Jessica Trounstine earned her PhD in political science from the University of California, San Diego, in 2004 and now serves as the Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair and professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. Before joining UC Merced in 2009, Trounstine was assistant professor of politics and public policy at Princeton University.
She is the author of Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities (Cambridge University Press, 2018), winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize and named the Best Book in Urban Affairs by the Urban Affairs Association and the Best Book on Race, Ethnicity, and Urban Politics by the American Political Science Association. She is also the author of the award-winning book Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers (University of Chicago Press, 2008), along with dozens of articles and book chapters. In her work, Trounstine studies representation and inequality in American democracy using varied quantitative and qualitative methods. She consults for various governments and community organizations, and serves on numerous editorial and foundation boards. As the fourth political scientist hired at UC Merced, Trounstine has played a crucial role in helping to build the university.
Her project, “Redlined Forever: How Politics Shapes Neighborhoods and Neighborhoods Shape Politics,” will study the political tools that communities use to entrench segregation and the ways in which segregation generates political polarization.
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