Christine Trost

Christine Trost is Executive Director of IGS and Director of the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, a component of IGS that seeks to interest undergraduates in public service through internship programs, public events, and the presence of distinguished visitors on campus.  Christine received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley and spent much of her graduate career at IGS, sharing a carrel, attending afternoon tea, and working as a research assistant. After completing her degree, she taught courses in American Politics at UC Berkeley and Mills College, and was Director of Research and Training for IGS’s Improving Campaigns Project (2001-2004), a major study of political campaign practices and ways to increase youth participation. Following this she spent nearly 15 years as Associate Director of UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (formerly the Institute for the Study of Social Change), developing interdisciplinary research initiatives, training and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, and coordinating the academic programs of ISSI and its research centers.  She has co-authored journal articles and co-edited books on a range of topics related to American politics, political ethics, campaign practices, youth, and civic and political engagement, including Campaigning for Congress: Politicians at Home and in Washington; Win the Right Way: How to Run Effective Local Campaigns in California; Conflict of Interest and Public Life: Cross-National Perspectives; Steep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party; and Youth, Jobs and the Future: Problems and Prospects. In 2008 Trost received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award for her work as a member of the Berkeley Initiative for Leadership and Diversity Steering Committee.