2025 Political Science Newsletter
Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Faculty Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Chair
Greetings Political Science Alumni,
Life in the GW Political Science Department continues apace. These are challenging times in higher education, as GW and other universities continue to recover from the pandemic while also dealing with new challenges like AI and declining public support for higher education. For our part, the department continues to offer courses covering politics in all parts of the world, and our faculty work hard to help students think critically about politics and develop skills that will serve them well in the future. We aspire to meet the high GW standards for teaching, research and service, and our students and faculty excel at stepping up to the challenge.
I just started my fifth year as department chair and chairing a large department keeps me busy. We continue to hire new full-time and part-time faculty to our teaching roster, which allows us to add exciting new courses to our curriculum as well as to refresh our staple courses. Our current students, alumni and faculty continue to achieve great things, some of which we detail in this newsletter.
We always enjoy hearing from alumni! If you would like to get involved with the department by providing career advice to current students or recent graduates, please pscchair
gwu [dot] edu (send me) a note. Also, we recently launched a department page on LinkedIn. You can follow us to get more frequent updates on department news.
Sincerely,
Eric Lawrence
Chair, Department of Political Science
Department Spotlights
Student Accomplishments: Two Truman Prize Winners and PSC Students at the DNC & RNC
We continue to be proud of our PSC students’ accomplishments and drive to make the most of their GW experience. In the past two years, we’ve had two political science majors win the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders in the United States. Join us in congratulating Grace Truslow and Emily-Anne Santiago!
In more news, thanks to the generosity of GW alums, our department was able to support two students attending the 2024 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Sandra Ochoa and Kieran Laffey reflected on their experiences in an article on our website.
Welcome New Faculty: Rachel Metz, Kelly Bauer and Nick Anderson
We are pleased to welcome to the Department of Political Science three new faculty members: Assistant Professor of Political Science Rachel Metz, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Undergraduate Studies Kelly Bauer and Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Nick Anderson.
Dr. Rachel Metz
Dr. Rachel Metz’s research focuses on security cooperation, military strategy and operations and methods for studying war, such as campaign analysis and wargaming. Her current book project examines the (in)effectiveness of U.S. efforts to build militaries in partner states.
Dr. Metz received her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and her PhD in political science from MIT. Dr. Metz teaches an undergraduate course on nuclear strategy (3500). Her interest in international security began with the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein motivated her to study why and how the United States wields its military power, and to bridge the divide between academic research and U.S. foreign policy.
Dr. Metz is excited to join GW’s Political Science Department because of the fantastic students and faculty and the opportunities to connect and collaborate with foreign policy practitioners. She enjoys showing students how international security affects their lives in ways big and small, and helping students develop tools for thinking more rigorously about cause and effect. Outside the office, she enjoys running in Rock Creek Park and on the National Mall, and she recently raced in the 2024 Marine Corps Marathon.
Dr. Kelly Bauer
Dr. Kelly Bauer received her bachelor’s in history, Spanish and political science at Carthage College, and her PhD in political science at GW. She became interested in political science over long conversations in Argentina, Chile and the U.S. about how people understand, engage with and transform their political worlds.
Dr. Bauer’s research and teaching are on identity and development politics in Latin America, exploring how states respond to global trends that challenge traditional understandings of the state. Her most recent book, Negotiating Autonomy: Mapuche Territorial Demands and Chilean Land Policy (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021), explores how Chilean bureaucrats govern an Indigenous land policy. Some of her other work explored rhetoric about Indigenous rights in Chile and how Latin American countries responded to irregular migration. She also researches and writes about political science pedagogy and higher education politics. She is the co-author of Introduction to Comparative Politics: Political Challenges and Changing Agendas, 9th edition (Cengage Learning, 2025).
She joins the department after eight years at Nebraska Wesleyan University and is thrilled to be back in the department as the director of undergraduate studies. She teaches Intro to Comparative Politics, Comparative Politics of Latin America and Democratic Experiments in Latin America, and enjoys how students are able to bring their range of experiences into the classroom. She looks forward to supporting GW PSC undergraduates students in their professional development!
Dr. Nick Anderson
Dr. Nick Anderson’s research focuses on a variety of topics in international security studies, including great power politics; military intervention and territorial expansion; conventional military operations; nuclear deterrence and strategy; and the international relations of East Asia.
He started his undergraduate career at a community college before transferring to University of British Columbia, where he received his BA in political science and international relations. He completed his MA in security studies at Georgetown University and his PhD in political science at Yale University.
His recent book is about how actors on the periphery of major states and empires manage to drag their leaders unwittingly and sometimes unwillingly into unplanned instances of territorial conquest. His second book project examines military intervention, looking at why some uses of military force abroad end up being so much longer and costlier than leaders expect when they launch them.
