Center for the Study of Representation
Recipients of the Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowship
2011-12
Gregory Elinson (Political Science)
"Institutionalizing Economic Power: Business, Labor and Judicial Politics, 1947-1970"
Trevor Gardner (Sociology)
"Sanctuary in America: Local Immigration Enforcement and the Power to Police in the Homeland Security Era"
Alexa Koenig (Jurisprudence & Social Policy)
"'The Worst': Institutional Violence, Resistance and the Law"
Abby Wood (Political Science)
"Exposing Malfeasance: Government Transparency in the 50 States"
Gene Zubovich (History)
"Protestant Social Consciousness in the 1940s"
2010-11
2010-11 Mike Synar Graduate Fellowship Recipients. From left to right Catherine Barry (Synar Fellowship recipient), Sarah Cowan (Synar Fellowship recipient), John Brandt, William Brandt, Jr., Devin Caughey (Synar Fellowship recipient), John Henderson (Synar Fellowship recipient), Ruth Bloch Rubin (Synar Fellowship recipient), Patrice Brandt
Catherine Barry (Sociology and Demography)
"Military Service, the Military
Institution, and the Incorporation of 1st and 2nd Generation Immigrants"
Ruth Bloch Rubin (Political Science)
"The Strategic and Electoral Logics of Sub-Party Coalitions"
Devin Caughey (Political Science)
"Public Opinion, Ideology, and Representation in the One-Party South, 1930s-1960s"
Sarah Cowan (Sociology and Demography)
"Secrets, Lies, and Wishful Thinking: The Importance of Non-Truths for Sociological Theory and Practice"
John Henderson (Political Science)
"Running on the Brand: Party Reputation in Congressional Campaigns"
2009-10
2009-10 Mike Synar Graduate Fellowship Recipients. From left to right, Michael Salamone, Naomi Hsu, Bill Brandt, Patrice Bugelas, Alexander Theodoridis, Jackie Bass. Not pictured--Daniel Laurison.
Michael Salamone (Political Science)
"Public Perceptions of Judicial Unanimity and Dissent"
Naomi Hsu (Sociology)
"Forever Non-Voters? Explaining the Paradox of Asian-American Under Participation in Electoral Politics"
Alexander Theodoridis (Political Science)
"Partisanship and Partisan Identity in Political Cognition"
Jackie Bass (Political Science)
"Things Fall Apart: Prosperity, Faith, and Division within the African American Community"
Daniel R. Laurison (Sociology)
"Creating Politics: Viewpoints and Trajectories of Senatorial and Presidential Campaign Professionals"
2008-09
Bruce Huber, Amanda Hollis-Brusky, Bill Brandt, Ming Hsu Chen, Vikram Maheshri, and Terri Bimes (Director, IGS Center for the Study of Representation and Lecturer in Political Science at UC Berkeley)
Hanna Brown (Sociology): "Race, Immigration, and the Transformation of the U.S. Welfare State, 1988-2008"
By examining the welfare policies of Alabama, Georgia, California and Arizona before and after Bill Clinton's major 1996 welfare reform bill was passed, Brown hopes to answer important questions dealing with the diversity of state responses and outcomes. Her Synar Research Fellowship will help pay for travel to conduct archival research and also conduct interviews.
Ming Hsu Chen (Jurisprudence and Social Policy): "From Civil Rights to Multiculturalism"
In her research, Chen tackles the question of why language rights developed in education and voting but not in the employment policy arena. Her answer emphasizes the role of issue networks within which both established elites and issue activists play important roles. The Mike Synar Research Fellowship will support travel to conduct archival research and will help defray the cost of transcribing interviews with government officials and community activists.
Amanda Hollis-Brusky (Political Science): "The Federalist Society and the Structural Constitution"
Hollis-Brusky's research focuses on the Federalist Society and how it has transformed the interpretation of constitutional law. She plans to use part of her fellowship money to travel to Washington DC to interview past and current members of the Federalist Society and observe annual lawyer and student chapter conferences.
Bruce Huber (Political Science): "The Politics of Grandfathering in Environmental Law"
In his dissertation, Huber seeks to more fully understand how political, social and structural conditions shape the relationship between government officials and industry players and their propensity to use the grandfathering process. By examining several case studies, Huber hopes to provide a detailed map of the bargaining process over environmental law provisions. Huber will use the Mike Synar Research Fellowship to travel to Washington DC to interview federal environmental policymakers.
Vikram Maheshri (Economics): "Money in Politics: Causes and Consequences"
How does money affect decision-making in Washington? This is the question that Maheshri sets out to answer in his dissertation. Instead of examining how political contributions affect legislative voting, he instead examines how political contributions affect the actual types of bills that come up for a vote. His work has the potential to break new ground on this age-old political question. The money from the Mike Synar Research Fellowship will give Maheshri the financial freedom to finish his dissertation without holding an outside job.
2007-08
Corey Brooks (History): "Building an Anti-Slavery House: Political Abolitionists and Congress, 1836-1861"
Peter Hanson (Political Science): "The Institutional Effects of Partisan Polarization in Congress"
Jennifer Randles (Sociology): "Learning and Legislating to Love: U.S. Relationship Education and the Modern Marriage Crisis"
Rocio Titiunik (Agriculture and Resource Economics): "Empirical Investigations in Political Economy and Representation"
Kevin Wallsten (Political Science): "Public Opinion and the New 'New Media'"
