Placements
Your success story is waiting. A Vanderbilt political science Ph.D. opens doors. Our alumni obtain placements in some of the most prestigious universities and institutions across the U.S. and around the world. Scroll through this page to learn more about where our recent graduates have landed.
Meet our 2024-25 Job Market Candidates
Alumni Spotlight
Mellissa MEisels ’24
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University
Mellissa will be starting at Yale University as a postdoctoral fellow in the Fall of 2024, and then as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Fall of 2025. She studies American politics, with an emphasis on Congress, elections, campaign financing, political organizations, legislative representation, and quantitative methods. Her work appears in the British Journal of Political Science.
Meredith McLain ’23
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Tufts Univeristy
Meredith McLain is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Tufts University and a Neubauer Faculty Fellow. She studies American politics, with a focus on institutions, separation of powers, presidential and executive policymaking, and congressional oversight. Her work is published in the William and Mary Law Review Journal.
Nick Bednar ’23
Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota
Nick Bednar (Ph.D. ’23) is now an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on executive politics, focusing on when elected officials invest in bureaucratic capacity and how bureaucratic capacity influences policy implementation. His recent work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Political Science Research & Methods, and Cardozo Law Review.
Previous Placements
Nicholas Bednar
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Minnesota Law School
Margaret Frost
Assistant Professor of Political Science
University of Rhode Island
Lucas Helms
Commandant's Action Group
Headquarters Marine Corps
Colin Henry
Postdoctoral Fellow
George Washington University
Meredith McLain
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Tufts University
Chris Piper
Associate Manager
Center for Presidential Transition
Katerina Traut
Post-doctoral Fellow
University of Pennsylvania
Heesun Yoo
Visiting Assistant Professor
Emory University, Quantitative Theory and Methods Department
Mark Conklin
Batallion Commander
101st Air Assault Division, US Army
Dylan Irons
Visiting Assistant Professor
Colgate University, Department of Political Science
SangEun Kim
Research Manager
Aspen Institute
Richard Montcalm
Squadron Commander
US Army
Daniela Orosrio-Michel
Post-doctoral Fellow
German Institute for Global and Areas Studies
Laura Sellers
Associate Publication Editor and Data Analyst
Latin American Public Opinion Project
Michael Shepherd
Assistant Professor
University of Michigan, School of Public Health
Darrian Stacy
Assistant Professor of Political Science
US Naval Academy
Bryce Williams-Tuggle
Chief Demographer
City of Bellevue
Adam Wolsky
Senior Research Specialist
Princeton University
Georgia Anderson-Nilsson
Senior Manager
Werkslab, The Mom Project
Kaitlen Cassell
Senior Research Manager
YouGov
Claire Evans
Social Science and Survey Researcher
King County Metro Transit
Richard Hagner
Commander’s Action Group
Army Futures Command
HeeJu Jang
Quantitative Research
Virginia Department of Social Services
James Martherus
Senior Manager, Research Science
Morning Consult
Maggie Deichert
Director of Policy Development and Research
Dallas Housing Agency
Andrew Engelhardt
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Stony Brook University
Marc Trussler
Director of Data Sciences
University of Pennsylvania Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies
Sheahan Virgin
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Washington and Lee University
Juan Plata Caviedes
Associate Researcher
Observatorio de la Democracia
Universite de los Andes
Scott Limbocker
Assistant Professor of Political Science
US Military Academy at West Point
Guilherme Russo
Director of Research
Quaest Pesquisa e Consultoria
Allison Archer
Assistant Professor
University of Houston
Mark Richardson
Assistant Professor
Georgetown University
Bryan Rooney
Associate Political Scientist
Rand Corporation
Mollie Cohen
Assistant Professor
University of Georgia
Matthew DiLorenzo
Assistant Professor
Old Dominion University
Myra Harbin
Assistant Professor
U.S. Naval Academy
Meri Long
Teaching Associate Professor
University of Pittsburgh
Federico Pereira
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Claire Abernathy
Assistant Professor
Stockton University
Matthew Layton
Assistant Professor
Ohio University
Arturo Maldonado
Assistant Professor
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru
Eelco van der Maat
Assistant Professor
Universiteit Leiden