LEVIN CENTER FOR OVERSIGHT AND DEMOCRACY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Manager, Congressional Outreach
Biography
Betsy Wright Hawkings served as chief of staff to four Republican House members over 25 years, including her hometown Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut, helping to develop coalitions to balance the federal budget and pass cross-partisan legislation like the Congressional Accountability Act and legislation to establish the 9-11 Commission and implement its recommendations.
She later served as the founding Managing Director of Democracy Fund's Principled Leadership and Effective Governance program, where she built a team of eight and a $12 million grant portfolio focused on fostering dialogue across the ideological spectrum and reducing incentives for hyper-partisanship and gridlock in government. Under her leadership, DF helped develop and fund new campaigns for needed evolution of congressional systems, processes and procedures, and conceived and invested in innovative programs to deepen leadership development for members of Congress and staff and promote more effective oversight and accountability in government.
She now is Managing Partner of Article One Advisors, a consulting firm focused on providing expert analysis of Congress and strategic advice to organizations seeking to support improved function in that institution, foster dialogue across the ideological spectrum; promote more effective congressional systems, processes and procedures; develop innovative programs to deepen leadership development for members of Congress and staff; and reduce incentives for hyper-partisanship and gridlock in government.
A Williams College Mead Scholar whose public service and leadership has been recognized with awards from Groton School (MA) and the Stennis Center for Public Service (DC), Betsy lives with her husband, veteran congressional journalist David Hawkings, in Philadelphia. They have two grown sons.
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Professor of Law and Political Science
Job Titles:
- Civic Education Outreach Coordinator
Biography
Clara Modlin is one of the Civic Education Outreach Coordinators at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. She is responsible for project management and outreach of the Learning by Hearings program, the Center's education efforts. These resources, classroom modules, and after-school enrichment opportunities provide robust, experiential education opportunities where students learn about history, government, and current events while developing their capacity for critical thinking and inquiry.
Clara is a certified elementary school teacher and taught in Michigan and California public schools for six years. Before joining the Levin Center, Clara worked on creating math curriculum and helped coach new teachers. She received her master's in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Michigan in 2022.
When she's not working, Clara enjoys hiking with her dog, traveling, and taking pottery classes.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Cody A. Drolc is an assistant professor of Public Policy and Administration in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. His research and teaching interests are at the intersection of public administration, public policy, and American politics. Dr. Drolc's research focuses on intergovernmental program implementation and oversight with a special emphasis on inspectors general, the Government Accountability Office, and Social Security Disability and Veterans' health programs. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Policy Studies Journal, and Presidential Research Quarterly.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Job Titles:
- Judiciary Committee Chair
Job Titles:
- Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Southern California
Christian Grose is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He is the Academic Director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. He served as the Director of the Political Science and International Relations Ph.D. program in USC Dornsife College from 2015-18. He is editor of the journal Research & Politics. In 2020, he led a team that administered the USC Schwarzenegger Institute nonpartisan democracy grants to local election administrators to open new polling places; and he is now conducting research about how best to improve voter access and voting rights based around this community-engaged work.
He is the author of more than 50 articles, chapters, policy reports, and other works about American politics; legislative politics; public administration; public policy; race and ethnicity; voting rights; and political representation; including in the American Political Science Review; the American Journal of Political Science; the Journal of Politics; the British Journal of Political Science; Political Research Quarterly; Legislative Studies Quarterly; and Political Behavior. His book Congress in Black and White (Cambridge University Press) won the best book on race and politics award from the American Political Science Association. His research has been funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the MIT Election Data Science Center, and others. In total, he has raised nearly $3 million for research and other activities at USC. Grose's research has been profiled in the Washington Post, the New York Times, National Public Radio, and other media outlets.
Grose directs USC's Democracy Lab, where researchers, students, and policy practitioners work together to generate new ideas to reform American democracy. His recent work examines behavioral and social choices made by public officials and public election administrators, and how they are constrained by institutions and law. He is also an expert in political reforms and voting rights, including independent redistricting commissions. His research often uses field and survey experimental techniques to answer questions about public policy, political institutions, and the behavior of public administrators and elected officials. Some of this research involves partnerships with practitioners and the community. Grose has served as an expert consultant and witness in redistricting and voting rights cases, including as the voting rights statistical consultant for 2 of the 10 largest counties in the United States in 2021.
