Charles Zug, PhD Government '20
This caption describes the image above.
Tell us about your current position and the work you’re doing now.
I just accepted a tenure track position in the political science department at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. So I’ll be there for the foreseeable future.
As for my current work. My book Demagogues in American Politics is forthcoming at Oxford University Press. It should be out sometime late this coming year. It argues that demagoguery, while often bad, can also be used in different institutional settings to advance constitutional aspirations. The book proposes a new way to assess demagoguery within the American constitutional system.
I have a book under contract with the University Press of Kansas that will analyze Dwight Eisenhower's role in Interstate Highway expansion (1956). That book will probably be out in 2023.
I’m in the (very) early stages of a new research project that will examine the construction and deployment of constitutional doctrines that determine how elites outside of the legal profession, as well as members of the broader public, think about the Constitution.
How did your time at UT impact your career and/or research trajectory?
UT is a place where students interested in a variety of subfields can pursue a research/dissertation project that brings all of these perspectives to bear. My work combines American and theory, and I would not be where I am today without Gary Jacobsohn and Jeff Tulis who encouraged me to pursue this kind of work.
What’s one of your favorite memories from your time in our PhD program?
My favorite memory at UT is a composite one of all my colleagues—professors and fellow grad students—in the Department who became my good friends as we spent more time together.
Any advice for current UT GOV grad students?
My advice to current graduate students: Don’t forget about teaching experience. Publishing is obviously important, but my experience is that what most institutions (with the exception of certain elite R1s where undergraduate teaching doesn’t really matter) care about is having a competent and reasonable person around who can be relied upon to teach their classes effectively and recruit majors to the department. They might even pass up a candidate with a bunch of high profile publications and no teaching experience, assuming that candidate is likely to leave in a few years for a more prestigious institution. Take advantage of the uniquely numerous teaching opportunities available to government PhD candidates at UT.