Emerging Scholar Award

The Emerging Scholar award is designed to recognize a scholar who is no more than 6 years from the year of their PhD who has informed the study of legislative politics through innovative and rigorous scholarship.  The recipient of this award will be an individual who has a strong early career publication trajectory, and has presented their work actively at conferences and other public venues.  Letters of nomination for this award should be sent to the committee along with the candidate’s most recent CV.

The Emerging Scholar award is funded by The Dirksen Congressional Center.

Deadline for Nominations: March 1, 2024.

2023 Winner

Annelise Russell, University of Kentucky

2023 Selection Committee:

Jaclyn Kaslovsky (Chair), Rice University jk83@rice.edu
Jamil Scott, Georgetown University jamil.scott@georgetown.edu
James Strickland, Arizona State University jmstric6@asu.edu

2022 Winner

Jaclyn Kaslovsky, Rice University

2022 Selection Committee:

Ken Opalo (Chair), Georgetown University Ken.Opalo@georgetown.edu
Sophia Wallace, University of Washington, Seattle sophiajw@uw.edu
Claire Abernathy, Stockton University claire.abernathy@stockton.edu

2021 Winner

Ken Opalo, Georgetown University

2021 Selection Committee:

Melinda Ritchie (Chair), University of California Riverside melinda.ritchie@gmail.com
Alexander Bolton, Emory University alexander.daniel.bolton@emory.edu
Taeko Hiroi, University of Texas at El Paso thiroi@utep.edu

2020 Winner

Melinda Ritchie, University of California Riverside

2020 Selection Committee:

Molly Reynolds (Chair), Brookings Institution MEReynolds@brookings.edu
David Fortunato, Texas A&M fortunato@tamu.edu
Valeria Palanza, Universidad Catolica de Chile vpalanza@uc.cl

2019 Winner

Molly Reynolds, The Brookings Institution

Award Committee: 
Tiffany Barnes (Co-Chair)
University of Kentucky
tiffanydbarnes@uky.edu

Justin Kirkland (Co-Chair)
University of Virginia
Jhk9y@virginia.edu

Christian Grose
University of Southern California
crespin@ou.edu

2018 Winners

Tiffany Barnes, University of Kentucky

Justin Kirkland, University of Virginia

Award Committee: 
Laurel Harbridge, Chair
Northwestern University
l-harbridge@northwestern.edu

Leslie Schwindt-Bayer
Rice University
schwindt@rice.edu

Michael Crespin
University of Oklahoma
crespin@ou.edu