Dr. Grose has been named the Herman Brown Distinguished Scholar, an award given annually to a U.S. political scientist. He also received the 2022 best article published in the Journal of Politic s; received the 2020 best article published in Political Research Quarterly; and received the CQ Press award for the best paper on legislative studies presented at the American Political Science Association meeting. He co-chairs the 2023 Midwest Political Science Association meeting.
Grose has experience conducting innovative teaching and scholarship via both virtual online and in-person platforms; and regularly partners with public officials, policy makers, and academic researchers in his teaching, scholarship, and administrative leadership.
James Strickland is an assistant professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies. His areas of research include interest groups, legislatures and state politics in the United States. In his research, Prof. Strickland examines the effects of institutions or laws on lobbyists. These include term limits, regulations on lobbying, and campaign finance laws.
Prof. Strickland grew up in a small town and was the first person in his family to attend college. He became interested in politics, policy, and lobbying after meeting his senator and working as a page in the state senate. He seeks to create a classroom environment where learners of all backgrounds and ability levels can succeed.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Political Science at Purdue University
Jesse Crosson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, and Fellow at the Center for Effective Lawmaking. He received his Ph.D. in 2019 from the University of Michigan and B.A. in 2013 from Hofstra University. Broadly, his research investigates how party competition has transformed nearly every major facet of American political institutions, with a specific focus on legislatures, parties, and private interests. His work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Science Research and Methods, Legislative Studies Quarterly and other outlets.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Political Science
Dr. Butcher is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Her work centers on American Political institutions, with specialization in legislative institutions. She primarily teaches American Government and Legislative Politics. Dr. Butcher's current research centers on state legislative term limits and legislative careerism. Her research has been published in PS:Political Science and Politics and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. She has presented her work at various academic conferences and is a part of the American Political Science Association State Politics Section. Dr. Butcher focuses on a mix of quantitative and qualitative research and has conducted interviews in four state legislatures.
Job Titles:
- Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Dr. Keesha Middlemass is a resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Howard University. Her research focuses on public policies, race, and the impact policies have on marginalized communities. Relying on mixed methods and an interdisciplinary framework, she combines first person narratives and Census data with analyses of politics and policies to demonstrate the benefits and burdens of policies. The analyses are used to develop policy alternatives to reduce harms and increase benefits.
In one line of research, Dr. Middlemass explores prisoner reentry. Her award-winning book, Convicted & Condemned: The Politics and Policies of Prisoner Reentry, is a significant interdisciplinary contribution to better understand prisoner reentry, politics, policies, and race. In a second line of research, Dr. Middlemass and a team of interdisciplinary scholars examines food insecurity in diverse communities.
Her work has been published in peer reviewed journals, such as Punishment & Society, Aggressive Behavior, The Prison Journal, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Feminist Formations, Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, and Public Health Nutrition. Dr. Middlemass is a member of the Racial Democracy Crime & Justice Network (RDCJN), a former Andrew Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow on Race, Crime and Justice at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, and a former American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow. Dr. Middlemass earned a master's degree in American politics and a Ph.D., in public policy, American politics, and public administration from The School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia.
Kenneth Lowande studies American political institutions and policymaking. He has published research on congressional oversight, presidential power, and policy implementation. Lowande previously held research fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina
Mary Kroeger is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University, and holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research interests are in U.S. state politics, American political institutions, bureaucratic-legislative interactions, policy diffusion, and quantitative methods.
Her book project, entitled Outsourcing Legislation: How Non-Legislators Write U.S. State Law, studies the origins of laws that govern citizens, businesses, and bureaucrats within the U.S. states. Further, it asks under what conditions do non-legislative actors play a role in crafting statutory law? This work finds that interest groups, companies, think tanks, and unelected bureaucrats play a huge role in crafting the exact parameters and specific wording of the laws that govern their behaviors.
