Hire a GW Ph.D.
In recent years, George Washington University has made a large investment in our department and its commitment to training graduate students for research and teaching careers. The individuals who are on the market this year reflect this commitment. As you will see, many of them have published in leading journals, presented papers at professional meetings, and secured a variety of fellowships and awards. We are confident that these ABDs and recent PhDs have bright political science futures. We hope you will consider hiring one of them. Please do not hesitate to contact Paul Wahlbeck, our director of graduate placement, at wahlbeck@gwu.edu or any of our faculty members if you have questions about any of our candidates.
On the Market (click name to see curriculum vita):
Aaron Dusso (Ph.D., 2009, expected) specializes in American Politics, with subfield interests in political psychology, mass political behavior, interest groups, institutional development, Congress, and research methods. He is currently working as a research analyst with the Campaign Finance Institute and teaching an introduction to American Politics course at George Washington University. His dissertation titled, “The Psychology of Institutional Development: How Parties’ Willingness to Accept Risk Influences Congressional Redistricting,” seeks to draw together psychological theories and elite behavior. Specifically, he applies prospect theory to the process of redrawing congressional districts following each decennial census. He has an article currently in press at Political Research Quarterly titled, “Legislation, Political Context, and Interest Group Behavior.” He also has a second work appearing in the September 2008 issue of Political Behavior titled, “Keeping up with the Joneses: The Interplay of Personal and Collective Evaluations of Voter Turnout.”
Jeffrey Hornung (Ph.D., 2009, expected) specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. His research and teaching interests focus on Japanese political parties and bureaucracy, Japan’s security policies, East Asian regional security, and theories of decision-making. His dissertation examines Japan’s different policy responses to the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis and the 2003 Iraq War by drawing on information collected from over 100 Japanese politicians, bureaucrats, and military officers. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Tokyo from 2005-2006.
Michael MacLeod (Ph.D., January 2008) specializes in International Relations, with sub-field interests in international political economy, international organization and environmental politics. He is the 2008-2009 Postdoctoral Fellow in Arts & Science, Bentley College in Boston, MA, where he is conducting research and writing on the evolution and utility of socially responsible investment as an instrument of conditioning business power in global governance. Dr MacLeod's specific focus is on the use of shareholder activism to affect corporate behavior on the issues of human rights and climate change, which was a key focus of his dissertation "Forging Private Governance of Climate Change: The Power and Politics of Socially Responsible Investment."
David Malet (Ph. D., 2009, expected) is currently Lecturer at the George Washington University Honors Program. His research and teaching interests focus on transnational conflict, the role of identity in international security, and group mobilization. His dissertation examines how insurgent groups in civil wars recruit foreign fighters. From 2000 to 2003 he served as a defense and foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. His work has appeared in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and The Social Science Journal.
James Reilly (Ph.D., August 2008) specializes in International Relations and Comparative Politics. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Oxford University for 2008-2009, where he is conducting research on China’s foreign policy toward Japan and preparing a book manuscript based upon his dissertation: “The Role of Public Opinion in China’s Japan Policy: 1997-2007.” Dr. Reilly’s research, supported by a Fulbright-Hays dissertation grant, explores the role of public opinion on the foreign policy of authoritarian countries by drawing upon Chinese public opinion poll data, quantitative content analysis of Chinese publications, and extensive interviews with Chinese and Japanese scholars, officials, businesspeople, and activists. For a statement about his future research, click here. Writing samples are also available on public opinion and China's foreign policy and China's foreign policy toward Japan.
