Sean Theriault, Congressional Dysfunction and Party Polarization

Professor Theriault teaches in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. His recent focus has been on congressional decision-making and dysfunction. He has published three books, The Power of the People: Congressional Competition, Public Attention, and Voter Retribution; Party Polarization in Congress; and The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the Friar Society Teaching Fellowship (the biggest undergraduate teaching award at UT) in 2009, UT Professor the Year in 2011, and the Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014. He has also published numerous articles in a variety of journals on subjects ranging from presidential rhetoric to congressional careers to the Louisiana Purchase. Professor Theriault received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2001.