Diversity & Inclusion in Government Graduate Studies
DIGGS (Diversity & Inclusion in Government Graduate Studies) is a faculty-led initiative at the UT Austin Department of Government with the mission of recruiting & introducing students from underrepresented backgrounds to Ph.D. programs in political science and government.
2022 Workshop and Schedule (coming soon)
2021 Workshop Schedule & Info
- Format: All sessions will be virtual, 1-3 pm live from the LAITS studio in Mezes Hall on UT-Austin’s campus.
- Dates: May 17 – May 21 2021
- Times: 1 PM – 3 PM CST
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Day 1 of Workshop
Click on a day to view the session:
Monday (5/17): introductions; Amy Liu and Mike Findley discuss fieldwork and experiments in the field. Examples from ethnic and language politics and the politics of foreign aid and development.
Tuesday: Zach Elkins and Alison Craig discuss diffusion, statistical methods for analyzing networks, and approaches to visualizing data, with applications to the diffusion of constitutions and law in Latin America and elsewhere
Wednesday: Scott Wolford and Terry Chapman introduce game theory as a method of analyzing strategic interactions in politics. They discuss various applications, including how to “out game” your friends and enemies.
Thursday: Stephen Jessee, Bethany Albertson, and Hannah Walker discuss the fundamental challenges of causal inference, how experiments are one solution, and Professor Walker’s experiments in the field examining what motivates racial minorities to turn out to vote.
Friday (5/21): Eric McDaniel, Zeynep Somer-Topcu (Director of Graduate Studies), and Dan Brinks (Department Chair and former Director of Graduate Studies) on what to think about when applying to grad school, funding for Ph.D., and what to look for in a department. We’ll wrap up with some concluding remarks and plans for the future.
Faculty
Bethany Albertson
Associate Professor
Interests: Political Psychology; Public Opinion.
Dan Brinks
Professor and Department Chair
Interests: Role of law and courts in supporting human rights and many of the basic rights associated with democracy, with a primary interest in Latin America.
Terrence Chapman
Associate Professor
Interests: International organizations, international conflict, international law, international political economy, formal modeling.
Alison Craig
Assistant Professor
Interests: American political institutions, legislative politics, policy process, network analysis.
Zachary Elkins
Associate Professor
Interests: Democracy, institutional reform, research methods, and national identity, with an emphasis on cases in Latin America.
Stephen Jessee
Associate Professor
Interests: American politics and statistical methodology.
Michael Findley
Professor
Interests: Civil wars, terrorism, and development.
Amy Liu
Associate Professor
Interests: Ethnic politics, language policies, migration politics, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe.
Zeynep Somer-Topcu
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Interests: European politics, political parties, voter behavior, elections, representation.
Scott Wolford
Professor
Interests: International Conflict, International Institutions, Game Theory.
Eric McDaniel
Associate Professor
Interests: Religion and politics, Black politics, and organizational behavior.
Hannah Walker
Assistant Professor
Interests: The impact of the criminal justice system on American democracy with special attention to minority and immigrant communities.
DIGGS 