Eleanor Neff Powell

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Personal Website

Education:

Ph.D. in Political Science, Harvard University, 2009

M.A. in Political Science, Harvard University, 2008

A.B. in Politics, Princeton University 2004

Research Interests:

American Politics, Congress, Political Parties, Campaign Finance, Political Methodology, Comparative Legislatures, Political Institutions

Biography:

Eleanor Neff Powell is an Associate Professor of Political Science and holds the Letters & Science Nancy Obin Sukenik Professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Powell received her A.B. from Princeton University, M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, and previously served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University.  She is a scholar of American politics with focuses on the United States Congress, political parties and the influence of money in American politics. While her primary research interests lie in American politics, she has secondary research interests in Comparative Politics and Political Methodology. Her research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, and Political Science Research and Methods among other journals. Previously, she’s served as President of the Midwest Political Science Association, Program Co-Chair of the MPSA, and as a co-founder of Women in Legislative Studies.

Courses:

• Fall 2025:
  • POLISCI 311: The US Congress
• Spring 2026:
  • POLISCI 408: The American Presidency
  • POLISCI 904: American Field Seminar
• Previous Course Offerings:
  • POLISCI 373: Introduction to Survey Research
  • POLISCI 817: Empirical Methods of Political Inquiry
  • POLISCI 826: The Legislative Process
  • POLISCI 989: American Politics Workshop

Awards, Fellowships and Grants:

• National Science Foundation Grant: “Collaborative Research: Incentivizing and Spotlighting Scientific Contributions in Legislative Studies,” 2024-2026. Joint with Leslie Schwindt-Bayer and Gisela Sin. 
• Election Research Center Grant: “Corporate Lobbying and the Electoral Count Reform Act.” Joint with Veronica Judson.
• National Science Foundation Grant: Women in Legislative Studies, 2019-2023. Joint with Leslie Schwindt-Bayer and Gisela Sin.
• APSA Centennial Center Grant: Women in Legislative Studies, 2019-2023. Joint with Leslie Schwindt-Bayer and Gisela Sin.
• LSQ Grant: Women in Legislative Studies, 2019-2024. Joint with Leslie Schwindt-Bayer and Gisela Sin.
• Inaugural Best Paper Award from the APSA Class and Inequality Section for “Legislative Consequences of Fundraising Influence,” Award Presented at APSA 2016.
• Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Award, UW-Madison, 2016.
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, “Congressional Representation: Constituents, Donors and Policy,” 2016-2017.
•  University of Wisconsin-Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, “Roll Call Voting: Abstention, Bias, and Representation,” 2015-2016.
• Institute for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, “Judges and Money Project.” 2014.
• Dirksen Center Congressional Research Award Grant, 2008.
• Eliot Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Harvard University, 2008-2009.
• Center for American Political Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Harvard University, 2008-2009.
• Benjamin Bainbridge Tregoe Graduate Fellowship, Harvard University, 2004-2005.
• Carl Friedrich Fellow, Harvard University, Department of Government, 2004.