Recent Ph.D. Placement
Penn State’s Political Science Department is proud of the research and professional training we provide to our PhD students, and they have been very successful in the academic job market upon completion of their degrees.
Below are a few examples of their tenure-track placements since 2006.
Amber Boydstun, Ph.D. expected 2008, Assistant Professor of Political Science
(starting Fall 2008), University of California, Davis.
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Amber is a student in American politics. Her dissertation deals with agenda-setting, issue-definition, and public policy. For that project she constructed a database of every story appearing on the front page of the New York Times, and her project involves explaining the process by which stories become front page news. During her time in graduate school, Amber co-authored a book on the death penalty with professors Baumgartner and De Boef. She also attended and was later invited back to be an instructor at the Stanford Summer Institute in Political Psychology. She gained important teaching experience by teaching Introduction to American Politics in the summers. She’ll begin a tenure-track job at UC Davis when she receives her Ph.D. in summer 2008. Amber had an NSF dissertation improvement grant to help her enlarge the scope of her dissertation.
Here’s what Amber says about her experiences:
Searching for a job is an unnerving process in general, and the academic job market is no exception. The graduate program at Penn State offers a distinct edge. With rigorous methodological training, multiple opportunities for collaborative research, and extensive professional development, Penn State grads are equipped to succeed on the job market and, what is more, in the job itself. We are trained not only how to ask important questions and test our theories about those questions systematically, but also how to navigate the political science discipline and evolve as scholars and teachers. The secret to the strength of the Penn State training is the faculty; a more impressive, supportive, and impassioned group of mentors would be difficult to find.
Click here to go to Amber’s web page to learn more about her.
Publications:
Frank R. Baumgartner, Suzanna De Boef, and Amber Boydstun. 2008. The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Frank E. Dardis, Frank R. Baumgartner, Amber E. Boydstun, Suzanna L. De Boef, and Fuyuan Shen Media Framing of Capital Punishment and Its Impact on Individuals’ Cognitive Responses. Mass Communication and Society, forthcoming, 2008.
Phil Arena, Ph.D. expected 2008, Assistant Professor of Political Science
(starting Fall 2008), University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
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Phil works in the area of international relations, with heavy use of game-theoretic models and statistical testing. His dissertation deals with the linkages between domestic factors, especially competition among political parties, and involvement in foreign military conflicts. Phil had an NSF dissertation improvement grant to help with the costs associated with his dissertation.
Here’s what Phil says about his experiences:
The graduate program at Penn State provides considerable support in preparing for the job market. Students receive extensive training through course work in substantive and methodological areas. There are also many invaluable resources to gain practical experience in the profession working under faculty in the classroom as well as working on externally funded research projects, scholarly journals, interdisciplinary institutes, and professional societies. Informal reading groups provide an opportunity to receive feedback on ongoing research projects. The atmosphere is open and supportive, and the faculty members assist students in preparing for conferences, publishing their research, acquiring grants, and navigating the job market.
Click here to see more information about Phil at his web site.
Publications:
Arena, Philip. 2008. "Success Breeds Success?: War Outcomes, Domestic Opposition, and Elections." Conflict Management and Peace Science, Vol. 25 (2).
Kyle Joyce, Ph.D. expected 2008, Assistant Professor of Political Science
(starting Fall 2008), University of California, Davis.
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Kyle works in the area of the scientific study of war, especially the process by which existing wars get bigger, or expand. He uses game-theoretic and computational (e.g., agent-based) models to help build his theories, and tests them with large scale statistical analyses. Kyle studied at the Santa Fe Institute in summer 2005, at the EITM workshop at Michigan in 2006, and received an NSF dissertation improvement grant in 2007.
Here’s what Kyle says about his experiences:
The Department of Political Science at Penn State provides an excellent environment in which to pursue graduate studies. Throughout the graduate program students are exposed to the scientific study of politics and given training in the methodological tools necessary to conduct their own research. In addition to course work, students have multiple opportunities to obtain funding for conferences and summer programs as well as small grants for collaborative research with faculty members. The integration of all of these parts of the graduate program at Penn State produces scholars who are trained to contribute to the study of politics by identifying important questions and by carrying out the research necessary to answer those questions in a systematic, accurate, and insightful manner.
Click here to see more information about Kyle at his web site.
Publications:
Joyce, Kyle. 2008. "Third-Party Intervention and the Civil War Process" (with Dylan Balch-Lindsay and Andrew J. Enterline). Forthcoming Journal of Peace Research 45(3).
Joyce, Kyle. 2007. "Event Dependence and Heterogeneity in Duration Models: The Conditional Frailty Model" (with Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier and Suzanna De Boef).
Political Analysis 15(3): 237-256.
Heather L. Ondercin, Ph.D., 2007, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women and Gender Studies, Louisiana State University.
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Dr. Heather Ondercin's specializes in U.S. political behavior, specifically men's and women's political behavior. Her research focuses on macro political behavior and the role context plays in shaping political attitudes and behavior. Additionally, she is interested in issues of women's representation in government and the integration of feminist theory into the empirical study of women and politics.