Neal Woods is a professor in the Department of Political Science. His areas of specialization are bureaucracy, federalism, state politics, and public policy, especially in the substantive areas of environmental policy, energy policy, and regulation. He has published over forty articles and chapters on these topics. His scholarship has won best dissertation, best conference paper, and best journal article awards from the American Political Science Association and its organized sections. His research appears in a variety of scholarly journals; since 2015 these include American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Regulation and Governance, Review of Policy Research, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly.
He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Council of Publius: The Journal of Federalism, the Editorial Board of State and Local Government Review, and the National Center for Interstate Compacts Advisory Committee.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Politics at Pomona College
Sara Sadhwani is an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College and serves as a commissioner on the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission, tasked with redrawing congressional and state legislative districts.
Her research examines elections, representation, and public opinion with a focus on Asian American and Latino voting behavior. She has published widely in academic journals and her analysis of elections has been featured in The New York Times, Politico, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Time, and many others. She cohosts Inside the Issues: The Podcast with journalist Alex Cohen for Spectrum News Los Angeles.
Sara earned her doctorate in political science from the University of Southern California and a bachelor of philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to academia she worked for nearly a decade advocating for the rights of immigrants at social justice organizations in Los Angeles. She serves on the executive board of the Western Political Science Association, as a senior researcher for AAPI Data and was a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
Job Titles:
- Partner, King & Spalding LLP
Job Titles:
- Member of the Kienbaum, Hardy, Viviano, Pelton & Forrest
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Huntington National Bank
Job Titles:
- Research and Data Specialist at the Levin Center for Oversight
Biography
Grace Moore is a Research and Data Specialist at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. She joined the Levin Center in September 2023 to take the lead in the creation and management of the Congressional Oversight Records Database, a project that combines her love of data science, content management, good governance, and oversight.
After receiving her BS in history from Northern Michigan University in 2020, Grace returned to her native Southeastern Michigan to attend Wayne State University, where she earned her Master's in Library and Information Science, a Master of Arts in Public History, and an Archival Administration Graduate Certificate in 2023. Grace initially joined the Levin Center in May of 2021 as a research assistant to aid in the creation of a database of Congressional oversight reports.
In her free time, Grace enjoys reading, spending time with her family, and traveling with her husband.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Law
- Member of Committee
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the Advisory Board
- Michigan Secretary of State
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Advisory Board, Former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives CEO, Michigan Health Endowment Fund
Job Titles:
- Manager, State Training and Development
- State Training and Development Manager at the Levin Center for Oversight
Biography
Ian McKnight is a State Training and Development Manager at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. He joined the Levin Center in July 2023 to work with the State Oversight Academy. A good government geek and legislative branch loyalist, Ian helps state legislators, their staff, and the public understand the important role of bipartisan, fact-based oversight in our system of government.
A native of West Michigan, Ian earned his BA in political science and American studies from Kalamazoo College in 2019. Before joining the Levin Center, he worked for a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and conducted software implementations and training for state legislatures across the country.
Ian enjoys state capitol tours and train travel. He is a third-generation election worker and licensed tour guide in New York City, where he lives.
Job Titles:
- Armed Services Committee Chair
Job Titles:
- President and CEO, PVS Chemicals Inc
Biography
James H. (Jim) Townsend, a former member of the Michigan legislature, was named director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy in November 2019. Previously, Townsend practiced law in the Detroit office of Butzel as a member of its Corporate and Real Estate Practice Group.
Prior to joining the firm, he represented the 26th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. He serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's advisory council of the Redevelopment Ready Communities® program.
Before his career in law, Townsend was legislative director in the office of U.S. Representative Nita M. Lowey and worked for U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg. Townsend's private sector experience includes working as a brand manager at Ford Motor Company, founding and directing the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, and leading economic development at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Townsend graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with Highest Honors in History, earned an M.B.A. and Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and earned his J.D. (cum laude) at Wayne Law where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.
