Rate My Professor Ben Epstein

Benjamin Epstein, known as Ben Epstein, is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul University, where he joined the faculty in 2012 and was promoted with tenure in 2018. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2011, M.A. in Political Science from CUNY-Brooklyn College in 2005, and B.S. in Secondary Education with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. Prior to his appointment at DePaul, Epstein served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University from 2011 to 2012 and taught high school history and political science at Helix Charter High School from 2005 to 2007 and Edward R. Murrow High School from 2001 to 2005. He also held graduate teaching fellowships at Brooklyn College from 2008 to 2011. Epstein has over 20 years of teaching experience at high school and university levels.

Epstein's research focuses on American political development and political communication, with particular emphasis on the intersection of the internet and politics, how media and politics have changed over time, and the effects of these changes on political behavior, participation, culture, and access to power. His book, The Only Constant is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation Over Time (Oxford University Press, 2018), explores the interlocking technological, behavioral, and political components of political communication change, identifying a recurring pattern for comparing periods and actors' innovation choices. Key publications include "Do squeaky wheels get the grease? Understanding when and how municipalities respond to online requests" (New Media & Society, 2023, with L. Bode and J. M. Connolly), "Two decades of e-government diffusion among local governments in the United States" (Government Information Quarterly, 2022), "The (surprisingly interesting) story of e-mail in the 2016 presidential election" (Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 2020, with J. D. Broxmeyer), "Wait, Haven’t We Been Here Before? A Method for Using History to Help Political Communication Scholarship" (Political Communication, 2020), and the chapter "Why It Is So Difficult to Regulate Disinformation Online" in The Disinformation Age (Cambridge University Press, 2020). At DePaul, he teaches courses such as Mass Media and American Politics (PSC 321), The Internet, Technology, and Politics (PSC 315), American Political Culture (PSC 216), the American Political System (PSC 120), and Seminar on Race, Power, and Resistance: Racial and Ethnic Politics in the U.S. (LSP 200). He serves as Faculty Co-Director of DePaul's Civics Initiative and has received awards including a Teagle Foundation Grant ($25,000, co-PI, 2020), Thomas and Carol Dammrich Faculty Innovation Award (2015), Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant ($2,500, 2016), paid research leave (2020-2021), and Excellence in Teaching Award nominations (2016, 2017).