The Institute of Governmental Studies, now in its tenth decade on the Berkeley campus, began life in 1919 as the Bureau of Public Administration.
The list of IGS Directors includes the following prominent scholars:
Samuel C. May (1921-55)
May earned his M.A. in political science at Columbia University in 1920. The University of California’s ninth president, David P. Barrows, brought May to Berkeley to define and develop the new field of public administration.
Milton Chernin (Acting Director, 1955-58)
Chernin received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1937. He authored numerous monographs on California’s correctional institutions with Berkeley’s Bureau of Public Administration, the predecessor of IGS.
Dwight Waldo (1958-67)
Considered the defining figure in contemporary public administration, Waldo received his doctorate from Yale. Some of his notable publications include The Administrative State: A Study of the Political Theory of American Public Adminsitration (1984), The Study of Public Administration (1955), and Perspectives on Administration (1956).
Eugene C. Lee (1967-88)
Lee was the first chairman of the Commision on California State Government Organization and Economy. He earned both his master’s and doctorate from Berkeley. His works include The Politics of Nonpartisanship (1960), and — co-authored — The Challenge of California, The Multicampus University, and Managing Multicampus Systems (1971).
Nelson W. Polsby (1988-99)
Earning both his master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University, Polsby was editor of the American Political Science Review from 1971-77. His published works focus on American politics, including Political Innovation in America (1984), Congress and the Presidency (1986), and How Congress Evolves (2004).
Bruce E. Cain (1999-2007)
Cain received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He contributed greatly to the field of election law and political regulation. Published works include The Reapportionment Puzzle (1984), The Personal Vote (1987), and Congressional Redistricting (1991).
Jack Citrin (2007-2017)
Since earning his Ph.D. from Berkeley in 1969, Citrin’s research has focused on political trust, taxing and spending policies, ethnic politics, the future of national identity, and immigration and language politics. His published works include Tax Revolt, Something for Nothing in California (1982), How Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Shape the California Electorate (2002), and American Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism (2014).
Lisa García Bedolla (2017-2019)
Lisa García Bedolla is Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies and Chancellor’s Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. García Bedolla’s research focuses on how marginalization and inequality structure the political and educational opportunities available to members of ethnoracial groups, with a particular emphasis on the intersections of race, class, and gender. Her current projects include an analysis of how technology can facilitate voter mobilization among voters of color in California and a historical exploration of the race, gender, and class inequality at the heart of the founding of California's public school system.
Cristina Mora and Eric Schickler (2019-present)
Associate Professor Cristina Mora (Sociology) completed her B.A. in Sociology at UC Berkeley in 2003 and earned her PhD in Sociology from Princeton University in 2009. Before returning to Cal, she was a Provost Postdoctoral Scholar in Sociology at the University of Chicago. Professor Mora’s research focuses mainly on questions of racial and ethnic categorization, organizations, and immigration. Her book, Making Hispanics, was published in 2014 by the University of Chicago Press and provides a socio-historical account of the rise of the “Hispanic/Latino” panethnic category in the United States. This work, along with related articles, has received wide recognition, including the 2010 Best Dissertation Award and the 2018 Early Career Award (SREM) from the American Sociological Association.
Eric Schickler is Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of three books which have won the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for the best book on legislative politics: Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (2001), Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the United States Senate (2006, with Gregory Wawro), and Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power (2016, with Douglas Kriner; also winner of the Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the best book on executive politics). His book, Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965, was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book on government, politics or international affairs published in 2016, and is co-winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize for the best book in history and politics from the previous two calendar years. He is also the co-author of Partisan Hearts and Minds, which was published in 2002. He has authored or co-authored articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Polity, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Social Science History. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American politics, the U.S. Congress, rational choice theory, American political development, and public opinion.