Ellen Andersen
Associate Professor
Phone number: 317-278 7558
Office number: CA 503E

Ellen Andersen joined the Department of Political Science in 1999, coming to us from Texas Tech University. She teaches American politics, judicial politics, constitutional law, and political parties and interest groups, and is a pre-law advisor as well as the faculty advisor for the Advocate.

Her research combines her interests in public law and political behavior. She is the author of Out of the Closets and into the Courts (University of Michigan Press, 2005), which explores the complex relationship between litigation and social change in the context of the gay rights movement. She has also written a series of articles with M. Kent Jennings on the impact of AIDS on political activism. She is currently developing a survey of the same-sex couples who received marriage licenses in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and Massachusetts during 2004.

Because she works on hot button social issues, Professor Andersen is increasingly asked to comment on current events. She has testified about same-sex marriage on several occasions before the Indiana Legislature and is regularly asked to speak to community groups about marriage and other gay rights issues. She has been quoted in media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, and the Associated Press.

Professor Andersen received a BA in government from Cornell University in 1988, and an MA in political science from the University of Michigan in 1994. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1999.

For more information about Professor Andersen's teaching and research interests, visit her Home Page.

Contact Ellen Andersen.