Fields of Interest:

Comparative Politics

Education: Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005

Jana Morgan joined the Department of Political Science in Fall 2005 after completing her PhD (2005) and M.A. (2001) in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jana received her B.A. in Political Science and Modern Languages from Wheaton College in 1998.

Jana’s research considers issues of inequality, exclusion, and representation. She is particularly interested in exploring how economic, social and political inequalities affect marginalized groups’ influence and undermine democratic institutions and outcomes. Her book, Bankrupt Representation and Party System Collapse (Penn State, 2011), has been awarded the Van Cott Outstanding Book award given by the Latin American Studies Association. In her current work, Jana is exploring how structures of economic inequality and poverty shape political participation, representation, and policymaking. She is also analyzing the causes and consequences of gendered economic and political inequalities cross-nationally and examining the linkages between campaign finance, political rhetoric and the persistence of inequality in the United States. Her work has received funding from various sources including the Russell Sage Foundation and the Pew Foundation and has been published in numerous journals including American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Latin American Research Review, Latin American Politics and Society, and Politics & Gender.

Jana has conducted field research in Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in comparative politics, the politics of the developing world, Latin American politics, and comparative parties and party systems.

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