Jump to: Administrative Support Staff, Full-Time Faculty, Emeriti Faculty
Department Chair/Department Leadership
Dickson Hall 205
973-655-7923
harrisonb@montclair.edu
Brigid Callahan Harrison, professor and chair, received a PhD from Temple University. Her research interests include politics and technology, campaigns and elections; American public opinion; and the politics of the Millennial Generation. She teaches courses including American Government and Campaign Politics. Harrison is also author of American Democracy Now (McGraw-Hill Publishers, 5th ed. 2017), A More Perfect Union (McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2010), Power and Society (Cengage, 14th ed. 2016) and Women in American Politics (Wadsworth, 2003). She is frequently quoted by the press and serves as president of the New Jersey Political Science Association. In 2015 and 2016, she was named to PolitickerNJ’s Power List.
Dickson Hall 208
973-655-7223
drakei@montclair.edu
Ian Drake, deputy chair and associate professor, received a PhD in American history from the University of Maryland at College Park. His research interests include the history of American constitutional law and private law, particularly tort and contract law. He is currently conducting research on animal protection laws, First Amendment rights, and the politics of the treatment of animals used in industrial agriculture and scientific research. He teaches courses in the American judiciary and legal system, the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional history, the history and contemporary study of law and society, broadly construed, and political theory. Drake has also practiced law in the areas of insurance and tort law. He is the designated Montclair State University Pre-Law Advisor and serves as the coordinator of the Jurisprudence, Law and Society major as well as the Pre-Law minor.
Department Administrative Support Staff
Our administrative team can be reached at 973-655-7031, via email at chssadmin@montclair.edu, or in person in Dickson 170.
Ya-Sin ShabazzProgram Assistant
Rey SentinaProgram Assistant
Anita VealProgram Assistant/Administrative Services
Full-Time Faculty
Dickson Hall
abbottj@montclair.edu
Before joining Montclair State University in 2023, Dr. Jason Abbott held the Endowed Chair in Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville, where he also served as Director of the Center for Asian Democracy. Since beginning his academic career in 1995, he has held appointments at the University of Surrey, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and the Department of International Studies at Nottingham Trent University. Dr. Abbott has authored five books and published over 30 scholarly articles and book chapters, focusing on democratization, economic development, political economy, and regional security in East Asia, with a particular emphasis on Malaysia. An experienced broadcaster, he has been interviewed by major media outlets, including BBC 24, BBC World Service, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Voice of America. Additionally, Dr. Abbott has provided expert consultancy to the UK Foreign Office, Oxford Analytica, and the International Transport Workers Federation.
Dickson Hall 202
973-655-3157
alvareza@montclair.edu
Ariel Alvarez, associate professor, received a PhD in Public Policy and Administration from Rutgers University and received a JD from St. Thomas University School of Law. He is licensed to practice law. Alvarez’s research interests include constitutional law, litigation strategy and public sector reform, public organizational accountability in the context of child welfare, criminal law and criminal procedure. Alvarez teaches graduate and undergraduate courses including, but not limited too, American Government, Criminal Law, Research Methods and Introduction to Public Administration.
Dickson Hall 203
973-655-7953
leclairj@montclair.edu
Jack Baldwin-LeClair, associate professor, received an EdS from Rutgers University and a JD Quinnipiac School of Law. He specializes in Jurisprudence; Governance, Compliance, and Regulatory Theory in the Employment and Intellectual Property Arenas; Civil Rights; Human Rights Under International Law; Employment Law; Cyberlaw; Arbitration; and Conflict Management in the Workplace. He teaches courses including Legal Reasoning and Human Rights Law.
Dickson Hall
fullerf@montclair.edu
Frank Fuller, postdoctoral teaching fellow (joint appointment with Political Science and Law, Justice Studies), received a PhD in political science from Clark Atlanta University and MA and MS degrees from Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. Dr. Fuller’s exam fields were in American government, international relations, comparative politics, and the politics of East Asia, with significant coursework in the areas of criminal justice and public policy. He has taught a variety of social science courses over the years and worked as a tutor and teacher with various ages from the school system all the way up through the graduate level, including summer workshops in Washington, DC and New York City. He teaches courses including Introduction to American Government, Freshman Experience, Justice, Law, and Society, and Death Penalty Perspectives. Previously, he served as a visiting assistant professor in the Government, Law, and National Security program under the Department of History and Government at Misericordia University. He has published across a range of academic sources, including book chapters, journal articles, and news outlets both domestic and international.
Dickson Hall 205
laubyf@montclair.edu
Fanny Lauby, Associate Professor, received a PhD in Political Science from the CUNY Graduate Center and a PhD in North American Studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle (France). Her research focuses on the political incorporation of undocumented youths through state-level policies. She teaches courses in American politics and public policy, including American Government, the American Presidency, Congress, Political Parties, Public Policy Analysis, Research Methods, and US Immigration Policy. Prior to joining Montclair State University, Lauby was an Associate Professor of Political Science at William Paterson University, where she coordinated the political science internship program. Her recent publications include articles in Social Movement Studies, the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, and the International Journal of Communication.
