B. Dan Wood

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Professor and Cornerstone Fellow of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

item3I am a Professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. My research focuses on the concept of democratic responsiveness of American political institutions. I am especially interested in the presidency and executive branch. However, past work has also examined bureaucracies, Congress, the Supreme Court, the mass media, and public opinion. 

My most recent publications include three books with Cambridge University Press entitled Party Polarization in America: The War Over Two Social Contracts (2017), Presidential Saber Rattling: Causes and Consequences (2012) and The Myth of Presidential Representation (recipient of the 2010 Richard Neustadt Award), an article in the American Journal of Political Science entitled “Presidential Saber Rattling and the Economy,” and an article in the Journal of Politics entitled “Explaining the President’s Issue-Based Rhetoric: Pandering, Partisanship, or Pragmatism.” I also authored a 2007 book with Princeton University Press entitled The Politics of Economic Leadership:Causes and Consequences of Presidential Rhetoric. My Google Scholar profile is located here. I am currently working on several new projects, including an evaluation of  how presidents affect partisan polarization in the American system. 

The College of Liberal Arts awarded me a Cornerstone Fellowship from 2007-2011. The University designated me a University Faculty Fellow from 2002-2006. I have also received financial support from the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, and various other entities. I am a past president of the Midwest Political Science Association Public Administration Caucus. I organized the 2002 Conference on Controlling the Bureaucracy and the 1999 Summer Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology. I received the Founders Award at the 2008 APSA convention, the Pi Sigma Alpha award at the 1990 Midwest convention, and the Stephen J. Wayne Award at the 2001 APSA convention. 

My undergraduate teaching focuses on the presidency, economic policymaking, and public policy. I also teach graduate courses in mathematical modeling, econometrics, time series analysis, maximum likelihood, and limited dependent variables. For 16 years I was an instructor at the Summer School in Social Science Statistics and Data Collection at the University of Essex. I have also taught at the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, and the European Consortium for Political Research Winter Program in Vienna.