My scholarship focuses on representation in American politics. Most recently, I have worked with Charles Stewart III on the Senate Elections Data Project 1871-1913 which is a study of the indirect election of U.S. Senators in state legislatures (1871-1913)and the impact of the adoption of the 17th Amendment. The study is the basis for our book, Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth Amendment (Princeton University Press 2014). I am co-author, with John G. Geer and Jeffrey A. Segal, of Gateways to Democracy, Introduction to American Government, 1st, 2nd, and Richard Herrera for the 3rd  editions. My other publications address Senate legislative behavior (modern & historical),geography, bicameralism, and trade politics.

For over a century of the nation's early history, United States senators were elected by state legislatures. Until the passage of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the first popular senatorial elections in 1914, senatorial elections in the state legislatures forced an intense focus on state electoral politics. Any observer of national politics had to follow state elections in each of (eventually) 48 states and the internal organization of 48 separate state legislatures.

In the Senate Elections Data Project 1871-1913, we have gathered original data from 48 states on legislative rosters, length of service, chamber organization votes, party cohesion, and ballots for U.S. Senators for all Senate election held during that time.  We have published an article using this data entitled "U.S. Senate Elections before the 17th Amendment: Political Party Cohesion and Conflict 1871–1913.”  2013 (Co-authored with Charles Stewart (MIT) and Benjamin Xiong (Brown University).  Journal of Politics 75 No.3: 835-837.   Our  book Electing the Senate covers how effective party majorities were in securing victory for their preferred candidate, how and why conflict erupted over Senate elections leading to extended joint session balloting, and how the bicameral nature of state legislatures played a role in the extent of conflict in these elections. 

National Science Foundation (NSF) collaborative research: "The U.S. Senate Election Data Base, 1871-1913," $212,156 (2005-2007); collaborator with Professor Charles Stewart III (MIT), who also received $212, 156 (total grant award $424,312)

Salomon Fund Research Award, Brown University, The Political Geography of Power, 2001-2004; $10,500

Salomon Fund Research Award, Brown University, Cooperation and Competition within Senate Delegations 1997-1999; $6,500

Group Research Project (GRP), Political Geography and Coalition Formation, Brown University; 2001-2002 $5,000

“Litigating Lives and Gender Inequality:  Public Defenders, Policy Implementation, and Domestic Violence Sentencing.” Co-author with Kaitlin Sidorsky.  Forthcoming in Journal of Women, Politics & Policy.

Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth  Amendment, co-authored with Charles Stewart III.  Princeton University Press 2015. 

The Contemporary Congress – Fifth Edition. Co-Author with Burdett Loomis Rowman-Littlefield Publishers. 2015.

"U.S. Senate Elections before the 17th Amendment: Political Party Cohesion and Conflict 1871–1913.”  2013. Co-authored with Charles Stewart (MIT) and Benjamin Xiong (Brown University).   Journal of Politics 75 No.3: 835-837.

“Resolved the filibuster should be abolished (Con argument).” 2013.  (Revised from earlier version) Chapter 14.  In Debating Reform: Conflicting Perspectives on How to Fix the American Political System. Eds. Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson.  Washington DC:  CQ Press. Pp.  254-262.

Gateways to Democracy:  An Introduction to American Government, Essentials. Co-author with John G. Geer, Jeffrey A. Segal, and Dana K. Glencross.  Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

1st Edition, January 2011. (640 pages)

2nd Edition, January 2013 (640 pages)

3rd Edition, January 2015 forthcoming 

“The 100th Anniversary of the 17th Amendment: A Promise Unfulfilled?” co-authored with Charles Stewart (MIT).  2013.  Issues in Governance Studies No. 59:1-12.  Washington DC:  Brookings Institution 

“Howard Baker’s Leadership in the U.S. Senate:  Lessons in Persuasion, Civility, and Success.”   2012.  Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy Vol. IV, No.2: 28-48.  

Schiller, Wendy J. and Cassidy, Jennifer C. 2011. "Senate Delegation Dynamics in an Age of Party Polarization," The Forum: Vol. 9: Iss. 4, Article 7. http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol9/iss4/art7

"Development of Congressional Elections" in The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress, Eds. Frances Lee and Eric Schickler. New York: Oxford University Press.  2011.

"WTO and Illegal Tax Breaks" with Ralph Carter. 2008. In Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy, 3rd edition. Edited by Ralph Carter. Washington DC: CQ Press.

"The Electoral Connection: Career Building and Constituency Representation in the U.S. Senate in the Age of Indirect Elections."(2007) in Process, Party and Policy Making: Further New Perspectives on the History of Congress, Stanford University Press.

"Building Careers and Courting Constituents: U.S. Senate Representation 1889-1924." 2006. Studies in American Political Development 20:185-197.

The Contemporary Congress – Fifth Edition. Co-Author with Burdett Loomis Wadsworth-Thomson Publishers. 2005.

