2026 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 rolls on. The department offers 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 am nearing the end of my fifth year as department chair. Chairing a large department continues to keep me busy. Every year, we 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 refresh our staple courses. Our current students, alumni and faculty continue to achieve great things, some of which we detail in this newsletter.

This year, we also celebrate the retirements of Professors Alasdair Bowie and Mike Mochizuki. Both of them have been members of the department for over 25 years, and we thank them for their tireless dedication to their students, the department and the university.

We always enjoy hearing from alumni! Please send me or the department a note if you have news to share. Also, we have a department page on LinkedIn, and you can follow us to get more frequent updates on department news.

Sincerely,

Eric Lawrence
Chair, Department of Political Science

Department Spotlights

Abigail Ruggles attended the World Bank’s annual meetings.

Student Accomplishments: Undergraduate Attends World Bank Meetings

Our undergraduates continue to make the most out of their GW experiences and take advantage of their proximity to exciting global events in Washington. PSC senior Abigail Ruggles works as an IIEP research assistant with the Yunus Initiative on Extreme Deprivation, and got to attend the World Bank’s recent annual fall meetings. Abigail was profiled in GW Today.

Welcome New Faculty Member Derek Holliday

We are pleased to welcome Assistant Professor of Political Science Derek Holliday to our faculty! Professor Holiday received his bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from Rice University before continuing on to receive both a master’s degree in statistics and a PhD in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Professor Holliday’s research focuses broadly on political representation in American politics, at the intersection of political behavior and institutions. He is specifically interested in how partisan identification and animosity structures behavior across all levels of U.S. politics (national, state and local) and the consequences of political polarization on democratic functioning. His work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Political Science Research and Methods, PNAS Nexus and the Election Law Journal. His dissertation was awarded the Christopher Z. Mooney Best Dissertation Prize by the APSA State Politics and Policy Section.

He joins the department after a postdoctoral fellow position at Stanford University’s Polarization Research Lab. Outside the classroom, you can find Professor Holiday long-distance trail running and thanklessly rooting for the Seattle Mariners.

Faculty Kudos

Nicholas Anderson received the Smith Richardson Foundation Strategy and Policy Fellows Grant ($60,000) and the International Studies Association (ISA), International Security Studies Section Best Book Award, 2026, for Inadvertent Expansion: How Peripheral Agents Shape World Politics.
Celeste Arrington published her book From Manners to Rules: Advocating for Legalism in South Korea and Japan in July 2025.
Michael Barnett received the 2026 Office of the Vice Provost for Research Distinguished Career Award.
Jeff Ding received the 2026 ISA Science, Technology, and Art in International Relations (STAIR) Best Book Award for Technology and the Rise of Great Powers.
Michael Hankinson received the 2025 Clarence Stone Award from the APSA Urban Politics Section and the Arnold Ventures Grant for developing a national housing permits database ($60,000).
Marc Lynch wrote the book America's Middle East: The Ruination of a Region in October 2025. He also received the Harry F Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award for Battle Scars (includes $36,000 grant).
Rachel Metz received a grant from the Department of Defense of approximately $190,000 to fund her second book project, which will focus on the causes and consequences of military cooperation in the form of access.
David Shambaugh published his book Breaking the Engagement: How China Won & Lost America in June 2025.
David Szakonyi co-authored Workplace Politics: How Politicians and Employers Subvert Elections in July 2025.

