Faculty Research and Engagement
Navigating Borders: Could water be a bridge between U.S. and Mexico?
Because both the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers’ headwaters begin in the U.S. and flow across the border, both sides depend on the other for the water. Since the 1990s, getting enough of that water has been a problem compounded by a booming population and climate change. The common problem has forced the two countries […]
Read MoreBeing a responsible digital citizen in the age of information disorder
A political science capstone class looked beyond “fake news” to the root problem of information disorder in our democracy, and offered advice for citizens to responsibly combat misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.
Read MoreCSU faculty receive $450,000 Carnegie grant to track how U.S. international policy impacts local communities
Starting January 2022, a CSU research team will lead a project that will produce a map of the distributive implications of U.S. foreign policy – a map that will allow communities to better understand their relationship to America’s role in the world.
Read MoreNavigating borders: Could water be a bridge between U.S. and Mexico?
Since the 1990s, getting enough water has been a problem that — drop by drop — has only been compounded over the years for both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.
Read MoreVideo: CSU professor explains his research on COVID conspiracy theories
Assistant Professor of Political Science Dominik Stecula’s research interest has always been centered around how the media shapes what people believe. In 2020, the global pandemic provided a rare opportunity to study an international emergence of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the role media plays in shaping people’s political and personal beliefs.
Read MoreCSU study aims to increase resilience, unity in Colombia’s Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities
In 2018 and 2019, CSU Associate Professor of Political Science Marcela Velasco led a study to understand the complex relationships evolving among Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities along Colombia’s Pacific coast that have endured decades of violent conflict.
Read MoreStudent Research
SOGES Sustainability Leadership Fellows
The SoGES Sustainability Leadership Fellows program provides innovative training for early career scientists to effectively communicate science to the media and public, professional development skills and techniques, and strategies to build meaningful careers that incorporate engagement and interdisciplinarity. The competitive program accepts 20 advanced PhD students and postdoctoral scholars each year from across campus interested in communicating their sustainability-related research.
Institute for Research in the Social Sciences
The Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS) at Colorado State University aims to connect and support social scientists with other researchers, as well as university, community, and industry partners.

Awards & Honors
- Matthew Hitt – Monfort Professor, Colorado State University (2022)
- Stephen Mumme – Lifetime Achievement Award, Association of Borderlands Studies (2021)
- Gamze Çavdar - Suraj Mal and Shyama Devi Agarwal Book Prize, International Association for Feminist Economics (2021)
- Susan Opp – Top 100 Local Government Influencers, Engaging Local Government Leaders (2020)
Books & Publications
Inconsistency and Indecision in the United States Supreme Court
Author: Matthew Hitt Summary: The United States Supreme Court exists to resolve constitutional disputes among lower courts and the other branches of government, allowing elected officials, citizens, and businesses to act without legal uncertainty. American law and society function more effectively when the Court resolves these ambiguous questions of Constitutional law. Since lower courts must […]
Read MoreWomen in Turkey: Silent Consensus at the Age of Neoliberalism and Islamic Conservatism
Author: Gamze Çavdar Summary: This book provides a socio-economic examination of the status of women in contemporary Turkey, assessing how policies have combined elements of neoliberalism and Islamic conservatism. Using rich qualitative and quantitative analyses, Women in Turkey analyses the policies concerning women in the areas of employment, education and health and the fundamental transformation […]
Read MoreJust Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift Towards a Low-Carbon World
Author: Dimitris Stevis, Edouard Morena, Dunja Krause Summary: “In the field of ‘climate change’, no terrain goes uncontested. The terminological tug of war between activists and corporations, scientists and governments, has seen radical notions of ‘sustainability’ emptied of urgency and subordinated to the interests of capital. ‘Just Transition’ is the latest such battleground, and the […]
Read MoreHome Style Opinion: How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization
Author: Matthew Hitt, Joshua Darr, Johanna Dunaway Summary: Local newspapers can hold back the rising tide of political division in America by turning away from the partisan battles in Washington and focusing their opinion page on local issues. When a local newspaper in California dropped national politics from its opinion page, the resulting space filled […]
Read MoreMourning in America: Race and the Politics of Loss
Author: David W. McIvor Summary: Recent years have brought public mourning to the heart of American politics, as exemplified by the spread and power of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has gained force through its identification of pervasive social injustices with individual losses. The deaths of Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, […]
Read MoreRecent Journal Publications
- Lee, N.R., Stecula, D. Subnational bipartisanship on climate change: evidence from surveys of local and state policymakers. Climatic Change (2021).
- Daum, C. White Complicity, New Political Science (2020).
- McIvor, D. Clad in mourning: psychoanalysis and race in contemporary America. Journal of Psychosocial Studies (2020).
- Stevis, D. Planetary just transition? How inclusive and how just?. Earth System Governance (2020).