Rachel L. Moskowitz

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Law, Trinity College

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About Rachel

Moskowitz's research lies at the intersection of public policy; political behavior and public opinion; race politics; and urban politics. In her current projects; using survey; experimental; and qualitative research; Moskowitz studies educational issues in a variety of political environments to understand how the public understands these questions within the context of both race and competing political values like equality and community.

Moskowitz earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Political Science and received her B.A. from Grinnell College. Before graduate school; she worked as a social studies teacher in Richmond; CA through Teach for America. She also worked as a legislative clerk in the Iowa House of Representatives and as a field organizer for a presidential campaign.

Moskowitz’s primary approach in the classroom is to address important and complex substantive political and policy issues. She then helps students learn how social science theories; analysis; and methods can help one explore and answer these tough questions. She aims to help students develop as critical and active thinkers for both the classroom and the political world.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

What Americans Think about the Future of Social Security

Fay Lomax Cook

Key Findings Brief, September 2012

In the News

Research discussed by Derek Thompson, in "Why the Wealth Gap between Congress and Voters Matters," The Atlantic, December 27, 2011.

Research discussed by John Sides, in "The Politics of the Top 1 Percent," The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight Blog, December 14, 2011.

Publications

"Race, Place, and Public Education: The Role of Neighborhood Context on Voter Support for School Bonds," 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA, and 2012 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 2012 and April 2012, respectively.

Explores the role of racial and ethnic neighborhood context on an individual voter’s willingness to support a public school bond in a local election. Applies data from a unique 1994 Houston tax referendum to test both the racial threat theory and social contact theory.

"Substitute for Government? Private Giving and Volunteering by Wealthy Americans," (with Benjamin Page and Fay Lomax Cook), Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 2012.

Uses data from a small but representative survey of Chicago area citizens in the top 1% of wealth-holders to address issues relevant to whether U.S. philanthropy is seen by wealthy donors as a substitute for government action.