Idaho State University Political Science Faculty
Hosts
Dr. Kellee J. Kirkpatrick
Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of American Politics and Public Policy
kelleekirkpatrick@isu.edu
Ph.D. University of Kansas, 2012
Dr. Kellee J. Kirkpatrick earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kansas where she concentrated her studies in American politics and public policy. She also earned a graduate certificate in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from KU. Dr. Kirkpatrick has a diverse educational background including a master's degree in Strategic Communications and undergraduate degrees in Public Relations, Print Journalism, and Vocal Performance.
Dr. Kirkpatrick's research agenda examines issues of women’s health and reproductive policy and specifically focuses on questions that concern how and why governments regulate private, social issues. Her research often explores how policy evolves at the intersection of morality and economic interests. Because these issues are often the focus of public attention, her research examines how interest group activity and media frames influence public opinion, political behavior, and the policy process. Dr. Kirkpatrick has published her work in academic journals including Policy Studies Journal, Politics, Groups and Identities, and Climate.
Dr. Kirkpatrick has extensive teaching experience at several universities including the University of Kansas, Texas A&M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and now Idaho State University. She has taught courses in American politics, state politics, public policy, research methods, media and politics, women in politics, health policy, reproductive politics, and grant writing. She enjoys engaging students in the research process and has co-authored several conference papers and journal articles with her undergraduate and graduate students. She is currently the adviser of the Political Science Club and the Alpha Phi Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.
Dr. Collin Johnson
Assistant Professor
colinjohnson@isu.edu
Ph.D. Brown University, 2017
Dr. Colin Johnson's research is at the intersection of international migration and development, incorporating human security, political demography, and ethnic conflict. His empirical expertise is in post-communist Eurasia, including field experience in the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, and Estonia.
Dr. Johnson received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2017 and then taught as a UCIS Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh from 2017-2019.
Dr. Mark McBeth
Director of MPA Program, Professor of Political Science
D.A. Idaho State University, 1992
Dr. McBeth has been on faculty in the Department of Political Science since January, 1995. His research focuses on the Narrative Policy Framework, environmental policy, public administration, and pedagogy.
An edited book on the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), Narratives and Policy Processes: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework in Public Policy Analysis (co-edited with Michael D. Jones and Elizabeth A. Shanahan) is being published in summer 2022 as an open access book from Montana State University Press. He is a co-author on the NPF chapter in the fifth edition of Sabatier and Weible's Theories of the Policy Process appearing in 2022. He is also a co-author on a NPF chapter in Methods of the Policy Process published in 2022. His most recent research has appeared in Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Journal, World Affairs, Policy & Politics, Journal of Borderland Studies, Journal of Political Science Education, PS: Political Science and Politics, Teaching Public Administration, and the Journal of Public Affairs Education.
In his postdoctoral career, Mark has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on twenty-three grants and contracts. Mark is also a co-author (with Randy S. Clemons) of Public Policy Praxis: A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis (4th edition, Routledge, 2020), a book that has been on the textbook market since July, 2000 and is now in its fourth edition.
In 2020, he was recognized as a “Distinguished Researcher” at ISU. In 2011 and 2015, he was recognized as an "Outstanding Researcher" at ISU. In 2005, he was recognized as a "Distinguished Teacher" at ISU and was recognized as a “Master Teacher” in 2001.