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Placements

Your success story is waiting. A Vanderbilt political science Ph.D. opens doors. Our alumni obtain placements in some of the most prestigious universities and institutions across the U.S. and around the world. Scroll through this page to learn more about where our recent graduates have landed.

Meet our 2024-25 Job Market Candidates

Alumni Spotlight

Mellissa MEisels ’24

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Mellissa will be starting at Yale University as a postdoctoral fellow in the Fall of 2024, and then as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Fall of 2025. She studies American politics, with an emphasis on Congress, elections, campaign financing, political organizations, legislative representation, and quantitative methods. Her work appears in the British Journal of Political Science.

 

 

Meredith McLain ’23

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Tufts Univeristy

Meredith McLain is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Tufts University and a Neubauer Faculty Fellow. She studies American politics, with a focus on institutions, separation of powers, presidential and executive policymaking, and congressional oversight. Her work is published in the William and Mary Law Review Journal.

 

 

 

 

Nick Bednar ’23

Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota

Nick Bednar (Ph.D. ’23) is now an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on executive politics, focusing on when elected officials invest in bureaucratic capacity and how bureaucratic capacity influences policy implementation. His recent work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Political Science Research & Methods, and Cardozo Law Review.

 

 

 

Previous Placements

Nicholas Bednar
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Minnesota Law School

 

Margaret Frost
Assistant Professor of Political Science
University of Rhode Island

 

Lucas Helms
Commandant's Action Group
Headquarters Marine Corps

 

Colin Henry
Postdoctoral Fellow
George Washington University

 

Meredith McLain
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Tufts University

 

Chris Piper
Associate Manager
Center for Presidential Transition

 

Katerina Traut
Post-doctoral Fellow
University of Pennsylvania

 

Heesun Yoo
Visiting Assistant Professor
Emory University, Quantitative Theory and Methods Department

Mark Conklin
Batallion Commander
101st Air Assault Division, US Army

 

Dylan Irons
Visiting Assistant Professor
Colgate University, Department of Political Science

 

SangEun Kim
Research Manager
Aspen Institute

 

Richard Montcalm
Squadron Commander
US Army

 

Daniela Orosrio-Michel
Post-doctoral Fellow
German Institute for Global and Areas Studies

Laura Sellers
Associate Publication Editor and Data Analyst
Latin American Public Opinion Project

 

Michael Shepherd
Assistant Professor
University of Michigan, School of Public Health

 

Darrian Stacy
Assistant Professor of Political Science
US Naval Academy

 

Bryce Williams-Tuggle
Chief Demographer
City of Bellevue

 

Adam Wolsky
Senior Research Specialist
Princeton University

Georgia Anderson-Nilsson
Senior Manager
Werkslab, The Mom Project

 

Kaitlen Cassell
Senior Research Manager
YouGov

 

Claire Evans
Social Science and Survey Researcher
King County Metro Transit

 

Richard Hagner
Commander’s Action Group
Army Futures Command

 

HeeJu Jang
Quantitative Research
Virginia Department of Social Services

 

James Martherus
Senior Manager, Research Science
Morning Consult

Maggie Deichert
Director of Policy Development and Research
Dallas Housing Agency

 

Andrew Engelhardt
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Stony Brook University

 

Marc Trussler
Director of Data Sciences
University of Pennsylvania Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies

 

Sheahan Virgin
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Washington and Lee University

Juan Plata Caviedes
Associate Researcher
Observatorio de la Democracia
Universite de los Andes

 

Scott Limbocker
Assistant Professor of Political Science
US Military Academy at West Point

 

Guilherme Russo
Director of Research
Quaest Pesquisa e Consultoria

Allison Archer
Assistant Professor
University of Houston

 
Mark Richardson
Assistant Professor
Georgetown University


Bryan Rooney
Associate Political Scientist
Rand Corporation

Mollie Cohen
Assistant Professor
University of Georgia

 

Matthew DiLorenzo
Assistant Professor
Old Dominion University

 

Myra Harbin
Assistant Professor
U.S. Naval Academy

 

Meri Long
Teaching Associate Professor
University of Pittsburgh

 

Federico Pereira
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Claire Abernathy
Assistant Professor
Stockton University
 
Matthew Layton
Assistant Professor
Ohio University
 
Arturo Maldonado
Assistant Professor
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru

 

Eelco van der Maat
Assistant Professor
Universiteit Leiden

 

 

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