Here’s what Heather says about her experiences:
Penn State’s graduate program in political science has one central goal for each of its graduate students: to produce well trained productive scholars. They accomplish this through a challenging curriculum, extensive methodological training, and funding for conferences and summer programs. What sets PSU’s program apart from others is the individual attention and close mentoring relationships that exist between faculty and students. Additionally, these mentoring relationships do not end when the dissertation is defended; rather, they continue throughout your career.
Click here to see more information about Heather at her web site.
Publications:
Ondercin, Heather L. 2006. “Gender Gaps in Senate Elections, 1988-2000: The Impact of Campaign Level and State-Level Factors” with Jeffery Bernstein. Politics and Gender. 3(1): 33-53.
Ondercin, Heather L. 2005. “Women Candidates” with Susan Welch in Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future 2nd Ed. Edited by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox. Oxford University Press.
Ondercin, Heather L. 2003. Contributing author to the Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Michael Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryman, and Tim Futing Liao, eds. Sage Publications. Article Titles: “External Validity,” “Efficiency,” “Residual,” “Unbiased.”
Christine Mahoney, Ph.D., 2006, Assistant Professor of Political Science,
Syracuse University.
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Christine’s research focuses on how interest groups lobby governments. She worked on a project relating to those issues in Washington DC with professors Baumgartner and Hojnacki, then went off on her own, with the support of a Fulbright award, to expand this research in the European Union, doing interviews in Brussels, Belgium. Her dissertation has been accepted for publication at Georgetown University Press. After a one-year post-doctoral fellowship, she accepted a tenure-track position at Syracuse in Fall 2007.
Here’s what Christine says about her experiences:
During my graduate study at Penn State I gained hands-on research experience that has been invaluable in designing and implementing my own large research projects. Having the opportunity to be a graduate assistant on one of the Department’s many NSF-funded research initiatives allowed me to learn everything from the details of structuring databases and managing research staff to the process of drafting, redrafting and publishing research papers. In addition, the rigorous course work and professionalization process well-prepared me for a career in academe. I am a better professor and scholar having learned from the faculty at Penn State.
Click here to go to Christine’s web site at Syracuse University
Publications:
Mahoney, Christine. 2008. Brussels vs. the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. (Forthcoming).
Mahoney, Christine. 2008. “The Two Faces of Framing: Individual-Level Framing and Collective Issue-Definition in the EU” with Frank R. Baumgartner. European Union Politics. (Forthcoming)
Mahoney, Christine. 2008. “The Role of Interest Groups in Fostering Citizen Engagement: The Determinants of Outside Lobbying” Chapter in From National toward International Linkages? Civil Society and Multi-level Governance. William Maloney and Jan Van Deth Eds. Cheltenham: Elgar Publishing. (Forthcoming)
Mahoney, Christine. 2007. “Interest Groups in Multilevel Governance” Chapter in Politics Beyond the State. Kris Deschouwer and Maarten Theo Jans Eds. Brussels: VUB University Press.
Mahoney, Christine. 2007. “Networking vs. Allying: The Decision of Interest Groups to Join Coalitions in the US and the EU,” Journal of European Public Policy. Vol. 14(2):366-383.
Mahoney, Christine. 2007. “Lobbying Success in the United States and the European Union,” Journal of Public Policy. Vol 27(2): 35-56.
Mahoney, Christine. 2004. “The Power of Institutions: State and Interest-Group Activity in the European Union,” European Union Politics. Volume 5 (4): 441–466.
Mahoney, Christine. 2004. “Social Movements and the Rise of New Issues” with Frank R. Baumgartner. Chapter in Routing the Opposition: Social Movements, Public Policy and Democracy. Eds. Helen Ingram, Valerie Jenness and David S. Meyer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. 65–86
Faten Ghosn, Ph.D., 2006, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Arizona
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Faten Ghosn works on international conflict, conflict management, negotiations, and Middle Eastern politics.
Here’s what Faten says about her experiences:
Being a Penn State Alum there are two things that I am confident in. First, that the training that I received has not only been invaluable but that it also has helped prepare me for the responsibilities of being an assistant professor. And second, that my educational experience has not ended with my graduation. The mentoring that I received from my advisors and committee members while at Penn State has continued beyond Happy Valley. So, if I were to sum up my experience I would say that at Penn State I have had the opportunity to study with outstanding faculty, receive a rigorous training, and commiserate with great colleagues and good friends.
Click here to go to Faten’s web site at the University of Arizona:
Publications:
Ghosn, Faten, Glenn Palmer, and Stuart Bremer. 2004. "The MID 3 Data Set,
1993-2001: Procedures, Coding Rules, and Description." Conflict Management
and Peace Science vol. 21 (2): 133-154.
Bremer, Stuart, and Faten Ghosn. 2003. "Defining States: Reconsiderations and
Recommendations." Conflict Management and Peace Science vol. 20 (1): 21-42.