Matthew Levendusky is currently the Penny and Robert A. Fox Director of the Fels Institute of Government, Professor of Political Science, and, by Courtesy, in the Annenberg School for Communications. He is also a Distinguished Fellow in the Institutions of Democracy at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. He was previously associate professor (2013-2018), graduate group chairperson (2013-2018), and assistant professor of Political Science at Penn (2007-2013), and a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for the Study of American Politics at Yale University (2006-2007). He obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2006, and his BA (with highest honors) from The Pennsylvania State University in 2001.
Professor Levendusky is the author of The Partisan Sort (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and How Partisan Media Polarize America (University of Chicago Press, 2013). His work has also appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and a variety of other outlets in political science. His research focuses on understanding how institutions and elites influence the political behavior of ordinary citizens, including studies of mass polarization, the effects of partisan media, and various other topics.
“My time at CSAP gave my career a vital boost. First, it introduced me to a number of faculty who have come to serve as important mentors and friends. Second, it gave me time to work on my first book and refine it into a much stronger product. Finally, it gave me time to start a number of other projects that later became publications. As a result, I started my first job as an assistant professor in a much stronger position than I would have otherwise. I deeply appreciate the opportunity CSAP gave me.”