Rachael Cobb, Associate Professor & Chair

Rachael Vanessa Cobb, PhD

Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Government

 

 

 

 

 

Phone: 617.305.6380
Fax: 617.367.4623
Email: rcobb@suffolk.edu
Office: 73 Tremont St., Rm. 1092

 

Education

  • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • BA, Bryn Mawr College

Fields of Interest

  • American politics
  • Interest group politics
  • American party politics
  • American political development
  • American public policy
  • Civic engagement and citizenship

Employment

Assistant Professor of Government, Suffolk University, 2006-present

 

Visiting Professor of Government, Suffolk University, July 2005-May 2006

    Publications, Conference Papers, Presentations, and Invited Talks

    “Disconnection and Reorganization: The Transformation of Civic Life in Late-20th-Century America” (with Theda Skocpol and Casey Klofstadt) Studies in American Political Development, Fall 2005.

     

    “Explaining Endorsement Activity in Six States.” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Sep. 2, 2004, Chicago and at the MIT Works in Progress Seminar, October, 2004.

     

    “A new balance of power: interest groups and political parties in the American States, 1970-2000.” Paper presented at MIT’s Works in Progress Seminar, October 2003; Earlier version presented at Harvard University American Politics Research Workshop, September 2002.

     

    “What Elite Data Can Tell Us About American Civic Life: Associational Affiliations of Massachusetts State Senators, 1900-2000.” Paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Apr. 24-28, 2002, and the American Political Science Association National Meeting, San Francisco, Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 2001 with Theda Skocpol and Casey Klofstad.

     

    “The Yard Sign’s Role in Local Elections: Preliminary Findings.” Paper presented at the MIT American Politics seminar series. Cambridge, MA., April 5, 2000.

     

    “Unionizing the Homecare Workers of Los Angeles County.” Paper presented at the Subcontracted Work Initiative Forum, Washington, D.C., Nov. 18-19, 1999.

     

    Panel discussant, “Social Capital and Political History,” American Political Science Association National Meeting, Boston MA, Aug. 29-Sep.1, 2002.

     

    Panelist, “Struggling to Change: New Labor Strategies for a New Economy,” at the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research Symposium on Changing Employment Relations and New Institutions of Representation, Cambridge, MA, May 25-26, 1999.

     

    Links

    Undergraduate Research Journals

    http://lilt.ilstu.edu/critique

    http://www.carleton.ca/e-merge

    http://www.hpronline.org/

    http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~innovate

    http://www.ai-studio.com/meteorite

    http://www.umich.edu/~mjps

    http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~politica

    http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~pol145/sapientia.htm

    http://www.yale.edu/yjia

     

    Helpful Writing Links

    http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/

    http://www.suffolk.edu/ballotti/

    http://web.mit.edu/17.423/www/writingtips.html

    http://www.dickinson.edu/Ebova/write.html

     

    Websites On Expository Writing In Political Science

    http://web.mit.edu/17.423/www/writingtips.html

    http://www.dickinson.edu/Ebova/write.html

     

    Studying Congress

    Data on Congress from Charles Stewart III at MIT

    How to research Congress at the National Archives

    Congressional Budget Office

    Biographical Directory of Congress, 1774-Present

    Website from the Dirksen Congressional Center

    Digitized congressional debates, 1774-1875

     

    Studying the Presidency

    http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/index.php

    http://nixon.archives.gov/index.php

     

    Studying the Supreme Court

    http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/politicalscience/gillman/

    http://www.supremecourthistory.org/

    http://www.fjc.gov/

    http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html

    Federalist ONLINE: http://hamilton.law.ou.edu/hist/federalist/

     

    Electoral College

    http://www.uselectionatlas.org/

     

    About the 50 States

    National Conference of State Legislators

    Gateway to elections administration websites and data for federal, state, and local governments in the U.S.

    State constitutions

     

    Elections in American Politics

    National Election Studies

     

    Income Inequality

    Data on income inequality in the U.S.

     

    Courses Taught

    GVT 110 - Introduction to American Government
    GVT H110 - Honors Introduction to American Government
    GVT 120 - Introduction to Research Methods
    GVT 223 - American Politics and Institutions
    GVT 315/615 - Labor and Politics
    GVT 436/631 - Topics in Public Policy: The Politics of Privatization
    GVT 776 - Advanced Research Methods for Professional Politics
    SF 101 - Inequality and Democracy: From the Local to the International