Elizabeth Zechmeister

New research experience will expose undergraduates to diverse career paths and provide graduate-level training, mentoring and professional networking in the social sciences. This is the first year of a three-year program in the Department of Political Science. Read More

Vanderbilt’s LAPOP Lab is the premier academic institution carrying out surveys of public opinion in the Americas. Read More

A nine-day intensive training hosted by LAPOP provided students, postdocs, faculty and policymakers with skills to conduct trustworthy, reliable surveys in international settings. Read More

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver has appointed a committee to conduct a national search for the next dean of Vanderbilt University’s College of Arts and Science. The committee consists of a range of faculty from Arts and Science and collaborating colleges, as well as non-faculty peers. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Office of Global Safety within the Office of Undergraduate Education will bring together global risk professionals from academic institutions across the country for the Overseas Security Advisory Council’s Academia Sector Committee spring Health, Safety & Security Seminar on campus April 13–14.  Read More

Two highly accomplished Vanderbilt faculty members will leverage their leadership experience and research expertise in new roles within the Office of the Provost. Read More

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier has placed a strong priority on expanding Vanderbilt’s global presence as the university prepares to celebrate its sesquicentennial next year. Diermeier said during his remarks at Fall Faculty Assembly on Sept. 1 that building Vanderbilt’s international reputation is “top of mind every day” for the university’s leadership.   Read More

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier lauded Vanderbilt faculty’s accomplishments and deep commitment to radical collaboration in his remarks at the Spring Faculty Assembly on April 28. In addition, six faculty were recognized with some of university’s highest honors. Read More

The Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center has honored five individuals from the Vanderbilt community as recipients of its annual awards for 2022. Read More

Democracy is still struggling in the Americas, with citizens reporting high skepticism about electoral democracy, according to the newly released 2021 Pulse of Democracy report from Vanderbilt University’s LAPOP Lab. Read More

Vanderbilt University research from Professor of Political Science Elizabeth Zechmeister shows that gendered beliefs about leadership mean that women heads of state are less likely than men to receive a bump in support after an international terrorist incident. Read More

Vanderbilt University and AmericasBarometer, a public opinion survey on democracy and governance run by the Latin American Public Opinion Project, were cited in the recent Ecuadorian presidential debate. Read More

A panel of Vanderbilt political science faculty explored the factors that led to the Jan. 6 riot in a virtual event, “Dissent, Disorder and Democracy: What Led to the U.S. Capitol Insurrection.” Hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the panel also engaged with the event’s serious implications for the strength of the nation's democracy. Read More

A panel of political science faculty will examine the social, legal and psychological causes and consequences of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol during a live virtual conversation hosted by The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Read More

The Latin American Public Opinion Project's efforts never stopped when Vanderbilt closed labs in mid-March due to COVID-19. Instead, director Elizabeth Zechmeister’s team pivoted to exclusively remote work and tackled the monumental task of overhauling research protocols to acquire data that reveals new insights about the pandemic’s effects on democracy. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Latin American Public Opinion Project has received a $10 million, five-year USAID grant to support its influential AmericasBarometer survey and related activities. Read More

Faculty have been named to a new subcommittee formed by the Vanderbilt University Research Council to provide governance for the GlobalVU initiative. Read More

Scholar Juan Pablo Alperin will discuss the impact of the Open Access movement on the research landscape of Latin American scholarship during a luncheon lecture and discussion Oct. 29. Read More

Democracy is struggling for support in the Americas, according to the 2018/19 AmericasBarometer report, with just over half of all citizens expressing faith in the system for the second survey period in a row. “When citizen support for democracy is weak, it becomes difficult for nations to sustain free… Read More

In an age of Cambridge Analytica, uncanny Facebook algorithms and NSA wiretapping, it seems every time we turn around, there is a new assault on that once most precious of commodities: our privacy. In reality, however, what we choose to reveal and what we keep private has long been a source of debate. Read More