Department Affiliations
Narrative
Kathryn Pearson received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. Professor Pearson specializes in American politics; her research focuses on the United States Congress, congressional elections, political parties, women and politics, and public opinion. Her dissertation, "Party Discipline in the Contemporary Congress: Rewarding Loyalty in Theory and in Practice," combines quantitative data analysis and interviews of key elites to examine party leaders' strategic use of their legislative prerogatives to reward loyal party members and punish defectors in the House of Representatives. It won the APSA Legislative Studies Section's Carl Albert Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the area of legislative studies in 2004-2005. In addition, "Legislating in Women's Interests? Congresswomen in the 106th Congress" won the CQ Press Award for the best paper presented in the Legislative Studies Section at the 2001 APSA Meeting, and “Discharge Petitions, Agenda Control, and the Congressional Committee System, 1929-1976” (with Eric Schickler) won the CQ Press Award for the best paper presented in the Legislative Studies Section at the 2007 APSA Meeting. In 2002- 2003, she was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and from 1993 to 1998, she worked on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant for two members of Congress.
Specialties
- American Politics
- U.S. Congress
- U.S. Political Parties
- Congressional Elections and Political Behavior
- Women and Politics
Educational Background
- Ph.D.: Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 2005.
- B.A.: Government, Claremont McKenna College, 1993.
Publications
- Discharge Petitions, Agenda Control, and the Congressional Committee System, 1929-1976: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, Eric Schickler, The Journal of Politics, Forthcoming . Download
- The Primary Reason for Women's Underrepresentation? Reevaluating the Conventional Wisdom: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with Jennifer Lawless, The Journal of Politics, 70:1 , January 2008.
- Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity?: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with Jack Citrin, Amy Lerman, Michael Murakami, Perspectives on Politics, 5:1 , 2007.
- The House Leadership In Congress Reconsidered, 8th Edition: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with Eric Schickler, eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer, Congressional Quarterly, 2005.
- The Political Assimilation of the Fourth Wave: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with Jack Citrin, University of Virginia Press, Transforming Politics, Transforming America: The Political and Civic Incorporation of Immigrants in the United States, eds. Taeku Lee, Karthick Ramakrishnan, and Ricardo Ramirez , 2006.
- The Minnesota U.S. Senate Race and the Sixth Congressional District Race: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with William H. Flanigan and Nancy H. Zingale, eds. David B. Magleby and Kelly D. Patterson, Paradigm Publishers, The Battle for Congress, 101-124, 2008.
- Competing in Congressional Primaries: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, with Jennifer Lawless, ed. Beth Reingold., Lynne Reiner, Legislative Women: Getting Elected, Getting Ahead, Forthcoming 2008.
- Party Loyalty and Discipline in the Individualistic Senate: Pearson, Kathryn Lynn, Why Not Parties? Party Effects in the United States Senate, eds.Nathan Monroe, David Rohde, and Jason Roberts, Chicago University Press, Forthcoming 2008.
Research Activities
- Agenda Control, Majority Party Power, and the House Committee on Rules, 1937-65 (with Eric Schickler, forthcoming in Legislative Studies Quarterly)
- Party Discipline in the House of Representatives
- Why Women Should Win More Often than Men: Reassessing Gender Bias in U.S. House Elections, 1984-2006 (with Eric McGhee)
- Primary Competition and Partisan Polarization in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1992-2006 (with Jennifer Lawless)
- Who Represents Me? Race, Gender, Partisanship, and Representation (with Dara Strolovitch)
- The Gender Dynamics of Defense and Foreign Policy-Making in the House of Representatives, 1989-2007 (with Kjersten Nelson).
- Congressional Parties and Civil Rights Politics from 1933-1972 (with Eric Schickler and Brian Feinstein).
Awards
- Congressional Quarterly Press Award for the best paper on legislative studies presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of APSA, "Discharge Petitions, Agenda Control, and the Congressional Committee System, 1929-1976" (with Eric Schickler)
- Heinz Eulau Award, given annually by the APSA for the best article in Perspectives on Politics, for "Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity," with Jack Citrin, Amy Lerman, and Michael Murakami (March 2007)
- Carl Albert Dissertation Award (for the best doctoral dissertation in the area of legislative studies)
- Congressional Quarterly Press Award for "Legislating in Women's Interests," the best paper on legislative studies presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of APSA
Courses Taught
- POL 3325 U.S. Campaigns & Elections
- POL 4308/5308 Congressional Politics and Institutions
- POL 8312 Legislative Process
- POL 8301 American Politics Graduate Core
- HSEM 3080H Women in the U.S. Congress
- POL 4737 American Political Parties
Alternative Output Formats