Frank R. Baumgartner holds the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professorship in Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1986 after previously getting his BA and MA at that same institution. He taught for one year at the University of Iowa, then for 11 years at Texas A&M University, 10 years at Penn State University, and has been at UNC-CH since 2009. He has had visiting appointments at Caltech, SciencesPo (Paris), and the European University Institute (Florence) as well as shorter visits at a number of universities in the US and western Europe. He served as Department Head at Penn State; is currently responsible for diversity efforts within the UNC department; has served in numerous capacities on various editorial boards including those of the JOP and AJPS, and currently sits on several, including Policy Studies Journal, Public Administration, and the Journal of European Public Policy. He has served on various leadership committees at the APSA, MPSA, and at NSF.
His work focuses on policy making processes, lobbying, agenda-setting, and framing in US and comparative perspective. This includes books such as Agendas and Instability in American Politics and The Politics of Information (with Bryan Jones), Lobbying and Policy Change, and The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence. He has edited several books as well, and published journal articles in many of the major US and European journals. He has been awarded the Wildavsky prize for a work of lasting influence in public policy; the Kammerer Award for the best book on US national policy; the Epstein Award for the best book on parties and organizations; and the Elsdersveld Career Achievement Award from the APSA Section on Political Organizations and Parties.
Statement of views: The APSA plays an important role in fostering a community and in presenting our discipline to the outside. Fostering community means creating a welcoming environment to all by promoting all forms of intellectual and personal diversity, promoting the careers and opportunities of younger scholars, recognizing accomplishments and excellence, and promoting debate and discussion. Presenting the discipline to the outside means encouraging scholarly engagement with the major issues of our time. I believe we can encourage internal debate at the same time as we enhance our profession’s ability to engage with the major issues of our time.
The APSA Nominating Committee met on February 13, 2015, and nominated the slate of officers and council members to serve beginning in fall 2015. The call for nominations was circulated widely among the membership with outreach to APSA committees and organized sections. The nominating committee made its decisions after careful deliberation and due consideration for the diversity of the field and the varied interests of political scientists. There were no additional nominees from the members, and council members and officers were approved in October 2015 by the APSA Council, under its power to fill interim vacancies (APSA Constitution, Article V). APSA welcomes the new council members and other officers to APSA leadership.