Dr. Hans Hassell
Director, Institute of Politics
Dr. Hans Hassell joined FSU’s Department of Political Science in 2018 after spending six years as a faculty member at Cornell College in Iowa. He is the author of The Party’s Primary: Control of Congressional Elections (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and numerous peer‐reviewed articles in leading scholarly outlets, including the American Political Science Review and the Journal of Politics. He is a member of Laboratories of Democracy, an organization that collaborates with communities to improve public policy through program evaluations using randomized, controlled experiments. Prior to his academic work, Hassell worked as a political operative in Maine and Minnesota.
Dr. Brad Kile
Outreach Director, Institute of Politics
Dr. Brad Kile joined the FSU community in 2001 as a LeRoy Collins Fellow while pursuing his Ph.D. in political science, with a focus on health policy. Kile has been an instructor in the Master’s of Applied American Politics & Policy (MAAPP) program at FSU for almost two decades and has trained many alumni that now work in and around state government. Kile is currently the Director of the MAAPP program. His research centers on state and federal policy in the areas of the development and delivery of state‐based health care.
Dr. Tim Chapin
Dean, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
Appointed COSSPP Dean after a national search in 2017, Chapin previously served two terms as chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, two years as Associate Dean for Development, and one year as Interim Dean. Since joining FSU in 1999, Chapin has established himself as the nation’s foremost expert on Florida’s growth management system. His expertise in land use, urban politics, land development, and urban redevelopment has led to consulting arrangements with a range of large landowners, developers, and sustainable growth interest groups.
Research Directors
Dr. Deana A. Rohlinger
Research Director, Institute of Politics
Deana A. Rohlinger is a Professor of Sociology at Florida State University. She studies mass media, political participation, and American politics. She is the author of Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America (Cambridge University Press, 2015), New Media and Society (New York University Press, 2019) and dozens of research articles and book chapters. Rohlinger is the former chair of the American Sociological Association’s section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Society, and is a member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network, which was founded by Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011. Rohlinger’s current research explores disinformation, polarization and deliberation during U.S. elections.
Dr. Brad T. Gomez
Research Director, Institute of Politics
Dr. Brad T. Gomez is Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Florida State University. His research interests focus on voting behavior and public opinion, with a particular interest in how citizens attribute responsibility for sociopolitical events. He is the coauthor of a series of books on elections, the most recent of which is Change and Continuity in the 2016 and 2018 Elections, and his published research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and other journals and edited volumes.
Graduate Assistants
Ashley Morales-Pacheco
Graduate Assistant
Ashley Morales-Pacheco is a PhD student in the Political Science Department at Florida State. She graduated with her B.A. in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Tampa. Her fields of study are American Government and Public Policy, with a focus on measures of income class, and political behavior through the lens of psychology.
Damian Boldt
Graduate Assistant
Damian Boldt is a PhD student in the Political Science Department at Florida State University. Damian’s primary field of study is International Relations, with a secondary field in Comparative Politics. His research interests include international and intrastate conflict, international status, great powers, and crisis bargaining. In his research, Damian uses empirical methods including causal inference, as well as formal modeling tools. Damian received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History from Southeastern Louisiana University where he graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors and was awarded with Southeastern Louisiana University’s President’s Medal for Academic Excellence in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. He is a native of Tickfaw, Louisiana.
Paige Brocker
Graduate Assistant
Paige Brocker is a current graduate student in the Master’s of Applied American Politics and Policy program at Florida State. Paige is originally from Fort Myers, FL and graduated with her B.S in Political Science with a certificate in U.S. Intelligence from the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program at Florida State University.
Will Behnke
Graduate Assistant
Will Behnke is a graduate student in the Master’s of Applied American Politics and Policy program at Florida State. He graduated with a B.A. in Criminology and Psychology with a minor in International Affairs from Butler University. His research interests consist of analyzing United States involvement in world affairs and the international conflict.