Dr. Bobbi Gentry
Bobbi Gentry (Ph.D., City University of New York) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Bridgewater College. She received dual B.A. degrees in political science and psychology from Winthrop University and a master of philosophy and Ph.D. in political science from City University of New York (CUNY).
Dr. Gentry, a political psychologist, researches teaching and learning strategies to enhance student engagement through simulations, policy proposals, and research projects. Her work focuses on youth voting, political identity development, leadership, and participation, with current projects examining performance learning assessments, curriculum review in higher education, and identity development in political science classrooms. Her 2018 book, Why Youth Vote: Identity, Inspirational Leaders, and Independence, explores why young people vote, examining political identity formation and the factors driving youth civic participation.
In 2022, she received a Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) grant to launch The Valley Votes Project, promoting voter engagement through events, a speaker series, and community outreach. Another SSN grant in 2023 supported BCVotes, expanding efforts to increase voter registration and participation in Virginia elections.
Dr. Eric D. Loepp
Eric D. Loepp (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is an Associate Professor of Politics, Government, and Law and Director of the Learning Technology Center at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. His research explores American political behavior, examining how available information and the electoral environment influence public attitudes and voter decisions, including the impact of ballot design on candidate evaluation and voting behavior. Dr. Loepp is also passionate about enhancing political science education through data and technology integration. Dr. Loepp’s work appears in publications such as Law and Election Politics: The Rules of the Game (Routledge, 2013) and the Routledge Handbook of Primary Elections (Routledge, 2018).
When not working, Dr. Loepp enjoys playing hockey and strumming his guitars. An avid sports fan, he spends the fall cheering for the Oregon Ducks and Pittsburgh Steelers on the gridiron, the Portland Trail Blazers on the court, and the Pittsburgh Penguins on the ice.
Dr. Amanda M. Rosen
Amanda M. Rosen (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) is the Associate Director of the Teaching Excellence Center at the U.S. Naval War College. A recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the APSA/CQ Press Award for Teaching Innovation (2016) and the Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching Award (2017), she specializes in pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) within political science.
A lifelong gamer, her work explores enhancing classroom learning through experiential methods like games, simulations, and role-playing exercises. Her research also addresses teaching research methods, training early career instructors, and faculty development in professional military education. Beyond pedagogy, her interests include climate change politics, environmental security, global sexual violence, and the human rights of family and marriage.
Dr. Rosen is a co-founder of the award-winning Active Learning in Political Science blog and a contributing editor for International Perspectives on Military Education, a new scholarly journal at Marine Corps University Press. Her recent book, Teaching Political Science: A Practical Guide for Instructors (Springer, 2024), provides SOTL-informed, discipline-specific tips and strategies for course design, execution, and assessment that can be implemented quickly. It also challenges the common misconception that successful teaching requires a significant time investment. Intended for graduate students, early career instructors, and veteran educators looking to develop or revise courses, the book offers accessible approaches to support effective teaching, recognizing that most educators build their skills through hands-on experience with little formal guidance.
Dr. Sarah Wilson Sokhey
Sarah Wilson Sokhey (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado, founding director of Studio Lab for Undergrads, and a faculty associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science. She is also a member of PONARS Eurasia, a network of over 100 academic experts specializing in Eurasia. In February 2024, she was inducted into the University of Colorado’s President’s Teaching Scholars Program.
Supported by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Dr. Sokhey’s research explores the intersection of politics and economics in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, emphasizing economic and social policy reforms, welfare states, and public goods provision. Her current work focuses on local public goods provision in Ukraine.
Dr. Sokhey has contributed to several journals, as well as popular press outlets like the The Washington Post‘s Monkey Cage blog. Her 2017 book, The Political Economy of Pension Policy Reversal in Post-Communist Countries, examines global social security reform reversals following the 2009 financial crisis using survival analysis, survey data, and case studies from Russia, Poland, and Hungary. In 2018, it won the Ed A. Hewett Book Prize for an outstanding publication on the political economy of Russia, Eurasia, and/or Eastern Europe from the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.