Sheahan Virgin Assistant Professor of Politics

Huntley 205A
540-458-8376
svirgin@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Sheahan Virgin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics. In 2019, he received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University; his scholarly work, which has been published in The American Journal of Political Science and Electoral Studies, focuses on electoral rules and reform in the U.S., particularly the motivations that actors have to change (or preserve) existing status quos. Professor Virgin's interest in the study of elections dates to his time as a research fellow with the electoral reform advocacy nonprofit FairVote (2011–2012), located near Washington D.C., at which he worked on Proportional Representation (PR), Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC, a proposed reform to the Electoral College).

Prior to joining the faculty at W&L, Prof. Virgin taught at his alma mater, Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA, for three years (2020–2023); he also held appointments at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN (2019–2020) and The University of the South in Sewanee, TN (2023–2024). Each, like W&L, is a small, residential liberal arts college; so, Prof. Virgin is well acquainted with, and committed to, the liberal arts model of education—that is, teaching students to be interdisciplinary, life-long learners who think critically and pragmatically about the world around them. To this end, his approach to teaching American politics invariably encourages students to utilize the broadly applicable methodologies of comparative institutionalism, basic causal inference, and normative democratic theory.

Education

Ph.D., Political Science, Vanderbilt University (2019)

M.A., Political Science, Vanderbilt University (2018)

M.A., Social Sciences (Politics), University of Chicago (2010)

B.A., Political Science, Grinnell College (2008)

Research

Electoral rules and reform, campaigns, political behavior, comparative institutions, democratic backsliding

Teaching

American National Government; Campaigns & Elections; Public Opinion & Political Behavior; Voter Access & Electoral Integrity; Democratic Decline in America