I finished cleaning out my office at Grinnell College August 2, 2021. I then handed in college ID and keys, thus ending my eight years teaching in the cornfields at one of the nation's finest liberal arts colleges. I put together this précis of my time at Grinnell College.
Teaching
From Fall 2013 to Spring 2020, I taught a total of 34 courses and 654 students. (This is not including students in independent readings and research, etc.) I had an average of 19 students per course; seven courses were over-enrolled. From the data I have on the POL department, only Wayne Moyer taught (slightly) more students than I did during this time.
Courses I taught:
In addition, I spent extra preparation on recruiting and training faculty with whom I co-designed the policy seminars listed above (and also taught with them the advanced policy research seminars, a two-credit course). I’m not aware of any other pre-tenure faculty who had these additional curricula responsibilities or, at least, not this many. I would guess few tenured faculty members had similar responsibilities with this frequency, too. As experienced instructors will know, collaborative team-teaching takes far more time than teaching solo. Team teaching also poses several risks for pre-tenure faculty.
Some pedagogical things I’m particularly proud of:
While at Grinnell, I raised $110,000 for my research on voting rights (specifically, state implementation and the policy effects of the National Voter Registration Act). The money came from two different funders (Carnegie Corporation and a collaborative of private donors).
These grants resulted in:
I also have two co-authored peer-reviewed articles forthcoming in the October issue of the journal PS: Political Science. (This is one of the three peer-reviewed journals printed by APSA.) These two articles are part of a special symposium I co-edited on engaged research in political science. One article is the introduction to the symposium, and the other is one defining civically engaged research in political science.
Also, I developed with Julia Bauder (Grinnell College Libraries), a website that allows users to download geographic and temporal data on millions of signatories on the White House’s “We the People” online petition system. Users can search petitions by subject matter, keywords, and minimum or maximum numbers of signatures. Available at: http://dasil.sites.grinnell.edu/political-science/we-the-people-data-explorer/
Finally, I initiated with another scholar a project to develop an improved and publicly available database of state election policies. Extant data sets are not readily accessible and do not share timespans or policies sufficient for building upon each other. The goal is to increase the transparency and validity of election policy research, as well as the utility of the research to practitioners. I proposed and co-convened a meeting of political scientists at the 2018 MPSA conference in Chicago to discuss this project. (Project currently on hold after three data sets were collated.)
Other Grants, etc.
Served on the following college-wide committees:
While at Grinnell, I authored several guest columns for national and state news outlets or academic blogs:
Teaching
From Fall 2013 to Spring 2020, I taught a total of 34 courses and 654 students. (This is not including students in independent readings and research, etc.) I had an average of 19 students per course; seven courses were over-enrolled. From the data I have on the POL department, only Wayne Moyer taught (slightly) more students than I did during this time.
Courses I taught:
- First-Year Tutorial—The Haitian Revolution: Interpretations & Reverberations.
- Introduction to Political Science.
- Introduction to Statistics.
- Politics of Congress.
- Foundations of Policy Analysis.
- Voting Rights and Election Policy Seminar.
- Advanced Policy Research Seminar (team-taught capstone two-credit seminar for the Policy Studies program).
- Community and Household Food Security in Iowa.
- Improving Public Decision Making & Problem Solving (Cognitive Psychology and Policy Analysis).
- Domestic and International Food Security.
- Addiction Policy (Neuroscience and Policy Analysis).
In addition, I spent extra preparation on recruiting and training faculty with whom I co-designed the policy seminars listed above (and also taught with them the advanced policy research seminars, a two-credit course). I’m not aware of any other pre-tenure faculty who had these additional curricula responsibilities or, at least, not this many. I would guess few tenured faculty members had similar responsibilities with this frequency, too. As experienced instructors will know, collaborative team-teaching takes far more time than teaching solo. Team teaching also poses several risks for pre-tenure faculty.
Some pedagogical things I’m particularly proud of:
- Recognized for being a strong advisor to students.
- Recognized for designing and teaching an excellent Tutorial.
- Received high marks from students for assisting them on research projects at all levels and on helping them with their writing and stats comprehension in class and during one-on-one sessions.
- I had five students present their research at Midwest Political Science Association conference over the years.
- I added to the policy studies 200-level and 300-level courses up-to-date readings on conducting impact evaluations, systematic reviews of large bodies of research, cost-benefit analysis, and cutting-edge readings on evidenced-based policy advising in context.
- I proposed, co-designed, and co-led two summer workshops on teaching with the Center on Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (one workshop on team teaching and the other on student engagement).
- I instituted required one-on-one meetings in all my courses to work with students on their papers and, for Intro Poli Sci, on their first exam. I initiated the latter because I realized that many students, particularly those from “first-gen” families, needed advice on strategies for taking essay exams.