James Roche, GM CEO and Board Chair, when called to testify before the subcommittee in March 1966, admitted and apologized for the scheme. Robert A. Lutz, a senior GM executive during the 1960s hearings, admitted 50 years later, "The book had a seminal effect. I don't like Ralph Nader and I didn't like the book, but there was definitely a role for government in auto safety."
Job Titles:
- Associate Vice President, Office of Government Affairs, Stanford Health Care
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Professor of Law
Job Titles:
- Civic Education Outreach Coordinator
Biography
Joel Burkey is one of the Civic Education Outreach Coordinators at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. He is responsible for project management and outreach of the Learning by Hearings program, the Center's education efforts. These resources, classroom modules and after-school enrichment opportunities provide robust, experiential education opportunities where students learn about history, government and current events while developing their capacity for critical thinking and inquiry.
Joel is a certified secondary school teacher with endorsements in both Political Science and History. Before joining the Levin Center, Joel worked as a high school classroom teacher for 34 years. He received his master's in educational leadership from Wayne State University in 1996 and his undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University in 1990.
In his spare time, Joel is an avid great lakes boater.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Service Professor of Law Chair, Levin Center Faculty Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Research and Communications Specialist
Biography
Kyle Bule joined the Levin Center's full-time staff in August 2022, after working as a research assistant since May 2021. She writes the Portraits in Oversight series, runs the Center's social media accounts and collaborates on communications efforts, and provides research for other projects. She created the State Legislature Oversight Wiki and the State Oversight Academy's Oversight Training Program, and helps build other SOA programming and content. She is currently working towards her PhD in Political Science at Wayne State University, where she earned her Masters in Library and Information Sciences in August 2021. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in Near Eastern Studies in 2011.
Prior to joining the Levin Center, Kyle worked in accounting and health care. In her free time, she enjoys cross stitching, listening to podcasts, and collecting vintage political buttons.
Job Titles:
- Education Manager
- Civic Education Manager
Biography
Lauren Jasinski is the Civic Education Manager at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. She is responsible for leading, building, and promoting the Center's education efforts known as Learning by Hearings. These resources, classroom modules, and after-school enrichment opportunities provide robust, experiential education opportunities where students learn about history, government, and current events while developing their capacity for critical thinking and inquiry.
Lauren is a certified Social Studies Teacher and has ten years of classroom experience teaching US History, World History, US Civics, and AP Comparative Government and Politics at the secondary level. She has worked to develop curriculum at the local and county levels and is trained in the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) and implementation of the College, Career, and Civic (C3) Framework.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys taking care of her 1920s home and garden and volunteer work. She serves on her local Board of Education and has worked as an Elections Inspector since 2010.
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Professor of Law
Biography
Linda Gustitus served in the U.S. Senate for 24 years as an aide to Sen. Carl Levin. For most of her time in the Senate, she was staff director and chief counsel of the Governmental Affairs Committee subcommittees chaired by Levin. Those subcommittees included Oversight of Government Management, Federal Services and Nuclear Proliferation, and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2001, Gustitus assumed the position of chief of staff to Levin. She retired from the Senate in January 2003.
During her tenure, Gustitus led investigations into the operation of the Social Security Disability program, waste in defense contracting, IRS seizure policy, misuse of sweepstakes solicitations, gasoline pricing, Enron and money laundering through private and correspondent banking. She also served as a lead staff person on ethics reform, Independent Counsel statute, campaign finance reform, Whistleblower Protection Act and contracting legislation.
In June 2008, she was appointed to serve as a commissioner on the bipartisan federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From 2007 to 2014, Gustitus served as president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Gustitus earned her law degree, cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1969 from Oberlin College in Ohio. She has been an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law, American University, and a lecturer for the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. She also has taught as an adjunct professor at George Washington University School of Public Policy. Prior to working in the Senate, she was a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Division, and she served as an assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Director of Philanthropy
- Director of Philanthropy for the Levin Center for Oversight
Biography
Lynne M. Geller is currently the director of philanthropy for the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.
She has held management and fund development positions at the Levin Center, Hospice of Michigan, Wayne State University School of Business and the University of Mississippi.