Alumni Class Notes

Nicole Bowden, BA ’13, is a senior growth business consultant at TriNet, where she advises high-growth and venture-backed companies on strategic HR and benefits solutions. She lives in Bethesda, Md., with her husband Josh and their two children and is actively engaged in leadership roles across her community, including meaningful involvement in Jewish initiatives and organizations.
Julia Dippel, BA ’16, joined BNY Mellon as head of State and Local Government Affairs after nearly a decade at MSG and Sphere Entertainment Co.
Andrew Dixon, III, BA ’92, began a three-year term as the chair of the National Council of Arts and Sciences (NCAS) in September 2025. The NCAS serves as an advisory council to the dean of the Columbian College. Judge Dixon has served as the Hearing Office chief administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration's Hearing Office in Tallahassee, Florida, since 2023 and served as acting chief judge for the Greenville, S.C., office for the majority of 2025.
Ben Fallaci, BA ’20, is in London writing and performing comedy and theatre. They just completed an MA in writing for performance from Goldsmiths College, University of London, working at Soho Theatre, and preparing to bring their new solo show, “Aquarius Rising‚” to the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Omeed Firouzi, BA ’15, welcomed their first child into this world: Lydia Farideh Agnew Firouzi was born in Philadelphia, on October 9, 2025 at 7 lbs, 1.6 oz. Omeed says, “She is a bundle of joy who we love so much!”
Stephanie Hallett, BA ’99, is the new U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2025 and presented her credentials to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in January 2026.
Tristan Justice, BA ’19, published a book and joined the second Trump administration this spring.
Tanya Lavelle, BA ’08, lives in Austin and does housing, transportation and disaster policy for Disability Rights Texas. She is one of the most recent recipients of the Houser Award, the highest honor a low income housing advocate can receive in Texas.
Kathleen Martin, BA ’17, recently joined the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as its federal relations officer. She continues to pursue her JD as a part-time student at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Ellis McKennie Jr, BA ’91, a retired athlete, is the father of three kids.
Blaine McPhillips, BA ’06, is now a senior deputy with the Los Angeles Office of the County Counsel. In 2020, he was tasked with advising the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, providing legal guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. He still provides general counsel to Public Health. His education at GW was instrumental in laying the foundation for his career success.

Kristina Messner, BA ’90, launched her own firm Messner Media Group LLC in 2022, providing strategic communications and events management services to clients in aerospace, defense, government, healthcare and technology. Based in Northern Virginia, the full-service agency works with global brands as well as emerging startups, GovCon leaders and associations.
Taylor Nelson, BA ’25, serves as the corporate engagement manager at United Way of East Central Iowa, where in less than a year, he has helped drive more than $2 million in fundraising while surpassing multiple fundraising records. Under his leadership, several workplace campaigns have achieved record-breaking levels of giving.
Michael Orenstein, BA ’79, has spent the past 46 years in Florida raising a family and practicing criminal law as a defense attorney. He said he is “blessed with loving children and grandchildren and a long-term marriage to a wonderful wife.”
Rachel Park, BA ’25, graduated in spring 2025 and has been working as an administrative assistant at the Anne Arundel County Office of the State’s Attorney.
Jason Rabbino, BA ’90, is CEO of Sila Services, the leading national residential HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical services company backed by Goldman Sachs. He is married to Stacey (Klein) Rabbino, BA ’91, and lives in Bala Cynwyd, Penn., with two 20-somethings and lots of rescue animals.
Sarah Reidy-Jones, BA ’08, is North Carolina executive director of American Majority and American Majority Action. She will oversee the c(3), c(4) and Super PAC activities across North Carolina for the national organization.
David Septoff, BA ’83, is founder of Septoff Trusted Advisors, where he partners with executives, entrepreneurs and business owners to navigate growth, leadership transitions and the shift from vision to disciplined execution.
Robyn Tombacher, BA ’95, is the EVP, Global Business Transformation at Warner Bros. Discovery and is about to take on the integration management for its mega merger with Paramount Skydance. They live outside of New York City with their husband and 10-year-old daughter.
Lorren Walker, BA ’00, is the president and CEO of EliasWalker, Inc., a D.C.-based government consulting and intelligence gathering firm.
Rita Williams, MA ’73, a Peabody and Emmy award-winning TV reporter, is featured in a three-part documentary on Netflix, This Is Zodiac Speaking.
Jerry Wolf, BA ’70, practices law in Boca Raton, Florida, where he has lived since 1985. He served, for almost a decade, as a member of the Columbian College’s National Council on Arts and Sciences. But his true legacy is his son, Tim Wolf, who received his BA degree from GW in 2002, and now practices law with Jerry as his partner.