- In addition to recruiting new faculty to the policy studies concentration—including bringing back one faculty member who had left the concentration—three faculty took my PST 220: Foundations of Policy Analysis course. I also helped two sets of faculty design their own policy seminars.
While at Grinnell, I raised $110,000 for my research on voting rights (specifically, state implementation and the policy effects of the National Voter Registration Act). The money came from two different funders (Carnegie Corporation and a collaborative of private donors).
These grants resulted in:
- Two publications and two presentations at top academic conferences: one national conference in political science (APSA; American Political Science Association) and one national conference in policy studies (APPAM; Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management).
- Numerous memos to advocates and funders; invitations to give presentations to and engaged in discussions with the US Department of Justice’s Voting Section; a two-day workshop on data collection and analysis for advocates from three national civil rights groups; and work with civil rights groups and public officials in Iowa on election law compliance that improved voter registration systems for low-income citizens.
- Hiring students to work on research projects during both school years and summers (some of which led to student presentations at MPSA).
- Creating databases on voter registration performance at social services agencies in a dozen states and providing analysis of performance to advocates. Some of these databases cover a decade. All of them cover monthly and county-specific data for multiple years.
- Maintaining my national recognition as one of the few experts on the National Voter Registration Act, one of most important federal voting rights laws.
I also have two co-authored peer-reviewed articles forthcoming in the October issue of the journal PS: Political Science. (This is one of the three peer-reviewed journals printed by APSA.) These two articles are part of a special symposium I co-edited on engaged research in political science. One article is the introduction to the symposium, and the other is one defining civically engaged research in political science.
Also, I developed with Julia Bauder (Grinnell College Libraries), a website that allows users to download geographic and temporal data on millions of signatories on the White House’s “We the People” online petition system. Users can search petitions by subject matter, keywords, and minimum or maximum numbers of signatures. Available at: http://dasil.sites.grinnell.edu/political-science/we-the-people-data-explorer/
Finally, I initiated with another scholar a project to develop an improved and publicly available database of state election policies. Extant data sets are not readily accessible and do not share timespans or policies sufficient for building upon each other. The goal is to increase the transparency and validity of election policy research, as well as the utility of the research to practitioners. I proposed and co-convened a meeting of political scientists at the 2018 MPSA conference in Chicago to discuss this project. (Project currently on hold after three data sets were collated.)
Other Grants, etc.
- Grant for $25,000 from the American Political Science Association’s 2020 Special Project Fund, with three other scholars. “The Components, Processes, and Implications of Conducting Civically Engaged Research in Political Science.” https://bit.ly/2Rs22dx
- Selected participant, Obermann Center of Advanced Studies, University of Iowa, for a multi-day workshop on engaged research and teaching, 2020.
- Selected participant, Institute for Civically Engaged Research, American Political Science Association, summer 2019 (inaugural cohort).
- Travel grant from University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center to attend conference and serve as panel chair & discussant, 2018.
- Travel grant from MIT Election Data & Science Lab to attend invite-only conference, 2015.
Served on the following college-wide committees:
- Twice elected to the Faculty Organizing Committee.
- Wilson Center for Innovation & Leadership Assessment (served on both the campus committee and the alumni/leadership advisory committee)
- Policy Studies Concentration Committee.
- Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab (DASIL).
While at Grinnell, I authored several guest columns for national and state news outlets or academic blogs:
- Hess, Douglas R. (March 17, 2021). “Making it easier to vote does not threaten election integrity.” The Conversation. https://bit.ly/theconvo1
- Hess, Douglas R. (October 29, 2020). “A serious test of US democracy will come after November 3.” The Hill. https://bit.ly/hillhess2020
- Hess, Douglas R. (January 4, 2019). “Declining confidence in election results may be depressing voter turnout.” London School of Economics, US Centre’s Blog on American Politics and Policy. http://bit.ly/lsehess
- Hess, Douglas R. (July 28, 2017). “Why Trump’s management style doesn’t work.” Fortune. https://for.tn/2vXNhEe
- Hess, Douglas R. (February 22, 2017). “Voter ID bills try to solve problems that don’t exist.” Des Moines Register. https://dmreg.co/2vXMjb4
- Hess, Douglas R. (October 26, 2016). “Divided government begets gridlock, not compromise.” US News. https://bit.ly/usnewshess
- Hess, Douglas R. (September 27, 2016). “After a rocky debate, here’s what Trump needs to do to win over voters.” Fortune Insiders. https://for.tn/2vR4QWl
- Hess, Douglas R. (July 4, 2015). “States are ignoring federal law about voter registration. Here’s why.” Monkey Cage/The Washington Post. http://bit.ly/nvra1
- Hess, Douglas R. (March 5, 2015). “Iowa misses chance to improve students’ health, education.” Des Moines Register.