Education
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Ph.D., Political Science September 2006
- Dissertation: Destiny Unbound: Opportunity and Political Choices.
- Committee: John Aldrich (co-chair), Michael Munger (co-chair), Scott de Marchi, and Georg Vanberg.
M.A., Political Science May 2003
- Fields: American Politics and Political Methodology.
- Theme Field: Political Economy.
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
B.A., Government (cum laude) and Economics May 2000
- Thesis: PACing Congress: A Vertical Quality Model for PAC Contributions.
- Advisor: Walter R. Mebane, Jr.
Publications
Ensley, Michael J., Michael W. Tofias, and Scott de Marchi. 2009. “District Complexity as an Advantage in Congressional Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 53(4): 990–1005.
Winer, Stanley L., Michael W. Tofias, Bernard Grofman and John H. Aldrich. 2008. “Trending Economic Factors and the Structure of Congress in the Growth of Government, 1930–2002.” Public Choice 135:415–48.
Merolla, Jennifer, Michael Munger and Michael Tofias. 2005. “In Play: A Commentary on Strategies in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election.” Public Choice 123:19–37.
Book Chapters
Ensley, Michael J., Michael W. Tofias, and Scott de Marchi. 2014. “Are These Boots Made for Walking? Polarization and Ideological Change among U.S. House Members” in The State of the Parties, 7th edition. Daniel J. Coffey, David B. Cohen, and John C. Green, editors. Rowman & Littlefield.
Aldrich, John, Michael Brady, Scott de Marchi, Ian McDonald, Brendan Nyhan, David Rohde and Michael Tofias. 2008. “Party and Constituency in the U.S. Senate, 1933–2004” in Why Not Parties?: Party Effects in the United States Senate. Nathan Monroe, Jason M. Roberts and David W. Rohde, editors. University of Chicago Press.
Aldrich, John H., David W. Rohde and Michael W. Tofias. 2007. “One D is Not Enough: Measuring Conditional Party Government in 1887–2002” in Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress Volume 2: Further New Perspectives on the History of Congress. David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, editors. Stanford University Press.
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor Fall 2006–Spring 2013
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
Research Assistant 2000–4, 2005–6
Department of Political Science, Duke University.
Graduate Instructor Fall 2005
Department of Political Science, Duke University.
Graduate Fellow 2004–5
Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences, Duke University.
Head Teaching Assistant Summer 2004
Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models Summer Institute, Duke University.
Teaching Assistant2001–4
Department of Political Science, Duke University.
Teaching
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
- The Legislative Process (graduate seminar)
- Positive Political Theory (graduate seminar)
- American Political Institutions (graduate seminar)
- Congressional Politics
- Party Politics in America (online and traditionally)
- Elections, Markets, and Networks (online and traditionally)
Duke University
- Development of Congress as an Institution
- Intermediate Statistical Analysis
- teaching assistant for Christopher Gelpi
- Introduction to Statistical Analysis
- teaching assistant for Marco Steenbergen at UNC–Chapel Hill
- Introduction to International Relations
- teaching assistant for Peter Feaver
- Introduction to American Politics
- teaching assistant for Holly Brasher
- Download my old LaTeX’d complete curriculum vitae as a pdf.