Rate My Professor Robert Preuhs

Robert Preuhs, Ph.D., serves as Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver, a position he has held since 2007. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2001, with specializations in American politics, public policy, and research methodology; an M.A. in political science from the same university in 1999; a Master of Public Administration from the University of New Mexico in 1996, concentrating in budgeting and program evaluation; and a B.A. cum laude in political science and international studies from Hamline University in 1992. Before joining MSU Denver, Preuhs was a lecturer, affiliate faculty member, and instructor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver. He also served as associate director of the Social Science Data Laboratory at CU Boulder from 2004 to 2006, bringing nearly two decades of college-level teaching experience to his current role.

Preuhs's scholarship centers on American politics, race and ethnic politics, representation, state and local politics and policy, and public policy administration, exploring representation and democracy via racial and ethnic politics, political institutions, and public policy. His publications appear in premier journals including The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Social Science Quarterly. Key works include the co-authored book Black-Latino Relations in U.S. National Politics: Beyond Conflict or Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 2013), the pioneering study on national-level minority intergroup relations, which earned the Best Book on Latino Politics award from the Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association in 2014. Other influential articles are "The conditional effects of minority descriptive representation: Black legislators and policy influence in the American states" (2006) and "Immigration and the evolving American welfare state: Examining policies in the US states" (2007). Preuhs received the Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work from the University of Colorado Graduate School in 2001. He teaches courses such as Democracy: U.S. and Third World and applied political research labs, while actively engaging in public discourse on elections, free speech, and civic matters.