Job Market Candidates
Our current Ph.D. candidates and recent graduates span the major fields of study in political science. We have a strong record of job placement in academic, public service, and business settings. The directory below lists current and former students seeking employment this academic year. If you have questions please contact the individual candidate or the 2026-27 placement director, Andrew Roberts (email).
Job Market Candidates 2026-2027
Michelle Bueno Vásquez
- Field(s) of Study: American Politics, Methods
- Research Interests: Race and Inequity with a focus on the Afro-Latino diaspora, both in the United States and in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Dissertation Title: Transnational Racial Formation and Charting a Space for Afro-Latinos
- Dissertation Committee: Reuel R. Rogers (Chair); Alvin B. Tillery, Jr; Chloe N. Thurston; James Mahoney; Danielle Clealand (UT-Austin)
- Email: mbuenov@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Shah Zeb Chaudhary
- Field(s) of Study: International Relations, Political Theory
- Research Interest: Emotions & Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, South Asia
- Dissertation Title: Melodramatic Nations and Serious States: Political Affect in Pakistan-U.S. Relations
- Dissertation Committee: Ian Hurd (Chair), Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Loubna El Amine (King's College London), Robert Hariman (Communication Studies), Elisabeth Anker (George Washington University)
- Email: shahchaudhary@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Shawn Dean
- Field(s) of Study: Political Theory
- Research Interests: Republicanism, Machiavelli, Emergency, Realism
- Dissertation Title: Plebeian Realism: the Politics of Order in the Work of Machiavelli
- Dissertation Committee: Mary Dietz (Chair); James Farr; Loubna El Amine (King's College London)
- Email: shawndean2023@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page
Jeremi Dolecki
- Field(s) of Study: Political Theory
- Research Interests: Psychoanalysis and Critical Theory
- Dissertation Title: From Marxism to the Politics of Prevention: Wilhelm Reich’s Political Theory, 1927–1948
- Dissertation Committee: James Farr (Chair); Mary G. Dietz; Shmuel Nili
- Email: jeremidolecki2026@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Daniel Encinas Zevallos
- Field(s) of Study: Comparative Politics
- Research Interests: Political Regimes, Subnational Politics, and Civil Wars in Latin America; multi-methods research design; the application of qualitative methods to experimental and statistical analysis
- Dissertation Committee: James Mahoney (Chair); Ana M. Arjona; Jaye N. Seawright
- Email: danielencinas2021@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page
Ulaş Erdoğdu
- Field(s) of Study: Comparative Politics, Methods, International Relations
- Research Interests: Political violence and conflict
- Dissertation Title: Rebel Social Origins and Civil Wars: How Rebel Social Origins Shape the Onset, Dynamics, and Consequences of Civil War
- Dissertation Committee: Ana M. Arjona (Chair); James Mahoney; Wendy Pearlman; William Reno
- Email: ulaserdogdu2026@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Neonila Glukhodid
- Field(s) of Study: Comparative Politics, International Relations, Methods
- Dissertation Title: Concordia Discourse: Unity and Division in War
- Dissertation Committee: Jordan Gans-Morse (Chair); William Reno; Andrew Roberts
- Email: neonilaglukhodid2025@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Usdin L. Martínez
- Field(s) of Study: Political Theory
- Research Interests: Radical democracy; critical theory; comparative political theory; interpretive methods; civil war and contentious politics
- Dissertation Committee: Loubna El Amine (Chair); Mary Dietz; James Farr
- Email: usdinmartinez2024@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page
Sam McChesney
- Field(s) of Study: Political Theory
- Research Interests: Ancient Greek political thought, hermeneutics, history of ideas, Hannah Arendt.
- Dissertation Title: Political Courage
- Dissertation Committee: Mary G. Dietz (chair), James Farr, Ryan K. Balot (University of Toronto)
- Email: samuelmcchesney2023@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Jack McGovern
- Field(s) of Study: American Politics, Methods
- Research Interests: Political institutions, including political parties, Congress, and the presidency; public policy, with a focus on immigration politics and policy; and American political development
- Dissertation Title: Restrictionist Consolidation: The Republican Party and the Politics of Immigration Policy, 1965-2016
- Dissertation Committee: Daniel J. Galvin (chair), Chloe N. Thurston, Anthony S. Chen, Laurel Harbridge-Yong
- Email: johnmcgovern2027@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Eden Melles
- Field(s) of Study: American Politics, Methods
- Research Interests: Ancient Greek political thought, hermeneutics, history of ideas, Hannah Arendt.
- Dissertation Title: Borders Beyond Borders: The Transnational Political Behavior and Identity of the Eritrean Diaspora
- Dissertation Committee: Reuel R. Rogers (chair), Tabitha Bonilla, Nazita Lajevardi (University of Michigan)
- Email: edenmelles2026@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Monique Newton
- Field(s) of Study: American Politics
- Research Interests: Black Political Behavior, Urban Politics, Trauma, Collective Memory, Local Reparations
- Dissertation Title: Worst Behavior: How Traumatic Events Impact Local Political Participation of Black Neighborhoods in the United States
- Dissertation Committee: Reuel R. Rogers (Chair); Traci Burch; James Druckman (Rochester); Sally A. Nuamah
- Email: mnewton@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page (CV)
Summer Pappachen
- Field(s) of Study: Political Theory, International Relations
- Dissertation Title: Democracy of the Oppressed: Theorizing Labor Unions in Transnational Struggle
- Dissertation Committee: Loubna El Amine (Chair, KCL); Wendy Pearlman; Erin Pineda (Smith); Steven Klein (KCL)
- Email: meghapappachen2027@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page
Dinara Urazova
- Field(s) of Study: Comparative Politics, International Relations
- Research Interests: Interpretivism, Historical Sociology, Communication and Technology, Russia and Eurasia
- Dissertation Title: Power and Spectacle in Post-Soviet Russia
- Dissertation Committee: William Reno (Chair); Marc Crepon (Co-Chair, ENS-Lyon); Ian Hurd; Michael Loriaux
- Email: dinaraurazova2024@u.northwestern.edu
- Web Page