hours
Joshua Anderson ande7715@umn.edu 1427 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Mon & Weds 10:30-11:15am
Timothy Collins tpcollin@umn.edu 1431 Social Sciences Building Virtual & in-person: Mon & Weds 1:30-2:30pm

Teaching Assistants

Class TA(s) and Available Office Hours
1025 Hyeonju Wang: Virtual & in-person: Weds 11:30am-1:30pm, by appointment
1054 Drew Hogan: Virtual & in-person: Weds 1:00-2:30pm
1201 Patrick McCormick: In-person: Tues 2:00-4:00pm
3085 Emily Kurtz: In-person: by appointment only
3235W Katelyn Shepardson: In-person: Thurs 9:00-11:00am
3251W Berika Ozcan: Virtual: Tues 10am-12:00pm, by appointment
3306 Megan Manion: Virtual: Mon & Weds 4:00-7:00pm, by appointment only
3308 Sarah Beck: In-person: Thurs 10:30am-12:30pm
3423 Jeeyon Choi: Virtual: Weds 10:00-11:00am
3475 Ibrahim Chiu: Virtual & in-person: by appointment only
3766 Ricardo Jasso Huezo: In-person: Mon 4:00-5:00pm, Thurs 11:00am-12:00pm
3810-2 Deniz Kaptan: Virtual & in-person: Mon 12:30-1:20pm, by appointment
3835 Nina Kaushikkar: Virtual: Mon 4:00-5:30pm
3841 Linda Parranto Vital: Virtual: Weds 10:00-11:00am
3843W Daniela Sepulveda: Virtual: Fri 9:00-11:00am
4315W Nicolas Campos: In-person: Thurs 12:00-2:00pm
4502W Otabek Akromov: In-person: Tues 9:40-11:40am
4891 Danny (Dongwook) Kim: Virtual: Mon 1:30-3:00pm
4991 Minyoung Kim: Virtual: Mon & Weds 2:00-3:00pm