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New Department Head Cherie Maestas

Political Science Welcomes New Department Head


Professor Cherie Maestas joined Purdue on July 1, 2019, as the new head of the Department of Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts.

Professor Maestas looks forward to supporting the many innovative research initiatives and creative educational programs in the department and college. She said, “Purdue offers a wide range of exciting programs that encourage students and faculty to engage important questions in society and seek transformative solutions.”

She notes being particularly impressed with the level of collaborative research in the department. “It is great to see that graduate and undergraduate students play a critical role in the advancement of knowledge.” Supporting and expanding the integration of the education and research missions will be a key goal for her going forward. 

Professor Maestas was the Marshall A. Rauch Professor of Political Science and Director of the Public Policy Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UNC-Charlotte. She also directed POLS-Lab, a research lab for survey experiments housed in Political Science and Public Administration, and co-founder of YourVoiceCLT, an online survey research panel in Mecklenburg County to serve the needs of local governments, non-profits, and academic researchers. Prior to UNC-Charlotte, she was Professor of Political Science at Florida State University, where she served as Director of Graduate Studies and Director of the Research Intensive Bachelor’s Certificate Program.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and publishes on topics related to political communication, political psychology, risk attitudes, and legislative responsiveness. Professor Maestas co-authored Catastrophic Politics: How Extraordinary Events Redefine Perceptions of Government (Cambridge University Press 2012) and has published 19 peer-reviewed articles, including multiple publications in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and The Journal of Politics. Her research has been funded by the Department of Defense Army Research Office, National Science Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She is president-elect of the Southern Political Science Association.

Professor Maestas can be reached at cmaestas@purdue.edu.