"Tactical and Contextual Determinants of U.S. Senators' Approval Ratings." with Patrick Sellers and Brian Schaffner.  2003. Legislative Studies Quarterly 28: 203-223.

The Contemporary Congress - Fourth Edition Co-Author with Burdett Loomis Wadsworth-Thomson Publishers, 2003.

"Sharing the Same Home Turf: How Senators From the Same State Compete for Geographic Electoral Support." 2002. In U.S. Senate Exceptionalism, ed. Bruce Oppenheimer, Ohio State University Press.

"Has Free Trade Won the War in Congress, or is the Battle Still Raging?" 2000. In NAFTA Law and Business Review of the Americas Vol.6, Issue 3, pp. 363-387.

Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations. Princeton University Press, 2000.

"Building Reputations and Shaping Careers: The Strategies of Individual Agenda Setting in the U.S. Senate." 2000. In Congress at Work, Congress on Display, ed. William Bianco. University of Michigan Press.

"Trade Politics in the American Congress: A Study of the Interaction of Political Geography and Interest Group Behavior." 1999. Political Geography Vol. 18, Issue 7, pp. 769-789.

"Senators as Political Entrepreneurs: Using Bill Sponsorship to Shape Legislative Agendas." American Journal of Political Science 39: 186-203. February 1995.

Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science July 2020-

Fulbright Award: Spain, Senior Lecturer in American Politics, 2004-2005 (Declined)

Howard Foundation, paid semester leave, 1997-1998

Guest Scholar, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., September 1997-August 1998

Presidential Fellow, Salzburg Seminar, May 1996

Visiting Student, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, September 1993- September 1994

Research Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., September 1992 - September 1993

Chair, Legislative Studies Section, American Political Science Association 2017-2019

Editorial Board Member, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, 2014-2017 

Editorial Board Member, Congress and the Presidency, 2007-2009

Editorial Board member, Legislative Studies Quarterly , 2004-2007, 2017-2020

Editorial Board member, Journal of Politics , 2005-2008

Legislative Studies, division chair, American Political Science Association meetings, 2006

Member, 2005 Gladys M. Kammerer Award Committee for the best political science book in the field of U.S. national policy

Legislative Politics section head, Midwest Political Science Association 2002 meetings

American Politics section head, New England Political Science Association 2001 meetings
Secretary-Treasurer, Legislative Studies Section, American Political Science Association 1998-2001

Council member, New England Political Science Association, 1999-2003

Member, 1996 Richard F. Fenno Jr. Prize Committee for best book in legislative politics
 

Reviewer, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Congress & the Presidency, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, International Studies Quarterly, National Science Foundation, Cambridge University Press, Brookings Institution Press, Princeton University Press,  Ohio State University Press, University of Chicago Press.

 

Introduction to the American Political Process
This course is designed to be an introduction to the American political process, broadly defined. We cover topics including but not limited to: Congress, Media, Interest Groups, Budget, Presidency, Public Opinion, Courts, Bureaucracy, and Agenda Setting. Students are asked to track elections and incumbent career performance, and analyze them in the context of media, interest group, and executive branch pressures.

The American Presidency
This course covers all facets of the American Presidency, including but not limited to: nomination process, general election campaign, cabinet formation, interactions with Congress and the Supreme Court, foreign policy and military actions, communications strategies, major policy initiation, and policy implementation.

Philosophy of the Founding Freshman Seminar
This course is designed to explore the ideas and beliefs that served to influence key actors in our nation's founding. The course relies on primary source materials, including the writings of Charles Montesquieu, John Adams, Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Mercy Warren. The course focuses on the expectations underlying the construction of the new American republic and students are asked to assess the relevance and flexibility of our governance structure as it stands today.

Topics in American Institutions
A seminar open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The course is essentially a survey course of the best work published in the last 2-3 years in the top 4 political science journals. The course is organized around subfields within the larger category of American institutions, e.g. Presidency, state legislatures, interest groups. Students are asked to critique and analyze sophisticated and complex questions, which are answered using advanced quantitative and qualitative 

Congress and Public Policy

This course deals with the internal structure, procedure and politics of the U.S. Congress, congressional elections, minority representation, as well as its relationship with external forces, particularly the President. It covers existing literature on Congress, both the House and the Senate, and assesses current congressional policy making in the context of this literature.

American and Comparative Political Behavior 

This course is a seminar open to 1st and 2nd year graduate students in which the students read selected works in each of these two subfields and construct their own research projects to produce article length manuscripts.  The students engage in original data collection and analysis, both qualitative and quantitative. 

Graduate Pro Seminar in American Politics

This course is designed to be the core survey course in the American politics subfield for political science graduate students.Topics covered include political parties, interest groups, public opinion, presidency, race and ethnicity, gender and politics, judiciary, American political development, mass media.