Supreme Court

Judicial Branch

Public Administration

Education

• Ph.D., Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Tech, 2008
• M.A., Political Science, Virginia Tech, 1992
• B.A., Political Science & History, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, 1989

Research Interests

• Administrative philosophy of retired Supreme Court Justice Byron White
• Comparative impact of Justices Jackson, White and Scalia on the development of U.S. administrative law (work in progress)
• Judicialization of public administration processes, particularly related to reform of public institutions and public human resource management
• Organizational dynamics of the judicial branch and its effect on the administrative state
• Political science instructional techniques and pedagogy, including public teaching and use of podcasts as public teaching tool

Select Publications

• Invited Op-Ed; “The Government Is Different: Governor Youngkin’s New Administration.” Published in Virginia Capitol Connections; Spring 2022.
• Invited Op-Ed; “Calls to reform qualified immunity are coming from left and right. I'm still skeptical.” Published in USAToday; Nov. 7, 2021
  

Affiliations

• Midwest Political Science Association
• Southern Political Science Association
• We the People High School Civics Education and Competition

Courses

• Public law – Constitutional and administrative law
• Courts and politics
• Law and public policy
• American political science – Institutions and administration
• Politics in film

Awards

• Co-recipient with VCU Cabell Librarian Nia Rodgers of the American Library Association’s ProQuest/GODORT/ALA Documents to the People Award for the Civil Discourse podcast; Spring 2023
• Nominated for College of Humanities and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award; Spring 2023
• Received an Affordable Course Content Award from the VCU Cabell Library to convert POLI 313 (Civil Rights & Liberties) course into textbook-less one to save the course students ~$120 and improve student accessibility; Spring 2022
• Nominated for College of Humanities and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award; Spring 2020
• Nominated for College of Humanities and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award; Spring 2019