James A. Thurber
James A. Thurber is Professor of Government and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. He is the principal investigator of a seven-year grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Campaign Management Institute to study campaign conduct. Dr. Thurber has been on the faculty at American University since 1974 and was honored as the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 1996. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
He is author and co-author of numerous books and more than seventy-five articles and chapters on Congress, congressional-presidential relations, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections. He is an author or editor of The Health of American Democratic Elections: Candidates, Consultants, Political Parties and Voters (with Candice J. Nelson and David A. Dulio, 2004), Campaigns and Elections, American Style (with Candice Nelson, 2004, 2nd Ed.) Congress and the Internet (with Colton Campbell, 2002), Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, Second Edition (2002), The Battle for Congress: Consultants, Candidates, and Voters (2001), Crowded Airwaves: Campaign Advertising in Elections (with Candice J. Nelson and David A. Dulio, 2000), Campaign Warriors: Political Consultants in Elections (2000), Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, (1996), Remaking Congress: The Politics of Congressional Stability and Change (with Roger Davidson, 1995), Campaigns and Elections, American Style (with Candice Nelson, 1995, 1st Ed.); Divided Democracy: Cooperation and Conflict Between Presidents and Congress (1991), and Setting Course: A Congressional Management Guide (with Chaleff, Loomis and Serota, 1988).
Dr. Thurber earned a BS in political science from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University and was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He has worked on four committee reorganization efforts in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate from 1976 to present. He was Director of the Washington; D.C. based Human Affairs Research Centers of the Battelle Memorial Institute and served as acting Dean of the School of Government and Public Administration at American University.