Robert Howard
Professor Political Science- Education
- State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY, 1994 – 1998
Ph.D. in Political Science, Fields of Specialization: American Government, Judicial Politics and Public Law, Political Economy and Political Methodology (1998) - State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 1994 – 1998
M.A. degree in Political Science (1997) - Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA, 1978 – 1981
J.D. degree, cum laude, Law Review (1981) - Union College, Schenectady, NY, 1974 – 1978
B.A. degree in Political Science), cum laude, Highest Honors in Political Science (1978)
- State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY, 1994 – 1998
- Specializations
American Politics, Public Law: Judicial Politics and Public Policy
- Biography
Robert M. Howard is a Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and the Executive Director of the Southern Political Science Association. Dr. Howard received his bachelor’s degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York, earned a law degree from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Masters and a Ph.D. in American Politics and Public Law from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His main research interests are the impact of courts and litigation on social and public policy, judicial decision making by Federal Courts and Georgia Politics. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Power, Constraint and Policy Change: Courts and Education Finance Reform, Judging Law and Policy: Courts and Policymaking in the American Political System, Politics in Georgia, Getting a Poor Return: Courts, Justice and Taxes, and is the co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Judicial Behavior. In addition he has published articles in leading political science and law journals such as Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly and Law and Society Review on topics such as Courts and Public Policy, Courts and Bureaucratic Impact, Lawyer Regulation, Supreme Court decision-making, and the Supreme Court and public opinion. Dr. Howard was a former editor of the Justice System Journal, was a former program chair for Law and Courts of the American Political Science Association Annual Conference and is currently the Editor of the Routledge book series, Law, Courts and Politics.
- Publications
National Science Foundation Law and Social Sciences Division, Collaborative Research Grant award of $132,240, Decision making on the U.S. District Courts: Building A Multi-User Database, awarded August 1, 2019
Power, Constraint and Policy Change: Courts and Education Finance Reform, (with Christine Roch, Susanne Schorpp and Shane Gleason) SUNY Press: Albany NY, SUNY Series on American Constitutionalism (January 2021)
Handbook of Judicial Behavior, (co-editor with Kirk Randazzo), Routledge Press (October 2017)
Politics in Georgia, (with Arnold Fleishmann and Richard Engstrom) University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA (October 2017)
"The Diffusion of the Constitution: Emulation and Adoption of State Court Ordered Education Finance Reform."(with Christine Roch and Susanne Schorpp) Law and Policy Journal 39(2): 142 – 169 (2017)
“The Unintended Consequences of Congressional Action: Judicial Conviction Rates After Congressional Sentencing Reform” (with Jeffrey Lazarus and Jeffrey Glass) the Justice System Journal 36(4): 304-322 (2015)