Dickson Hall 250
maciasmejiay@montclair.edu
Yoshira D. Macías Mejía, assistant professor, received a PhD from the University of New Mexico and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy, doctoral fellow. Her research interests include political behavior, race and ethnic politics, Latino/a/e/x politics, youth and politics, identity politics, health policy and immigration policy. She teaches courses in American government and race and ethnic politics. Her research is published in Political Research Quarterly, Political Behavior, Latino Studies, and the U.S. Latina & Latino Oral History Journal. Other featured work includes research and policy reports with the UNM Native American Budget & Policy Institute, PS Now with the American Political Science Association and the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University.
Dickson Hall 209
973-655-7511
nienassb@montclair.edu
Benjamin Nienass, associate professor, received his PhD from the New School for Social Research. He was previously a Fellow at the Collège d’études mondiales in Paris and at the Humanities Center of the University of Rochester. His research focuses on the politics of memory and has appeared in numerous journals. He is the co-editor of Silence, Screen, and Spectacle: Rethinking Social Memory in the Age of Information, as well as the co-editor of several special journal issues, most recently “Myths of Innocence in German Public Memory” in German Politics and Society (2021). He teaches courses in political theory.
Dickson Hall 211
973-655-7088
nyiriz@montclair.edu
Dickson Hall 206
973-655-7922
polea@montclair.edu
Antoinette Pole, associate professor, received a PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research interests focus on the intersection of information technology and politics, and food and politics. She explores theoretical questions related to political participation and community. Pole teaches courses including American Congress, Politics and Film, and Food and Politics. Her books include Blogging the Political: Politics and Participation in a Networked Society published by Routledge (2010), and New York Politics: A Tale of Two States coauthored, and published by M.E. Sharpe (2nd ed. 2009).
Dickson Hall
santiam@montclair.edu
Martina Santia (Ph.D., Louisiana State University), is an Assistant Professor of Political Communication in the Department of Political Science and Law and the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Dr. Santia’s research spans interdisciplinary boundaries, lying at the intersection of communication and political science, with a focus on the effects of media messages on public attitudes and voting behaviors.
Dickson Hall 212
saqibr@montclair.edu
Roya Saqib received her MA in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), Master’s degree in Management from Simmons University through Fulbright scholarship, and BA in Political Science and Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia University (India) through the Indian government scholarship. Her research interests include international politics, peace and security, and international development. She was a non-resident senior research fellow with the Center for Global Affairs, New York University (2022). She teaches courses in international relations, government and politics of South Asian countries, and social change. Professor Saqib served in senior government positions in Afghanistan, including as Technical Assistant to the President of Afghanistan, Special Executive Assistant to the President of Afghanistan, General Director of Education and Training, and the Director of a National Program on Women’s Economic Empowerment. She also worked with various international organizations, such as the World Bank, USAID, and CARE International, in areas such as good governance, development, and women empowerment.
Dickson Hall 203
973-655-7575
spanakost@montclair.edu
Tony Spanakos, professor, received his PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research interests are political economy and democracy in Latin America, foreign policy of rising powers, Sino-Latin American relations, and political theory and popular culture. He is the co-editor of Reforming Brazil (2004, Lexington) and Conceptualising Comparative Politics (2015, Routledge) and the book series Conceptualising Comparative Politics (Routledge). He is co-editor for an upcoming special issue of Latin American Perspectives on “The Legacy of Hugo Chavez.” His research has been published in a number of scholarly journals and books. He was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow in Brazil (2002) and Venezuela (2008) and a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asia Institute (2009). He teaches courses in comparative politics, international relations, political theory, Latin American politics and political economy.
Dickson Hall 207
973-655-7576
torocarnevaa@montclair.edu
Alfredo Toro Carnevali, Associate Teaching Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, received a BA in Political Science from Georgetown University and an MA in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research interests include US-Latin American relations, international governance, and the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect. He has ten years of relevant experience in the fields of international security and diplomacy. Between January 2015 and December 2016, he was the Deputy Political Coordinator of Venezuela’s delegation to the United Nations Security Council. He has also held the positions of chairman of the Security Council’s Sub-committee on counter-terrorism and non-proliferation (1540) and vice-president of the General Assembly’s Committee on Disarmament and International Security. Prior to joining the Venezuelan diplomatic corps, he taught public policy at the Central University of Venezuela. He has published numerous articles in international academic journals and is a regular contributor to different newspapers and blogs in the Spanish language.
Dickson Hall 212
vimoj@montclair.edu
Dr. Vimo is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Law. Dr. Vimo joined the department after a career in the public policy fields of immigration, anti-poverty, public health, and HIV/AIDS. Most recently, Dr. Vimo held the position of Senior Policy Analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, based in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Vimo’s research interests include migration, social movements, labor politics, racial and ethnic politics, welfare and health policy, and political theory. Dr. Vimo’s current research focuses on immigrant social movements, federalism, and immigration policy in the United States.
Dr. Vimo holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the New School University, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in Political Science from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Emeriti Faculty
