Meet the Lab Founders
Kellee J. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. (#01)
Dr. Kellee J. Kirkpatrick is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Idaho State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kansas where she concentrated her studies in American politics and public policy. She also earned a graduate certificate in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from KU. Dr. Kirkpatrick has a diverse educational background including a master's degree in Strategic Communications and undergraduate degrees in Public Relations, Print Journalism, and Vocal Performance.
Dr. Kirkpatrick's research agenda examines issues of women’s health and reproductive policy and specifically focuses on questions that concern how and why governments regulate private, social issues. Her research often explores how policy evolves at the intersection of morality and economic interests. Because these issues are often the focus of public attention, her research examines how interest group activity and media frames influence public opinion, political behavior, and the policy process. As health is often a product of environment, her research also frequently intersects with environmental politics. Dr. Kirkpatrick has published her work in academic journals including Policy Studies Journal, Politics, Groups and Identities, and Climate.
Dr. Kirkpatrick has extensive teaching experience at several universities including the University of Kansas, Texas A&M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and now Idaho State University. She has taught courses in American politics, state politics, public policy, research methods, media and politics, women in politics, health policy, reproductive politics, and grant writing. She enjoys engaging students in the research process and has co-authored several conference papers and journal articles with her undergraduate and graduate students. She is currently the adviser of the Political Science Club and the Alpha Phi Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.
James W. Stoutenborough, Ph.D. (#00)
Dr. Stoutenborough joined the Department of Political Science at Idaho State University in May, 2014, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Since 2013, he has also been a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Previously, Dr. Stoutenborough was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy. He graduated with his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in December 2010.
Dr. Stoutenborough’s research and teaching interests include public policy, U.S. state politics, public opinion, and political psychology with a substantive interest in science and technology issues like climate change and renewable energy. His research can be found in both the institutional and behavioral paradigms, which he believes needs to be better integrated.
From an institutional perspective, Dr. Stoutenborough examines why institutions (normally, U.S. states) reach particular policy decisions. This is typically achieved using the theory of policy diffusion. Through this research, he has identified two new approaches to policy diffusion (organizational diffusion with Dr. Kellee J. Kirkpatrick and a hybrid model of diffusion), both of which are currently under peer-review.
Within the behavioral paradigm, Dr. Stoutenborough is currently researching individual-level behavior as it pertains to political attitude formation, problem identification, agenda setting, and policy adoption. Specifically, his research examines how risk perceptions, knowledge, trust, and various attitudes influence aspects of the policy process. He believes that once social scientists understand the motivations behind individual behavior, we can begin to better understand how institutional forces influence the policy process.
Dr. Stoutenborough also enjoys teaching. There is nothing more satisfying than witnessing that "ah-ha" moment. Dr. Stoutenborough emphasizes theory in his upper-division and graduate courses. This approach allows him to integrate cutting-edge research into the classroom, while grounding everything discussed in a theoretical framework. This allows students to learn to apply the theory to any number of situations. In the end, he believes the students get more out of this approach than simply summarizing current events on the topic (information that can become outdated in an instant, while the theory does not).