Valeria Sinclair-Chapman

Ph.D. Ohio State University
M.A. Ohio State University
B.A. University of North Carolina-Asheville, with Honors

Specializations

American Politics
Politics, Groups, and Identities

Research Summary

Valeria Sinclair-Chapman is professor of Political Science at Purdue University. She is Americanist with expertise in legislative politics, minority representation and voting rights, political participation, coalition politics, and social movements. Broadly construed, her research examines the effects of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity on political institutions and engagement. She is author or coauthor of several journal articles and book chapters, including an award-winning book,  Countervailing Forces in African-American Political Activism, 1973-1994 (Cambridge University Press, 2006). Until summer 2023, she served as a co-editor of the American Political Science Review, the nation’s premiere political science journal and is a founding director of the Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER) hosted by Tufts University. Both professionally and personally, Valeria is preoccupied by understanding and contributing to the construction of an inclusive multiracial democracy in the United States.

Sinclair-Chapman is past president of the Women’s Caucus of the South in the Southern Political Science Association, and former co-president of the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.  Her work is published in Journal of Politics, Electoral Studies, Political Research Quarterly, and Politics, Groups, and Identities.  Professor Chapman teaches courses on Race and Ethnic Politics, African-American Politics, Political Representation, Black Political Leadership, Congress as an Institution, and Introduction to American Politics.