Legislative Research Fellows Program

One of the primary missions of the Center for Legislative Studies is to promote the research and analysis of democratic legislative institutions. This mission is broad and embraces a wide array of scholarship in the field of legislative studies. For instance, the Center supports scholarly investigations regarding the structure, powers and processes of legislative bodies, how legislators are recruited and elected, how legislators perform their official duties, interactions between legislatures and other governmental institutions, and public attitudes toward legislatures. The Center is interested in promoting such research on legislative institutions both inside and outside of the United States, and in disseminating the results of such research to the Bridgewater State University community, the citizens and political leaders of Massachusetts, and to the coterie of scholars and professionals who study democratic legislatures.

One way we accomplish these goals is through our research fellows program. The following four academics and professionals constitute the Center's current research fellows:

Dr. Robert Mattes, Political Science Department, University of Cape Town

The Center for Legislative Studies is currently a research partner with the Center for Social Science Research at University of Cape Town, and is engaged in a research project examining legislative institutions in African democracies. Dr. Mattes is the Research Unit Director of the Democracy in Africa Research Unit.

Dr. Shaheen Mozaffar, Political Science Department, Bridgewater State University

Dr. Mozaffar is one of the principal investigators engaged in the African democracy project noted above and is the Center's liaison with the Center for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town.

 

Dr. Neil Pinney, Assistant Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Dr. Pinney has coauthored numerous articles on legislative politics and elections sponsored by the Center and he is a former associate professor of political science at Western Michigan University. He brings both academic and valuable practitioner experiences to the Center for Legislative Studies.

Dr. Brian Frederick, Political Science Department, Bridgewater State University

Dr. Frederick is an assistant professor of political science at Bridgewater State University. Dr. Frederick's research focuses on a number of different topics in the field of legislative studies. He has published articles looking at the numerical size of the U.S. House of Representatives and the average constituency population size of the districts its members represent. The aim of this research is to better understand how the growth in the population size of House districts that is a direct result of keeping the membership of the House capped at 435 seats has affected the representational relationship between House members and their constituents. Dr. Frederick has also conducted research exploring the role of gender in the legislative process. His work in this area has examined the impact of gender on the roll call voting behavior of members of the U.S. House and Senate.

 

Scholars and professionals engaged in quality scholarship pertaining to legislative politics who are interested in the research fellows program should submit a curriculum vitae and cover letter to the Director, Center for Legislative Studies, Bridgewater State University, 180 Summer Street, Bridgewater, MA 02325.

 

Last Modified: September 14, 2012