Sarah E. James, Ph.D

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science

I am an assistant professor of Political Science Department at Gonzaga University. I received my PhD in Government & Social Policy at Harvard in 2021. Prior to graduate school, I worked in K-12 education, first as a teacher and, later, high school...

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Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., Harvard University, 2021

M.Ed., Boston University, 2011

B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 2009




Courses Taught

Introduction to American Politics (POLS 101)

The Politics of Education (POLS 325)



I am an assistant professor of Political Science Department at Gonzaga University. I received my PhD in Government & Social Policy at Harvard in 2021. Prior to graduate school, I worked in K-12 education, first as a teacher and, later, high school principal in Boston. Outside of work, I love to cook, especially with ingredients native to wherever I am, and do barre and yoga. Along with my partner, I have two kiddos and a golden retriever, and we are on a family mission to visit all of the presidential museums, libraries, and national historic sites.

"Institutional capacities, partisan divisions, and federal tensions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic."; With Theda Skocpol & Caroline Tervo. Forthcoming in The Social and Political impact of COVID-19 in the United States special issue of the Russel Sage Foundation Journal of Social Sciences.

"Mea Culpa: The role of data collection in public officials acknowledging policy failure."; State Politics and Policy Quarterly. March 2022.

"Examining the Effect of Explicit Writing Instruction on the Quality of Student Writing"; with Colin Brown and George Soroka. Journal for Political Science Education. 17:1 (January 2021): 835-861.

"Beyond the Likely Voter: An Analysis of Conservative Political Outreach"; with Angie Bautista-Chavez.

Political Science Quarterly. 134:3 (Fall 2019): 407-443.


I study the American political economy, inequality, and social policy, particularly at the state and local level. My current research examines how the availability of research alters the power dynamics among vested interests and policy opponents in the politics of reforming failed policies. Most recently, I have been especially interested in how the use of data has impacted state policy response to COVID-19. I have also studied the changing nature of the political organizations supporting political parties in contemporary America.