Recent Placement

Amy Below, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Oregon State University
Email: amy.below@oregonstate.edu
PhD 2008
Dissertation Title: Decisions to Ratify the Kyoto Protocol: A Latin American Perspective on Poliheuristic Theory

David E. Bridge, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Baylor University
Email: David_Bridge@baylor.edu 
PhD 2010
Dissertation Title: Congressional Policy Preferences and Outcomes
Advisers: Dean Howard Gillman and Jeb Barnes
View CV

Cher Weixia Chen, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Stephen F. Austin State University 
Email: chenx2@sfasu.edu
PhD December 2008
Fields of Concentration: Public Law, Comparative Politics, Human Rights
Dissertation Title: “Compliance and Compromise: The Jurisprudence of Gender Pay Equity”
Advisors: Dr. Alison Dundes Renteln-chair, Dr. Stanley Rosen, Dr. Eugene Cooper
On placement success and how training at USC contributed to it: The past couple of years have witnessed a brutal job market. But our POIR program has somewhat coped with it successfully. For me, the practice job talk and all the kind advice from our caring faculty members helped me tremendously.

Jason Enia, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Sam Houston State University
Email: jason.enia@shsu.edu
Web: http://jasonenia.wordpress.com
PhD 2009 
Fields of Concentration: International Political Economy & International Security
Dissertation Title: Shaking the Foundations of Violent Civil Conflict: Institutions, Disasters, and the Political Economies of State-Rebel Interaction
Advisor: Pat James

Adrian Felix, Ph.D. - Post-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Florida
Email: afelix4@ucsc.edu
PhD 2010 
Dissertation Title: Transnational (After)life: Migrant Transnationalism & Engagement in U.S. & Mexican Politics
Advisers: Ricardo Ramirez, Janelle Wong, Nora Hamilton, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo 
View CV

Jeffrey Fields, Ph.D - Senior Analyst, US Department of State
Email: jeffrey.fields@usc.edu
PhD 2008
Dissertation Title: Engage, Isolate, or Attack: Explaining U.S. Foreign Policy toward Rogue States

Jarrod Hayes, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Tech
Email: jarrod.hayes@gatech.edu
PhD 2009
Fields of Concentration: International Security, Foreign Policy Analysis, Comparative Politics
Dissertation Title: Securitizing the Democratic Peace
Dissertation Advisor: Patrick James
On placement success and how training at USC contributed to it: I was out on the academic job market during the 2008 hiring period (for positions starting in the fall of 2009).  At the beginning of the year I had not planned on going out on the market, but with the acceptance of my article in International Studies Quarterly early in the summer of 2008, I felt the timing to be right to make the move.  That year was the second really bad hiring year after the financial collapse, and my applications initially received very little attention.  Toward the end of the year, I did land an interview with the University of Oklahoma for a tenure-track position, a joint appointment with School of International and Area Studies and the Department of Political Science.  The interview took place early in December, and I received the job offer about a week later.

There are obviously a number of factors that go into a successful job search effort, many of which are not under our control.  However, the POIR program at USC did give me the tools necessary to maximize my chances of job success.  Obviously, the top grade professors and classes as well as generous summer and research support are critical components of job success.  More often overlooked I think are the opportunities for professional development at USC.  For example, conference funding enabled me to attend conferences to present papers and begin forming networks of professional colleagues, activities that have been crucial to my success thus far.  The institutional focus on publishing and the variety of ways the program supports those endeavors also played a key role in my placement.  More generally, the atmosphere of disciplined hard work helps to establish a perspective on research and teaching that I think is apparent in interviews.

Yitan Li, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Seattle University
Email: liy@seattleu.edu 
Ph.D. 2008
Fields of Concentration: Foreign Policy Analysis, Security, Comparative Politics, 
Dissertation Title: A two-level analysis of foreign policy decision making: An empirical investigation of the case of China-Taiwan
Dissertation Advisor: Patrick James
On placement success and how training at USC contributed to it: Having had a background in quantitative analysis before coming to USC, the POIR program helped me to enrich my qualitative skills, especially in the areas of IR theories and East Asian studies. The POIR program also provided generous funding to allow me to complete my research and dissertation in a timely manner. I truly enjoyed the academic environment and diversity as well as the intellectual challenge provided by the POIR program.

Jillian Medeiros, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico
Email: 
PhD 2009
Dissertation Title: Health Care for all? Anti-Latino and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes, Health Care Policy, and the Latino Community

Nukhet Sandal, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor at Ohio University
E-mail: nukhet_sandal@brown.edu
PhD 2010
Fields of Concentration: International Relations and Security, FPA and Comparative Politics
Dissertation Title: Religious Actors as Epistemic Communities in Conflict Transformation: The Case of Northern Ireland
Dissertation Advisor: Patrick James
On placement success and how training at USC contributed to it: I feel very lucky to be a POIR graduate and I really appreciate the continuous support I got from the program and the faculty. From my second year on, I was encouraged to participate actively in the field, present in conferences and publish in prestigious journals. I have felt very lucky because my advisor was always available for my questions and to help with the challenges I came across. I also never worried about financial constraints because I knew that I would receive the support I needed to conduct field research or to present my work in conferences to increase the quality of my work. It is really amazing to see that the faculty and the staff are always there for you from the very beginning; it helped me considerably when I was planning my teaching and research career.

Jenifer Whitten-Woodring, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Email: jenifer_whittenwoodring@uml.edu
PhD 2010 
Dissertation Title: The fabled fourth estate: Media freedom, democracy and human rights
Advisers: Patrick James, Ann Crigler, Philip Seib, and Carol Wise

 




Refer to this Recent Placements document to view our recent placments.