Geller's involvement in philanthropic work with nonprofits has spanned a period of more than 30 years. She has experience in all aspects of development programs including fundraising strategies, major gifts, grant acquisition, as well as event planning and sponsorships. She has been engaged in front-to-back supervision of prospect research, donor cultivation and gift stewardship.
Geller's portfolio consists of success in obtaining more than $18 million in philanthropic support for nonprofits, including the Wayne State University Business School and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, the Division of Continuing Education and Outreach at the University of Mississippi, and Hospice of Michigan. Her background has included developing strategic plans and program budgets, motivating and working with Board members and their committees, cultivating and stewarding donors, analyzing project data and impact metrics, and preparing proposals and reports to funders.
Geller earned her master's from the University of Mississippi and bachelor's from Drew University.
Job Titles:
- Retired Chair, Guardian Industries Corp
Job Titles:
- Member of the Clark Hill PLC
Job Titles:
- Interim Director of the Taubman Center
Job Titles:
- Wayne State University President
Abraham Ribicoff led a Senate oversight investigation that not only fundamentally changed how the federal government handled motor vehicle safety problems, but also helped save millions of lives.
Senator Ribicoff, a Democrat, represented the state of Connecticut from 1963 to 1981. He'd previously served the Constitution State in the U.S. House of Representatives and then as its governor and was President John F. Kennedy's Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from January 1961 to July 1962. Once in the Senate, he joined the Senate's leading investigative body, the Committee on Government Operations, later renamed the Committee on Governmental Affairs. He served as the committee chair from 1975 to 1981.
One of his key investigations was a year-long inquiry which began in 1965, before he became committee chair, into the issue of traffic safety. In the United States, between 1900 and 1964, motor vehicle accidents caused 1.5 million deaths. In 1965 alone, with 91 million vehicles on American roads, accidents accounted for:
49,000 deaths;
6 million non-fatal injuries, with 1.8 million leading to disabilities;
Lost wages totaling an estimated $2.2 billion;
Property damage estimated at $2.8 billion;
Medical expenses exceeding $500 million; and
Overhead insurance costs of $2.6 billion.[1]
Job Titles:
- Senate Investigation into Finance and Tax Abuse
Carl Levin reflects on his life and long career in the Senate by Detroit Free Press (online article, for DFP subscribers)
At a time when Congressional investigations have taken on added importance and urgency in American politics, this book offers readers a rare, insider's portrait of the world of US Congressional oversight. It examines specific oversight investigations into multiple financial and offshore tax scandals over fifteen years, from 1999 to 2014, when Senator Levin served in a leadership role on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), the Senate's premier investigative body. The book demonstrates not only that Senator Levin led important, fact-based, bipartisan inquiries, but also how he was able to work with his Republican colleagues to reach agreement on the facts and, often, on reforms to address the problems uncovered. By offering proven methods for conducting fair and useful investigations, Senator Levin offers much needed guidance to Members of Congress, their staffs, and the public on the virtues and benefits of being bipartisan in a partisan world.
Senator Carl Levin, who represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, was a lifelong Detroiter and former President of the Detroit City Council. Senator Levin went to Washington to ensure a compassionate and effective federal government after witnessing mismanagement and its detrimental effects on Detroit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1970's. During his time in the Senate, he developed a keen interest in making government accountable and responsible to its people through in-depth, fact-based, bipartisan legislative oversight and strong ethics laws.
Job Titles:
- Michigan Representative Dan Kildee
Job Titles:
- Government Oversight Legacy
Dr. Tom Coburn was an Oklahoma family physician and obstetrician who served the Sooner State in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 and the Senate from 2005 to 2015. Earning the nickname "Dr. No" for introducing at least 1,000 amendments opposing government spending, he also published more than 50 oversight reports during his decade in the Senate. In addition to his "Wastebook" published annually from at least 2008 to 2014 detailing examples of what he considered wasteful government spending, Senator Coburn also investigated fraud and poor quality administrative judge decisions in Social Security disability programs; intelligence failures at state and local fusion centers; the Department of Homeland Security's failure to secure chemical facilities from terrorist attack, misconduct at VA facilities, and more.