Faculty

Political Science Faculty

  • Associate Professor of Political Science

    B.A., M.A., Northwestern University; Ph.D., University of Chicago

    B.A., M.A., Northwestern University

    Ph.D., University of Chicago

     

    Research focuses on political economy, international economics and politics.

     

     

    More about Faisal Ahmed

  • Assistant Professor of Political Science

    B.A., University of Oregon; M.Ed., Boston University; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine

     

    Research interests include race & ethnicity, public opinion, immigration, intergroup solidarity, methodology.  

    More about Maneesh Arora

  • Visiting Lecturer in Political Science

    Ph.D., Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

    More about Katherine M. Beall

  • Ralph Emerson and Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of Political Science

    B.A., University of Minnesota (Minneapolis); M.A., Ph.D., University of California (Berkeley)

    Research focuses on the role of courts, rights, and litigation in public policy and politics.

    More about Tom Burke

  • Professor of Political Science

    B.A., Haverford College; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University

    Interested in the political dimensions of human development, especially policies that promote education, employment, health, and dignity in Southern Asia.

    More about Christopher Candland

  • Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences; Assistant Professor of Political Science

    A.B., Brown University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Michigan

    Studies American politics with an emphasis on race and ethnicity, public opinion, and political psychology

    More about Jennifer Chudy

  • Assistant Professor of Political Science

    B.A., Georgetown University; Ph.D., University of Texas (Austin)

     

    Research interests include the group identity, political behavior and transnationalism of Afro-Latin Americans and their descendants.

    More about Danilo Antonio Contreras

  • Betty Freyhof Johnson '44 Professor of Political Science; Associate Provost for Wellesley in the World

    A.B., University of Chicago; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University

    Researching issues of international security with a specific focus on legitimacy, rising powers, and territorial conflict.

     

    More about Stacie Goddard

  • Pre-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Wellesley College

    Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University

    B.A. in Political Science from SUNY Binghamton, M.Phil. and M.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University

    More about Jose Gomez

  • Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science

    B.A., College of William and Mary; M.A., Ph.D., Duke University

    Researches and teaches political theory, with a focus on grassroots organizing and the politics of race, ethnicity, and culture.

    More about Laura Grattan

  • Professor of Political Science

    B.A., Cornell University; M.A., Ph.D., Stanford University

    Research focuses on Chinese politics, particularly the radicalism of Mao Zedong and the evolution of Chinese communist ideology from Mao to Xi Jinping.

    More about William A. Joseph

  • Professor of Political Science

    B.A., University of California (Berkeley); M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University

    My primary area of research and teaching in political science is international relations, with a focus on American foreign policy.

    More about Paul MacDonald

  • Lecturer in Political Science

    B.A., University of San Francisco ; M.A., Ph.D., University of California (Berkeley)

    Paul Martorelli received his Ph.D. in Political Science with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary focus is political theory.

    More about Paul Martorelli

  • Visiting Lecturer in Political Science

    B.A., Hobart College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

     

     

    More about Nathaniel Shils

  • Visiting Lecturer in Environmental Studies and Political Science

    M.I.D, University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., Indiana University (Bloomington)

    Ph.D. in Public Policy, Indiana University; Master's degree in International Development, University of Pittsburgh 

    More about Godfreyb Ssekajja

  • Assistant Professor

    B.A., Loyola Marymount University

     

    B.A., Loyola Marymount University
    M.A., Duke University
    Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow, Cornell University
    PhD., Duke University
     
     
     

    More about Priscilla Torres

Faculty in other Departments/Programs who Teach Courses Cross-listed with Political Science

  • Professor of Peace and Justice Studies

    B.S., Università degli Studi di Firenze; M.A., University of Notre Dame; Ph.D., University of Southern California

    Scholar and activist around issues of peace and gender.

    More about Catia Confortini

  • Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

    B.A., Linfield College; M.A., Ph.D., Georgia State University

    More about Chipo Dendere

  • Camilla Chandler Frost Professor of Environmental Studies

    B.A., Oberlin College; Ph.D., Harvard University

    Focuses on environmental politics, international environmental law, ocean and atmospheric issues, and protection of the global commons.

    More about Elizabeth R. DeSombre

Emeriti Faculty

  • Professor Emerita of Political Science

    B.A., Barnard College; M.A., Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., Columbia University

    Research and teaching focuses on elections, politics, and the media.

    More about Marion R. Just

  • Norma Wilentz Hess Professor Emeritus of Political Science

    B.A., Yale College; Ph.D., Harvard University

    Joel Krieger is a scholar of comparative and international politics.

    More about Joel Krieger

  • Professor Emerita of Political Science

    B.A. Radcliffe College, Ph.D. Columbia University

    Professor of Political Science Emerita at Wellesley College

    More about Linda B. Miller

  • Professor Emerita of Political Science

    A.B., Smith College; M.A., Ph.D., Princeton University

    Expert on the U.S.-Korea alliance and comparative social movements in East Asia (democratization, women's movements, migrant workers, human rights); migration and identity politics.

    More about Katharine H.S. Moon

  • Betty Freyhof Johnson ’44 Professor Emeritus of Political Science

    B.A., Grinnell College; M.A., Ph.D., University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)

    Studies international institutions and global-level inequalities.

     

    More about Craig N. Murphy

  • Betty Freyhof Johnson ’44 Professor Emeritus of Political Science

    B.A., Carleton College; Ph.D., Harvard University

    Researcher on food and agricultural policy, with a focus on farming technologies and poverty in the developing world.

    More about Robert L. Paarlberg

  • William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of Political Science

    B.S.Tuskegee Institute, Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

    Retired from teaching

    More about Wilbur C. Rich

  • Professor Emeritus of Political Science

    B.A. Amherst College; Ph.D. Columbia University

    Former Chairman, Fulbright Scholarship Board

    More about Alan H. Schechter

  • Associate Professor Emerita of Political Science

    B.A., Lafayette College; J.D., Emory University; Ph.D., University of Chicago

    Retired as of 7/1/2023

    More about Nancy Scherer

  • Ralph Emerson and Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of Political Science, Emeritus

    B.A. Brown University, M.A. Princeton University, Ph.D. Princeton University

    Taught political theory courses at Wellesley. Main research field was American Political Thought.

    More about Edward Stettner (1940-2013)

  • Senior Lecturer Emerita in Political Science

    B.A., Cornell University; M.A., Princeton University

    Focuses on the politics of development, inequality and democracy in Latin America.

    More about Lois Wasserspring