Rate My Professor Ryan Vander Wielen

Ryan Vander Wielen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and Professor (by affiliation) of Economics at Stony Brook University. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis, as well as a B.A. in Government and B.Mus. in Music Performance (classical guitar) from Lawrence University. Prior to joining Stony Brook, he was Professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Economics at Temple University, where he served as an APSA Congressional Fellow during the 2019-2020 academic year. Vander Wielen has held visiting fellowships at Duke University and Sciences Po Lyon.

His research examines American political institutions, with a focus on legislative politics in the US Congress, strategic legislative behavior, voter accountability, political decision-making, quantitative methodology, and formal modeling. Recent work explores how changes in the news media landscape, particularly cable news, influence congressional elections, candidate entry, and members' voting behavior. Vander Wielen teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in legislative politics, statistical methods, and game theory. He is co-author of several prominent books, including The House that Fox Built? Representation, Political Accountability, and the Rise of Cable News (Cambridge University Press, 2025, with Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway, and Martin Johnson), Taming Intuition: How Reflection Minimizes Partisan Reasoning and Promotes Democratic Accountability (Cambridge University Press, 2017, with Kevin Arceneaux, recipient of the APSA Political Psychology Section Award), Politics Over Process: Partisan Conflict and Post-Passage Processes in the U.S. Congress (University of Michigan Press, 2017, with Hong Min Park and Steven S. Smith), and The American Congress (10th edition, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, with Jason M. Roberts and Steven S. Smith; earlier editions 2006-2015). His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in leading journals such as the American Journal of Political Science (e.g., "Strategic Candidate Entry and Congressional Elections in the Era of Fox News," 2020; "The Influence of News Media on Political Elites," 2016), British Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Analysis, Public Choice, and Political Research Quarterly. Vander Wielen's contributions have significantly shaped understandings of congressional dynamics, partisan conflict, and media effects on political accountability.