{"id":727,"date":"2026-03-24T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/?page_id=727"},"modified":"2026-04-15T22:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:31:16","slug":"plenary-bios","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/plenary-bios\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenary Bios"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plenary Bios<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Plenary<\/strong>: Political Science under Pressure<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dr. Paul Musgrave
Georgetown University Qatar<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Paul Musgrave<\/a><\/strong> researches the intersection of foreign policy and international relations theory. He is the author of numerous articles in leading journals such as\u00a0International Organization<\/a>, International Studies Quarterly<\/a>, Comparative Political Studies<\/a>, Foreign Policy Analysis<\/a><\/em>, and\u00a0International Theory<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He currently focuses on how the public of the United States and other countries evaluates foreign policy strategies such as economic sanctions, tripwire force deployments, regulating foreign social media platforms, and intervening in other countries\u2019 elections. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, he is studying how sub-national governments, such as U.S. state and local governments, take part in international relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has written for the Washington Post, Foreign Policy,<\/em> and Slate<\/em>. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, ABC (Australia), CBC, MSNBC, and Al-Jazeera (Arabic and International). Among his popular works are investigations into Mikhail Gorbachev\u2019s Pizza Hut commercial and how Pepsi briefly owned a Soviet fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musgrave is chair of the International Politics curricular group and Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar. Before joining GU-Q, he was an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During 2019-2020, he was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He received his PhD in Government from Georgetown University. Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Plenary<\/strong>: Possibility and Partnership in Political Science: <\/strong><\/a>
Charting a Path Forward<\/strong> <\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dr. Helen Chang
Hostos Community College (CUNY)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen\u00a0Chang<\/a><\/strong> has a PhD in political science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, with a focus on comparative politics and international relations. Dr. Chang is a political scientist with research interests in election rules and reforms, the intersection of social-technical systems in election administration, migration patterns and generational variations in voting behavior and preferences, and teaching and learning on political science. She is currently studying factors that increase the effectiveness of electoral management bodies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Josh Gellers
University of North Florida<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Joshua C. Gellers<\/a><\/strong>, PhD, LEED Green Associate, is Dean of Professional and Lifelong Learning and Inaugural Faculty Fellow for Artificial Intelligence at the University of North Florida. He is also a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project<\/a>, Expert with the Global AI Ethics Institute<\/a>, and Fulbright Scholar to Sri Lanka. His research, which focuses on environmental governance, rights, and technology, has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and cited in high-level UN and EU reports. Dr. Gellers is the author of The Global Emergence of Constitutional Environmental Rights<\/a> <\/em>(Routledge, 2017) and Rights for Robots: Artificial Intelligence, Animal, and Environmental Law<\/em><\/a> (Routledge, 2020). Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Robert Lieberman
Johns Hopkins University<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Robert Lieberman<\/strong><\/a> is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. He studies American political development, race and American politics, and public policy. He has also written extensively about the development of American democracy and the links between American and comparative politics. His most recent book is\u00a0Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy<\/em><\/a> (St. Martin\u2019s Press, 2020), co-authored with Suzanne Mettler. His first book,\u00a0Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(Harvard University Press, 1998), won the Social Science History Association Presidential Book Award, the Thomas J. Wilson Prize of Harvard University Press, and Columbia University\u2019s Lionel Trilling Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Shaping Race Policy: The United States in Comparative Perspective<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Princeton University Press, 2005) was awarded the Best Book Prize by the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. He is also the co-editor of\u00a0Democratization in America: A Comparative-Historical Analysis<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009),\u00a0Beyond Discrimination: Racial Inequality in a Postracist Era<\/em><\/a> (Russell Sage Foundation, 2013), and\u00a0The Oxford Handbook of American Political Development<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Oxford University Press, 2016). Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. J. Cherie Strachan
University of Akron<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

J. Cherie Strachan<\/a><\/strong>, who received her PhD in 2000 from the State University of New York at Albany, is Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron. She is also Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics<\/a>, which is dedicated to preparing students for professional political careers in addition to promoting public-spirited civic and political participation among the broader electorate. Her political science research combines interests in political participation, voluntary civic and political organizations, and political communication.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Strachan’s recent work explores the #MeToo movement and women\u2019s political ambition, as well as the effects of partisan polarization, rudeness, and civility on political engagement. Her applied research on campus civic engagement pedagogy focuses on facilitating student-led deliberative discussions sessions, on enhancing the political socialization that occurs within campus student organizations, and on increasing scholarly rigor through multi-campus collaboration and data collection.

In addition to authoring and co-editing several books, Dr. Strachan has published more than 40 articles and book chapters. She currently serves on advisory boards for national organizations focused on improving the health of American democracy, including the National Issue Forum Institute (NIFI)<\/a> and Unify Akron<\/a>, a local affiliate of Unify America. Her public service extends to the American Political Science Association (APSA), where she serves as a member of the Executive Committee, Chair of the Teaching and Learning Program Committee, and Vice Chair of the Political Science Education Section. She recently received this section\u2019s Distinguished Service Award for her role in helping to launch APSA\u2019s Political Science Pedagogy Certification<\/a> initiative, designed to provide professional development and credentialing opportunities for teacher-scholars in the discipline.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plenary Bios Plenary: Political Science under Pressure Dr. Paul MusgraveGeorgetown University Qatar Paul Musgrave researches the intersection of foreign policy and international relations theory. He is the author of numerous articles in leading journals such as\u00a0International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Foreign Policy Analysis, and\u00a0International Theory. He currently focuses on how the public…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-727","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/vrm2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}