Media Contact
Amanda Head
Manager, Marketing and Public Relations
College of Arts & Sciences
[email protected]
ATLANTA — Jennifer McCoy, a professor of political science whose work examines political and social polarization in democracies around the globe, has been named as one of two new Regents’ Professors in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgia State University.
The award, granted by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, recognizes scholarly achievements that are innovative, sustained, and which have earned national and international recognition for their impact.
McCoy’s scholarship in recent years is focused on what she refers to as “pernicious polarization” in the United States and other countries.
Much of her work has been in Latin America where she has conducted research on democracy, election processes and election monitoring. McCoy served as director of the Americas Program at The Carter Center from 1998 to 2015 with a joint appointment with the university during that period. In her role with The Carter Center, she led projects on mediation of internal and cross-border disputes in Latin America, including work on anti-corruption, reconciliation, transparency, and the defense of democracy.
McCoy, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, joined the faculty at Georgia State as an assistant professor in 1984.
She has been a Distinguished University Professor of Political Science since 2013. She frequently shares her work with the public through media interviews, blogs and podcasts. Due to her research expertise, she has been called upon to provide input into policy decision-making with local, national and international impacts. She is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has produced invited reports including for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has served as an expert witness for more than a dozen Venezuela asylum cases, and is a member of the National Electoral Reform Working Group and the Braver Angels academic advisory board, among other activities.
“Jennifer McCoy is immensely deserving of being named a Regents’ Professor,” said Sara Rosen, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. “Dr. McCoy is a leader at many different levels, including at Georgia State and internationally in the discipline of political science. Her scholarship is highly influential in shaping both scholarly and policy debates.”
Regents’ Professor status, the highest professorial rank within the state’s system of public colleges and universities, is granted for a renewable three-year period and includes a $10,000 per year salary supplement from the university. Appointment is made by the Board of Regents on recommendation of the university president.
“I am truly honored to receive this recognition from the university and the Board of Regents,” McCoy said. “I join a distinguished group of colleagues in the Regent’s Professorship rank.”
The other new Regents’ Professor in the college is Stephen Dobranski in the Department of English. [Read his story here.]
Geert de Vries, in the Biology and Neuroscience departments has been reappointed as a Regents’ Professor and Guantao Chen of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics has been permanently reappointed as a Regents’ Professor.