Rate My Professor David Parker

David Parker is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Montana State University. He earned a B.A. from Indiana University in 1995 and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. He joined Montana State University in 2008 as an assistant professor, received tenure in 2012, was promoted to associate professor, and advanced to full professor in 2019. Parker served as Department Head from fall 2019 until his retirement after a 16-year career at the institution.

Parker specializes in legislatures, political parties, and elections, with research focused on legislative oversight and representational relationships in the U.S. Congress, the House of Commons, and the Scottish Parliament. He authored two monographs on Congress, including Battle for the Big Sky: Representation and the Politics of Place in the Race for the US Senate (2014), and co-edited Doing Archival Research in Political Science (2012). He published 20 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, such as 'Making a Good Impression: Resource Allocation, Home Styles, and Washington Work,' which earned the 2010 Alan Rosenthal Prize from the American Political Science Association for the best work by a junior scholar with potential value for legislative practitioners. Named a Fulbright Specialist for 2021-2025, he lectured on American and British politics at the University of Nottingham in 2022. Parker founded and directed MSU’s Treasure State Poll, conducting statewide pre- and post-election polls in 2018, 2020, and 2022. He contributed extensively to media, appearing in The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS’s Frontline, and the Sundance award-winning documentary Dark Money, while serving as a political analyst and co-hosting 'Face the State' on the Montana Television Network.

In his teaching career, Parker instructed thousands of students in Introduction to American Government and upper-division courses on Congress, the American Presidency, congressional campaigns, political parties, and British Politics. He led four study abroad trips to the United Kingdom and mentored undergraduates extensively, co-authoring peer-reviewed articles with five MSU students and guiding two to pursue doctoral studies in political science. He received the Faculty Award for Excellence three times and the College of Letters and Science Teaching Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Students in 2023. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin, where he lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works on The Seditionists: How the Assault on Congress Continued After January 6th, co-authored with Sean Theriault of the University of Texas-Austin.