Meet Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Professor of Political Science and Director of Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center

Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Professor of Political Science and Director of Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center

I’m Jeff Bernstein, and I have been director of the Center since the summer of 2021, and on the faculty at Eastern in political science since 1997. I hold a B.A. from Washington University and an M.A. and Ph. D. from the University of Michigan. My research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly on how to foster my students’ effective civic engagement.

What energizes you about working at Eastern Michigan University?

The students.  Our students generally are hard-working, dedicated, and resilient.  Life has not been easy for many of them, and yet, they persevere.  Many are paying their way through college, and are aware of the opportunities that college will provide for them in their lives.  At many schools, one teaches students who are destined for success, and our mentoring might, if we’re lucky, bend the curve a little bit to make the arc move more steeply upward.  At Eastern, a dedicated faculty member can open doors that students don’t know exist, and get modest, unassuming students to believe in a future for themselves they could not have imagined.  I’ve been able to do that, and it feels good every single time.

And, the faculty.  Two years ago, I moved over from my faculty position to direct our Faculty Development Center.  In this role, I work with the faculty to help enhance the work they do in the classroom, and in researching effective teaching practice.  My work with faculty aims at helping them to become the most effective teachers, mentors, and supporters of our students.  Our faculty are good at what they do, and care so deeply about the students.  It is truly a pleasure to work with them.

What did you study in graduate school? Can you say a little bit about your research?

I was an Americanist in graduate school at the University of Michigan – I studied legislative politics and legislative elections, as well as research methodology.  My dissertation focused on decisions House members made to retire or run for higher office.  Within traditional political science, I’ve published on public approval toward Congress, Senate retirement, and on the gender gap in Senate elections.  I’ve also done some work on public opinion, most recently on student attitudes toward free speech on college campuses, using think-alouds as data.  The bulk of my research, however, has focused on issues of teaching and learning, both in terms of effective teaching of political science, and on teaching within the academy more generally. In my new role, I think a great deal about student-faculty partnerships and how we can advance those on campus – I envision much of my future writing to be in this area.

Why and when did you choose to pursue a career as a professor?

I was a sophomore in college, majoring in political science and planning on law school, when I saw a fascinating course on electoral behavior.  It looked absolutely amazing. The only trouble was, it was intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.  I have absolutely no idea why I thought I should approach the professor (John Sprague from Washington University in Saint Louis) to try to get into the class, and I’ve always wondered what he thought of this impudent kid in his office.  But he let me into the class.

The other students couldn’t have been kinder and more supportive, and I loved every minute of it.  I did a paper predicting voter turnout and vote percentages in Illinois in the 1988 presidential election, focusing most heavily on turnout in the different wards of Chicago.  I’m sure I was the only Jewish kid at Washington University with a subscription to the Chicago Defender, Chicago’s African-American newspaper, and a regular phone check-in with their reporter covering the election.  I nailed the predictions – absolutely nailed them! – and decided I wanted to spend the rest of my career studying political science, and sharing my love for the topic with my students.  It’s been a pretty linear path forward from the fall 1988 semester.

In what ways did your doctoral training help you in your career? Did you do anything special in graduate school to prepare for this career path?

Graduate school at Michigan made me a good political scientist – how can you not be when you learn from people like John Jackson, John Kingdon, and Rick Hall?  But it was the teaching that I loved the most, more than the research.  I was a teaching assistant for American politics with John Kingdon and with Hanes Walton (of blessed memory) and learned from their teaching styles (which were quite different from one another).  As I found myself loving my time in the classroom, and faced the fear that money would dry up during my doctoral training, I began to reach out to local schools.  I taught a couple of classes at Washtenaw Community College, which was a very different population of students than University of Michigan undergraduates.  I enjoyed that a great deal.  I then reached out to Eastern Michigan University, taught one class as a part-time lecturer, came back the following year as a full-time lecturer, and then the stars aligned into my being offered a tenure-track position in their search.

I learned something about how to teach in graduate school, mostly informally.  TA-training at the time was minimal (Michigan has since overhauled everything about that process, much to the good).  But I learned about teaching through the act of teaching, which was an effective way for me to learn.  My teaching instincts were generally good, so even before I formally learned the craft, I was doing pretty well in the classroom.  I also had the opportunity to help do some TA-training for others in the department when I became a more senior TA; helping to think about what my fellow teaching assistants needed to learn, and finding resources to help them, was a great experience.  I’ll always be grateful to then-Chair John Jackson, who invested $1000 in our efforts.  Sometimes, a small investment can bear fruit!

Do you have any advice for PhD students considering a career at an institution like Eastern Michigan University?

At Eastern, we value the student experience, and teaching writ large.  Research is valued here, and it does count, but not in the same way as at a major research-intensive school.  I don’t know if I could have succeeded at a school like Michigan – I’m not sure I ever had the love of research and the drive to produce what scholars there are expected to produce. As a professor at Eastern, I worked really hard (as FDC director, I think I’m working even harder).  But the time I spent was teaching (typically three classes a term), mentoring students (lots of advising hours and meetings with students), and working in teaching-related service roles.

I am fortunate beyond words that I found a place that enabled me to be the kind of professor I wanted to be.  It has made me effective in my job, and made me happy in my career.  Having a happy career at an institution like Eastern Michigan University means finding a love for teaching, for working with students, and embracing the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.  It means more modest research goals, in the vast majority of cases.  It’s a different job than many of our professors in graduate school have.  I would highly recommend exploring the job – reach out to faculty at a school like ours to learn more about our lives – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And, should you get a job, cherish the opportunities you have, rather than making everyone aware that you wish you were elsewhere!


APSA’s Career Paths series explores the wide range of career trajectories that political science PhDs can take and provides specific career advice for graduate students entering the job market, as well as other political scientists at all career levels who are looking for new career opportunities. Individuals interested in contributing to the series should email teaching@apsanet.org.