Jessica Trounstine
Professor
Jessica Trounstine earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from UC San Diego in 2004 and is a Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. She previously served as the Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair of Political Science at UC Merced and as assistant professor of politics and policy at Princeton University. She is the author of two award winning books, Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities (Cambridge University Press) and Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers (University of Chicago Press), and numerous articles and book chapters. Professor Trounstine's work studies the process and quality of representation in American democracy. She is focused on the ways in which formal and informal local political institutions generate inequalities. Professor Trounstine's scholarship is mixed-method; reliant on historical analysis, case studies, experiments, and large-n quantitative analyses. She has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, city governments, and various community organizations; and serves on numerous editorial and foundation boards.