How did you learn about APSA? When did you become a member of APSA, and what prompted you to join?

I learned about APSA as a graduate student at Princeton University in the early 1990s, when Director of Graduate Studies Nancy Bermeo encouraged students to apply to present research at professional conferences. My dissertation adviser, Fred I. Greenstein, encouraged me to submit a proposal to APSA’s then-Presidency Research Group (PRG, now Presidents and Executive Politics) about my research on presidential communication and political signaling in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. I still remember how excited I was when I received an acceptance letter (in the mail!) from PRG section chair Stephen Wayne to present my paper at a panel on Presidential Rhetoric for the 1993 conference.

APSA took place in Washington, DC, that year, and C-SPAN recorded the panel, which was very exciting. The panel was replayed a few times, so all of my family eventually saw it, and it is still available online; over the years, many scholars and people I have interviewed for research on the presidency have told me they saw it! And I have stayed in communication with the panelists, all distinguished scholars of the American presidency– Karen Hult, Martha Joynt Kumar, Russell Riley, Jeffrey Tulis, and Charles Walcott.

How have APSA membership and services been valuable to you at different stages of your career?

APSA membership and services have been highly valuable to me since graduate school for professional research and networking purposes, professional development, and personal friendships. As a graduate student and junior faculty member, I enjoyed attending APSA to present research, meet colleagues in the PRG/PEP and Foreign Policy Organized Sections, and learn about new scholarship and potential publication opportunities in the Book Exhibit Hall. Pre-APSA workshops created by Organized Sections were also highly instructive. As an associate and full professor, I have held several leadership positions in the PRG/PEP Organized section, including Program Chair (2006-2007), Secretary-Treasurer (2018-2019), Vice President (2019-2020), and President (2020-2021). In 2008-2009, I participated in an APSA Task Force on US Standing in World Affairs. I also enjoy attending APSA to meet friends from graduate school and professional work, and to travel with family for sightseeing in many places, including, over the years, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Can you tell us about your professional background and your research?

After completing my dissertation on early Cold War strategy development and communication in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations in the Department of Politics at Princeton University in 1996, I joined the Political Science Department at Hofstra University as an Assistant Professor. I enjoyed four wonderful years at Hofstra, during which I received the first Best Dissertation Award on the American Presidency from the Center for Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University, which led to the publication of my first book, Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (Texas A&M University Press, 1998).

From 2000-2006, I was fortunate to teach as a civilian in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point. My courses included American Politics, the American Presidency, and American Foreign Policy, and I also worked closely with cadets applying for prestigious national and international graduate scholarships. I was promoted to associate and full professor during my highly rewarding time at West Point, and in 2006, I had a special opportunity to return to Hofstra to hold an endowed chair in presidential studies and direct a presidential studies center.

Since 2006, I have focused on scholarship and teaching in presidency studies as Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies, Director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, and professor of political science at Hofstra. Additionally, in 2015, Hofstra established the Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, for which I am executive dean for Public Policy and Public Service (PPPS) Programs. I oversee an undergraduate PPPS major for which students develop individual policy concentrations with me that are approved by a faculty program council. I also organize events in presidential studies and public policy. I currently am directing Hofstra’s Thirteenth Presidential Conference: The Barack Obama Presidency– Hope and Change, which will take place April 19-21, 2023. Hofstra’s presidential conferences bring together scholars, journalists, and administration officials to assess a president’s leadership, policies, and legacy. For the past few years, I also have worked with Craig Burnett at Hofstra on the Kalikow School Poll, which examines current policy issues in American politics. Based on poll findings, we recently co-authored an article in PS: Political Science & Politics on “Public Approval, Policy Issues, and Partisanship in the American Presidency: Examining the 2019-2020 Trump Impeachment and Acquittal.”

My scholarship in presidency studies includes editing numerous scholarly volumes in the past two decades, most recently Executive Policymaking: The Role of the OMB in the Presidency (edited with Andrew Rudalevige, Brookings Institution Press, 2020). I additionally am an author with Matthew Levendusky of the American Government: Institutions and Policies textbook (originally written by James Q. Wilson, revised and expanded with John J. Diulio, Jr., and currently in its 17th edition), which John DiIulio, who was second adviser on my dissertation committee, initially invited me to join as a research assistant in graduate school. In presidency studies, I am an author with Thomas E. Cronin and Michael A. Genovese of The Paradoxes of the American Presidency textbook, which is in its 6th edition. I currently am working on a manuscript about President Barack Obama’s leadership in enacting the Affordable Care Act as well as a larger study of the Obama presidency.

Which APSA programs or events would you recommend to people who are not members of the association, and why?

I strongly encourage political scientists who are not APSA members to join the association and sign up for two or more of APSA’s fifty Organized Sections. Participating in sections is highly instructive for learning about research projects as well as professional opportunities. I also recommend participating in APSA’s Teaching and Learning Conference, which takes place on the Saturday of the Annual Meeting and is an excellent resource for pedagogical innovation and curriculum development. Additionally, participating in pre-APSA workshops created by Organized Sections is instructive and fun. For example, the PEP Organized Section in recent years has offered workshops about Teaching the Presidency.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about you or the work that you do?

I have been in school since I was five and loved it so much that I have never wanted to leave! Building on my love of social studies, history, government, and politics in high school, I majored in International Politics at Penn State University, where I was in the University Honors Program (now Schreyer Honors College) and wrote a senior thesis about the United Nations organization that assists Palestinian refugees. In graduate school at Princeton University, I decided to focus on American politics and started working with renowned scholar Fred I. Greenstein, whose influential research on the modern presidency, particularly Dwight D. Eisenhower’s leadership, bridged my interests in the American presidency, US foreign policy, and American Politics. Since then, I have had many wonderful opportunities for teaching, research, and professional service in these fields of study. Political science is an ideal profession for teaching, research, and public engagement, with many venues for scholarship, leadership, and commentary. And studying politics and political science is so much fun!