William O’Brochta, Ph.D.

Political Scientist

I am the Hugo & Georgia Gibson Endowed Assistant Professor and Chair of Political Science at Texas Lutheran University and Annual Meeting Co-Chair for the American Political Science Association Civic Engagement Section. I work with students as partners to address civic and community challenges and guide them as they discern their vocations. My research seeks to understand how identity and representation shape relationships between political elites and the public and when these interactions turn violent. I use a mix of survey, experimental, observational, and qualitative techniques to study these questions, particularly in the Global South. My work has been published in the British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Governance, and Political Research Quarterly, among other outlets. My book is under contract with Oxford University Press. I have won national and local awards for teaching and civic engagement. I earned a B.A. from Hendrix College and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.