Rate My Professor Ellen Grigsby

Ellen Grigsby is a Principal Lecturer Emerita and Director of the Fred Harris Washington, D.C. U.S. Congressional Internship Program in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Mexico, where she has been affiliated since 1991. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986, specializing in Political Theory, with a dissertation titled 'The Politics of Protest' advised by Michael Lienesch. Earlier in her career, she served as College Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at New Mexico State University from 1986 to 1990. At UNM, her appointments included Instructor (1991-1992), Lecturer II (1992-1994), Lecturer III (1995-2003 and 2004-2013), Principal Lecturer (2013-2017), and Principal Lecturer Emerita since 2018. She also directed the Advising Center for the College of Arts and Sciences (2003-2004) and acted as UNM Pre-Law Advisor from 2001 to 2017. Grigsby has served on departmental committees including the Undergraduate Committee, Web and Social Media Committee, and Fred Harris Internship Committee.

Her academic interests focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning in political science, evidence-based and assessment-oriented advising, and agonistic engagement with political theory texts. Grigsby authored Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science, 6th edition (Wadsworth/Cengage, 2014). Notable publications include encyclopedia entries in Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Political Thought (2014) on 'Failed States,' 'Political Libertarianism,' 'Fabianism,' and 'Liberation Theology'; 'Neoclassical Liberals' and 'History of the Discipline' in Twenty-First Century Political Science: A Reference Handbook (2011); and contributions to The Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution (2009) and other reference works. She developed and taught over thirteen undergraduate courses in Political Science, such as Introduction to Political Theory (PS 2130), Modern Political Theory (PS 362), Congressional Processes (PS 300T), and Political Science Internship (PS 491), including multiple online formats. Grigsby advised student organizations like College Democrats, Pre-Law Honor Society, and Mock Trial Club, and participated in pre-law conferences and We The People institutes. She was nominated for UNM Online Teacher of the Year (2014), American Indian Student Services S.T.A.R.S. Award (2013), and Excellence in Advisement Award (2013).