Big News from WashU Political Science
Meet three undergraduate political science majors making an impact in St. Louis, Washington, DC, and beyond.
Graduating political science PhDs look back on their time at WashU and forward at what comes next.
WashU’s St. Louis Policy Initiative, lead by Political Science faculty member, Matthew Gabel, is tracking where food pantries are located across the region to identify gaps in access and prepare for future shortages.
Dear Friends,
Every May our campus fills with students taking selfies – pictures in their graduation regalia with their friends in front of their favorite WashU buildings. This May was no different – we saw hundreds of students celebrating their education. This rejoicing is in stark contrast to much of what we hear in the news cycle today – that as of last fall, 63% of Americans agree more with the concept that a college degree is “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off.” (NBC News, October 2025 poll). I doubt our WashU graduates would agree. So, what’s different here at WashU? A few specific and extraordinary points.
First, we provide an incredible degree because of our extraordinary faculty. This year we won some spectacular awards – Michael Strawbridge became the first WashU Political Science faculty member ever to win an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, and Victoria Shen won the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award and the 2025 World Citizen Environmental Performance Award. Lucia Motolinia won the Early Career Award from the Midwest Political Science Association’s Women’s Caucus, and Mike Olson earned tenure in our department—and both published their first books this year. Taylor Carlson won the Emerging Scholar Award from the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behaviors section of the American Political Science Association, as well as the American Association for Public Opinion Research Book Award. Amy Pond won the Humboldt Research Fellowship. On campus, Lecturer Stephanie Shady won the ArtSci Council Award for Excellence in Teaching, and PhD student Alex Avery received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Next, we continue to teach in unorthodox ways, too. We just finished our summer WUSTEPS program, where students, who wouldn’t otherwise have a path to graduate school, were able to prepare a draft research statement as well as a writing sample that can be developed for future graduate school applications. We know that this program is a talent pipeline for future graduate students, and you can help fund it HERE (or at the link at the bottom of this newsletter).
Also, we also have seven faculty participating in the AI curriculum corps this summer. These faculty recognize that today’s frontier generative AI models are remarkably powerful, but that they must be deployed in ways that ensure our students still gain the skills they need. The resulting transformation of our curriculum means students will engage the full range of topics our department covers — from learning statistical programming alongside AI to understanding the risks of AI-enabled terrorism — with these tools woven thoughtfully throughout. Our faculty – Dan Butler, Carly Wayne, Clarissa Hayward, Ted Enamorado, Jaclyn Kaslovsky, Lucia Motolinia, Victoria Shen -- are preparing our students to lead in an age of AI.
But the surest answer to that skeptical 63% isn’t found in a poll — it’s found in where our students go. This year our PhD graduates are heading to Notre Dame, NYU-Abu Dhabi, Emory, UNC-Charlotte, and Vanderbilt, joining alumni who have built careers in government, advocacy, the courts, and beyond. A political science degree from WashU is not an abstraction; it is training in how to reason about evidence, weigh competing interests, and lead within institutions that shape millions of lives. Our students don’t leave with debt and no skills. They leave with the knowledge-rich discernment that a democratic society depends on. And that is definitely worth celebrating.
Onwards!
Betsy Sinclair
Chair, Political Science Department
Thomas F. Eagleton University Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science
Vice Provost of Innovation
WashU Political Science faculty work to pioneer how students learn within the classroom and how scholars examine institutions around the world
The article looks at Vedder's research regarding compulsory sex-marking and the impact of abolishing the practice on freedom and autonomy for all people.
Motolinia discusses her new book, Unity through Particularism: How Electoral Reforms Influence Parties and Legislative Behavior, and helps answer the questions "Why do supposedly accountability-enhancing electoral reforms often fail in young democrac...
Professor David Carter was interviewed by WashU's The Source regarding the reaction of America's allies and neighbors to the Trump Administration's recent actions surrounding Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran.
At least in the short term the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife curiously has had little effect on the stock market. Timm Betz, an associate professor of political science, said the markets have largely shrugged off the geopolitical shock, in part, because Venezuela has little impact on the global economy.
Historically, public opinion has constrained presidents’ use of unilateral power. But political scientist Dino P. Christenson, at Washington University in St. Louis, explains why public opposition to President Trump’s actions in Venezuela is unlikely to sway him.
Cela, a senior in political science, explores the psychology of partisanship.
Notes from our leadership reflecting on the Spring 2026 semester and more news from the department
Clarissa Rile Hayward, Professor of Political Science
Dan Butler, Professor of Political Science
Taylor Carlson, Associate Professor of Political Science
Dino Christenson, Professor of Political Science
Stories from the semester
Full list of Political Science PhD recipients from WashU
Looking to the future of the department we are committed to enriching undergraduate and graduate experiences through student research, scholarly networking, and, especially, our political science graduate pipeline program - WUSTEPS.
WUSTEPS is an unique opportunity and invaluable to students across the country, and you can help enhance our efforts by making a gift to the Department of Political Science today and specifying "WUSTEPS" in the "Special Instructions/Comments" section at the link below.
