Election 2024 experts guide

Dr. Michael D. Aguirre

Assistant professor in Mexican-American, Chicana/o/x and/or U.S. – Mexico borderlands

Research focuses on United States, Mexican American and Latina/o/x history and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Some of his research interests include the political economy, labor, (im)migration, race and healthcare in the context of Mexican American history. His first book project focused on the Western U.S.-Mexico borderlands from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Dr. Patrick File

Associate professor of media law and graduate director

Research focuses on how journalism is defined and regulated at the intersection of law, technology and professional practices. He is an expert in libel law related to mailers, advertisements and other campaign speech, journalists’ access to information (public records) and access to places (i.e. polling places and candidates’ events), and First Amendment-protected protest rights. His book, published in January 2019 by the University of Massachusetts Press, is titled “Bad News Travels Fast: The Telegraph, Libel, and Press Freedom in the Progressive Era.”

Dr. Jeremy Gelman

Associate professor of political science and director of graduate studies

Research focuses on American political institutions, with an emphasis on policymaking and partisanship in the United States Congress. He has commented on American and Nevada politics and elections for national and international news organizations including ABC News, Bloomberg News, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Los Angeles Times, NBC News and The New York Times. He is an expert on the American political process, the presidency, Congress, state and local politics, and research methods.

Dr. Markus Kemmelmeier

Vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School

Research focuses on cultural psychology, political psychology, interaction and social cognition and intergroup relations. He is an expert on advanced statistical methods. Some of his research interests have included the shrinking personality differences between conservatives and liberals as well as the impact and implications of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity on the development of attitudes toward voting and the democratic debate.

Dr. Ian McGregor

Assistant professor of secondary education

Scholarship focuses on social studies teacher preparation, human rights education, and civics/citizenship education with an emphasis on teaching difficult history and controversial topics. His current research focuses on how teachers and students conceptualize citizenship education and civic engagement. 

Dr. Paromita Pain

Associate professor of global media

Research focuses on alternate media and global journalism practices, including work related to fake news and deep fakes on social media and online commenting and uncivil behavior’s impacts on journalistic practices. She was previously a journalist for The Hindu Newspaper, Al Jazeera and The Guardian. Her research interests include examining epistemological concerns raised by emerging forms of media that are hybrids between old and new forms and between citizen and professional news practices.

Dr. Amy Pason

Associate professor of communication studies, specializing in rhetoric

Research and teaching centers on multiple facets of democracy in the US, especially in the ways that we can foster and support democratic culture. She has explored advocacy strategies of activists, intersections of the First Amendment and protest, and public deliberation of legislation. She teaches courses on facilitation to help students develop skills for deliberation and understand how to engage across differences to solve society’s “wicked problems.” To address and understand partisan and polarized political language, she is collaborating with the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, to evaluate Nevada state and local election materials utilizing the Dignity Index, to understand how divisive campaigning is in the Silver State.

Rick Trachok, J.D.

Executive director of the University’s Center for Constitutional Law

Trachok is a seasoned attorney and legal educator, who currently serves as senior counsel at McDonald Carano and lectures at UC Berkeley and Stanford. As the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Law, he is committed to shaping meaningful dialogue around constitutional law while fostering the development of future legal scholars. Trachok has led the Nevada Board of Bar Examiners since 2000.