Meet the New Director of Research for Project Vote, Dr. LaShonda Brenson

lashondaDr. LaShonda Brenson works to develop and supervise new research projects relating to Project Vote’s Government Agency Voter Registration Program. Prior to joining Project Vote’s staff, Dr. Brenson earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a B.A. in Mathematics and Political Science from the University of Rochester. Currently, she is working on a report entitled, “Representational Bias in the 2014 Electorate,” which details the demographics of the American electorate since the 2004 presidential election. Using the Census Bureau’s Voting and Registration Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS), this report illustrates how political participation varies for different fragments of the voting eligible population across both presidential and midterm elections. Along with this report, she created facts sheets for each state and Washington, D.C. that provides statistics on voter turnout and registration. This report should be published to our website very soon.In addition to the “Representational Bias” report, Dr. Brenson is working on collecting voter file data from states to better understand the voting behavior of all citizens, with a specific interest in the participation of citizens who register public assistance agency offices. She is also interested in demonstrating the impact of Project Vote’s ligation and other methods of intervention to protect voting rights. Lastly, Dr. Brenson is working on developing several research designs for field experiments relating to voter registration drives that will be administered in the coming months.

How/why did you decide to choose a career outside of academia?

Brenson: While in graduate school, I realized that I might not be interested in the academic job market. Because of this, I started seeking out other opportunities to discover other career fields that I might be interested in. I worked part-time in the summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015 for the Graduate Student Success (GSS) office at Michigan where I worked as a graduate student mentor. This position allowed me to mentor undergraduate and entering graduate students. In addition to these work opportunities, I lived in the Telluride House, which is a merit-based residential scholarship for students and faculty committed to public service, for four years. Through my involvement with Telluride, I developed service projects to address homelessness, mentorship, and tutoring. These and other experiences led me to choose a career outside of academia. While I am proud of the dissertation research, working as a professor did not appeal to me—I could not get myself to look at, let alone apply to, an advertisement for an academic job. I am ecstatic to work at Project Vote, an organization that has worked relentlessly to increase access to voting and voter registration so that the electorate is as diverse as the U.S. population. I love collaborating with my colleagues at work and other advocates working to protect citizen’s voting rights.

What advice would you give political science graduates who are starting their careers?

Brenson: I recommend that graduate students explored opportunities outside of research and teaching to confirm that their interested in an academia career. If you decide against pursuing an academic career, here are few tips for your job search. First, attend workshops on resume and cover letter writing—it is vital to customize your materials for each job you apply to. Several consulting firms and the federal government offer virtual workshops to job seekers. Second, try to focus your job search. Some graduate students have that the perspective that the academic job market is uniquely competitive—this is not the case. Focusing your search to one or second careers will allow you to network with people already in the field and request informational interviews. I recommend using tools like LinkedIn to contact people that are established in the field. When possible, contact alumni of your program or other political science Ph.D.s because they will be most likely to reply and are uniquely equipped to answer your questions.  Third, be prepared to explain to perspective employers why you do not want to go to academia—this came up in every interview I had.

Click here to learn more about LaShonda Brenson’s work and Project Vote.

1 Comment

  1. Congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Benson. One thing that is very important is to find a way to make her kind of material widely available to potential voters who are discouraged, have never been much interested, or are totally disconnected, and where there are other groups who actively (and sometimes subtly) look for ways to create obstacles.

    Think Mississippi in 2016.

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