He is excited to be in the Political Science Department because of the bright students and the engaged, expert and welcoming faculty. He teaches MA and PhD seminar courses at both the Elliott School of International Affairs and the department. He is excited to be back in D.C. It was the first place he lived when he moved to the U.S. from Canada and the city continues to feel very much like home.
Faculty Kudos
- Nick Anderson published his book Inadvertent Expansion: How Peripheral Agents Shape World Politics in January 2025.
- Brandon Bartels and Eric Kramon received the Best Journal Article Award 2024, Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association with their article “Can Democratic Principles Protect High Courts from Partisan Backlash? Public Reactions to the Kenyan Supreme Court's Role in the 2017 Election Crisis,” with Jeremy Horowitz.
- Nicole Bartels won the 2024 Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses for her creativity and originality in teaching an introductory course in the Arts and Sciences.
- Nathan J. Brown co-authored Autocrats Can’t Always Get What They Want: State Institutions and Autonomy under Authoritarianism in August 2024.
- Richard Chasdi published his book Corporate Security Intelligence: An Assessment of Host Country Vulnerability to Terrorism in March 2024.
- Alicia Cooperman won the 2022 Frances Rosenbluth Editorial Board Prize in Comparative Political Studies for her paper “(Un)Natural Disasters: Electoral Cycles in Disaster Relief.”
- Adam Dean was awarded a $14,482 grant from the National Institute on Aging to strengthen the dementia care workforce by analyzing economic policies’ influence on workers and their patients living with dementia.
- Jeffrey Ding published Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic Competition in August 2024.
- Martha Finnemore was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science in 2023, widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Political Science.”
- Eric Grynaviski won the Columbian Prize for Teaching and Mentoring Advanced Undergraduate Students for the 24-25 academic year. He and alumnus Miles Evers, PhD ’20, won the 2025 American Political Science Association’s Foreign Policy Book Award for The Price of Empire: American Entrepreneurs and the Origins of America’s First Pacific Empire.
- Michael Hankinson won the American Political Science Association’s Lawrence Longeley Award for Best Article in the Representation and Electoral Systems section for “The Supply–Equity Trade-off: The Effect of Spatial Representation on the Local Housing Supply,” with Asya Magazinnik.
- Danny Hayes won the 2023 Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on the Media, Politics, and Public Policy for News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement, with Jennifer L. Lawless
- Stephen Kaplan won the 2023 Luciano Tomassini International Relations Book Award presented by the Latin American Studies Association for his book Globalizing Patient Capital: The Political Economy of Chinese Finance in the Americas.
- Janet Lewis received the Early Career Researcher Award in 2023 by the GW Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
- Rachel Metz received a $60,000 grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation to support the completion of her first book project.
- Mike Miller won the 2024 American Political Science Association’s Michael Wallerstein Award in the Political Economy Section for “How Authoritarian Governments Decide Who Emigrates: Evidence From East Germany,” with Julian Michel and Margaret E. Peters.
- Jasmine Smith was awarded the 2023 American Political Science Association’s Best Dissertation Award in the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section for “Electability Politics: How and Why Black Americans Vote in Primary Elections.”
- Julian Wamble published his book We Choose You: How Black Voters Decide Which Candidates to Support in February 2025.
- Chris Warshaw won the 2024 American Political Science Association’s Virginia Gray Book Award for Dynamic Democracy: Public Opinion, Elections, and Policymaking in the American States, with Devin Caughey.
Alumni Class Notes
- Blake Amedeo, BA’17, is living in San Francisco pursuing a career as a novelist. He practices Zen Buddhism and helps manage a local coffee shop.
- Francis Anderson, BA ’95, produced and released two movies this past year currently on Amazon Prime Video: Lion of Judah Legacy and Rising Tides: The BOOST Legacy. He also released the Android/personal computer video game “Baby’s Mama Drama.”
- Emily Bauwens, BA ’21, is in her final year at Columbia Law School. She has accepted a full-time offer after graduation at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in the White Collar Defense and Investigations group.
- Davis Burton, BA ’21, joined Washington, D.C.-based law firm Kellogg Hansen, where he was a member of the trial support staff for the multi-billion dollar landmark litigation State of Florida v. Purdue Pharma. He now works at Atticus, a disability law start-up.
- Carlie Byrne, BA ’20, taught English in Spain for two years after graduating and then joined the Peace Corps where she is now teaching in Colombia.
- Gary Carlton, BA ’76, has been certified by New York States for two more years as justice of the Supreme Court.
- Rocco Chiappetta, BA ’81, earned a master’s at Syracuse (Maxwell) after graduating GW. For the past two decades, he has served as a registered lobbyist. Since 2019, he has been the CEO of the nation’s largest and oldest physicians union based in California.
- William Dugan, BA ’19, is director of revenue growth for EB Medicine, an Atlanta-based publisher and medical education provider for emergency department physicians and urgent-care clinicians.
