Our Faculty - Political Science

Winner of the 2014 Presidential Award for Distinguished Teaching, Jordon Barkalow is an Associate Professor of Political Science specializing in political theory. He also serves as a co-coordinator of the minor in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). Professor Barkalow teaches courses in American Government, Political Theory (Western Political Thought and American Political Thought), as well as International Politics and Legal Studies (Democratic Theory and Democratization and International Law). He is also very active in the area of undergraduate research having supervised nine ATP Summer Grants and Honors Theses as well as numerous ATP Semester Grants.

Professor Barkalow’s research focuses on American political thought with a special emphasis on the meaning of American citizenship and national identity. Here, he is working on a book manuscript where he argues that American citizenship is properly understood in commercial terms rather than civic or religious terms. Professor Barkalow has published on the emergence of individualism in American political thought and its institutional implications as well as on the thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John C. Calhoun, John Adams, and Isiah Berlin. In addition to his work in American political thought, Professor Barkalow has research interests in politics and literature, early modern political thought, and constitutionalism.

Dr. Kemper teaches courses on American Politics, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Theory and Process, Model United States Senate, and Mock Trial and Moot Court. He serves as a pre-law advisor for Bridgewater State University and as the faculty advisor to the BSU Pre-Law Club. In 2004 Professor Kemper was recognized as the University's Advisor of the Year. In addition, Dr. Kemper is the Assistant Director of the Center for Democratic Governance and Leadership and co-hosts the Center's monthly cable television public affairs show, Commonwealth Politics. Professor Kemper's current research agenda focuses on the selection of state and federal judges, affirmative action policies in higher education admissions, the impact of courts on bureaucracies, and the historical evolution of free speech doctrine in the United States. Dr. Kemper has presented numerous papers at professional conferences, published an article in The Journal of Politics, and authored several book chapters and encyclopedia entries.

Dr. Deniz Zeynep Leuenberger is Bridgewater State University Chief of Staff and a Professor of Political Science/Public Administration. Professor Leuenberger specializes in sustainable development, public sector economics, public budgeting and finance, and non-profit and non-governmental organization management. In the past, she has held the following roles within the department and university: Coordinator of the MPA Program, Faculty Director of the Institute for Policy Analysis and Regional Engagement, Faculty Director of the Massachusetts Certified Public Managers Program, Faculty Director of the Institute for Regional Development, Coordinator for the Center for Sustainability, and Coordinator of the Center for Legislative Studies Global Citizen Leadership and Education program. She has served on the boards of ASPA's Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, the Section on Transportation Policy and Administration, and the Section for Women in Public Administration. She is the past chair of the Section on Transportation Policy and Administration. She has published articles on sustainable development, strategic planning, and caring labor in Administrative Theory and Praxis, Public Works and Management Policy, Water Policy, State and Local Government Review, PA Times, and in the Public Manager. She is the co-author, with John R. Bartle, of the book Sustainable Development in Public Administration.

Rachel Navarre received her PhD from the University at Texas in Austin in Government and specializes in the fields of comparative politics and public policy. After completing her degree she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy at Tulane University in New Orleans. Her research focuses on comparative public policy, specifically issues of framing and issue definition; immigration policy and politics; regional governance; populism; and content analysis. She has presented her work at multiple conferences and currently has articles out for review on immigrant transnational political participation and the effect of religion on attitudes towards immigrants.

Dr. Serra served as director of the university’s Center for Democratic Governance and Leadership from 1997-2018 and is the former coordinator of the interdisciplinary civic education and community leadership minor. He also served as department chairperson from 2004-2014.  Dr. Serra’s teaching and research interests focus on legislative and electoral behavior, congressional representation of minority interests, presidency and executive politics, and policy implementation. Dr. Serra is a 2003-2004 American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and has published articles in leading political science journals, including The Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, The Journal of Legislative Studies, Congress and the Presidency, and Electoral Studies.