Contact Me
317.428.7027
Twitter: @KirstieDobbsPhD
I received my PhD from the Political Science Department at Loyola University Chicago (August 2019) and my BA in International Studies and French at Butler University (May 2013). I am currently a full-time lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at Merrimack College. Working at the intersection of both Comparative and International Politics, I analyze political behavior in transitioning democracies. Specifically, I investigate the political behavior of youth focusing on political participation, civic engagement, and political socialization. I also possess regional expertise in North Africa and the Middle East with a particular focus on elections, public opinion, and democratization. My research has been published in numerous journals including Democratization, Politics, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, and the Journal of North African Studies. I currently have research under review at Electoral Studies, PS: Political Science and Politics (revise and re-submit), Studies in Comparative International Development, and Social Sciences and Humanities. My current projects investigate the factors that impact political behavior across the MENA region using data from an original survey I fielded during the summer of 2018 in Tunisia, including two survey experiments. I also conducted over 100 qualitative interviews during my field research in Tunisia during the summers of 2014, 2015, and 2016.
My overall objective as an educator and a scholar is to empower young people and their communities to act as powerful agents of change. I seek to bridge my teaching and scholarship by working with the public to create new opportunities for collaborative engagement on resolving local and global issues for the betterment of humanity. My work with the American Political Science Association's Institute for Civically Engaged Research and with the Publicly Engaged Scholars at Merrimack College demonstrates this commitment to publicly engaged scholarship and teaching.