- Daniel Egel-Weiss, BA ’15, is a part-time professorial lecturer in political science, teaching the course Crafting Novel Policy: AI, Biometrics & Data Privacy. He remains full-time counsel for state government relations at Major League Baseball.
- Isabella Fazio, BA ’21, is currently pursuing her JD at Notre Dame Law School. She is participating in the NDLS London Law Programme this academic year, and is externing at the law firm Finnegan in their London office.
- Colm Fox, PhD ’14, published Bonding, Bridging & Bypassing: Understanding Ethnic Politics in Diverse Societies with Oxford University Press.
- Sarah Freeman, BA ’24, serves as the press associate for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. She is completing her master’s in legislative affairs at GW's Graduate School of Political Management.
- Emily Furler, BA ’24, is a paralegal at Paul Hastings LLP and currently serves as a policy initiatives member in the American Bar Association for Health Law. She is looking forward to beginning law school next year!
- Carolyn Harris, BA ’83, works with leaders in the public and private sector to give teachers and high school and college students apprenticeships in frontline projects, especially in STEM fields and for underserved youth.
- Cynthia Hemeon, BS ’90, is the senior vice president and chief marketing and experience officer at MVSB. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and son and their pets, and is an extremely active community volunteer.
- Hunter Ihrman, BA ’20, recently married fellow GW alum Natalie (Morgan) Ihrman and the two reside in Northern Virginia. Hunter serves as director of policy communications for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Natalie is a U.S. Senate press secretary.
- Stuart Jones, BA ’84, is currently with LMI, a government consultancy, as the vice president for the OSD & Defense Agencies Market where he is responsible for the delivery and execution of programs, projects and tasks as well as strategic growth.
- Andrew Kleitsch, BA ’80, is living in Raleigh, N.C., with his wife Carolyn. He is the VP/chief financial officer for Durham Tech Community College in Durham. He has three adult children, one boy and two girls and three grandchildren, one boy and two girls.
- Marlo Lyons, BA ’92, second book, Wanted -> My First Career, The Definitive Playbook for Landing Your First Job in a Fulfilling Career, which is for college students, has received a recommendation from the U.S. Review of Books and National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
- Ellen Maccarone, BA ’95, was appointed in Gonzaga University’s new vice president for Mission Integration.
- Debra Morris, BA ’80, completed a master’s in clinical social work in 1992 and holds licenses to practice in Maryland and Virginia. Since 2014, she has had a private psychotherapy practice based in Maryland.
- Ross Moskowitz, BA ’81, has been practicing law for 40 years and is annually recognized as one of the leading real estate attorneys in New York City. He has also received numerous national and state awards for his commitment and work in the DEI community.
- Christopher Myers, BA ’84, published his 13th book and 5th academic book on marketing called Brand Marketing.
- William Olewiler, BA ’66, is retired from being a United Methodist pastor throughout Virginia. He leads worship in an independent church once a month. His political science education helps him follow politics and social concerns.
- Michael Orenstein, BA ’79, lives in Florida. He is married and has a daughter who is a pediatric endocrinologist, a son who is a law student and two young grandsons. For the past 40 years, he has been practicing criminal law in State and Federal Courts throughout the U.S.
- Adam Ramey, BA ’01, is an associate professor of political science and director of computational social science at New York University Abu Dhabi. He recently become an associate dean of social science at the same institution.
- Leah Rassam, BA ’22, is currently getting her master’s in public policy from Duke University. Before that she worked as a regulatory analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission in the Public Advocate’s Office.
- Bob Rendine, BA ’84, was appointed interim chief communications officer for Acrisure, the global fintech leader with $5 billion in revenue and more than 17,000 employees in 21 countries.
- Julia Scott, BA ’20, was accepted to the College of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and is currently studying for her master’s in public health. She is interning at the Sidney Kimmel Center for Cancer Research.
- Charles Sewell, BA ’75, is retired and golfing in Pinehurst, N.C. During his career, he was lead consultant on over 200 successful candidate and issue campaigns. He also directed government relations strategies for Fortune 500 companies and national trade associations.
- Drake Stobie, BA ’19, is a judge advocate in the Navy JAG Corps. Stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, he currently serves as the deputy staff judge advocate for the base. He will represent clients as a legal assistance attorney and try cases as a Navy prosecutor.
- Elliot Svirnovskiy, BA ’21, finished a two year Teach For America commitment, serving as a middle school teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio. Elliot has returned to Washington and now works with independent schools as a member services manager at One Schoolhouse.
- Peter Zahn, BA ’79, resides in San Diego. He co-founded the nonprofit Local Policy Lab, which helps cities and counties effectively engage their residents, particularly marginalized communities, to strengthen democracy and address climate change.