Carrie LeVan
Title
The Montgoris Associate Professor of Government
Department
Government
Information
Address
5311 Mayflower Hill Waterville, Maine 04901-8853
Current Courses
| Title | Course Number(s) | Section(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to American Government and Politics | GO111, GO111 | A, B |
| Concepts and Methods of Political Science Research | GO281 | A |
| Introduction to Race, Ethnicity, and Politics | AA228, GO228 | A, A |
Carrie LeVan received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2016. She is currently the Montgoris Family Associate Professor of Government at Colby College. In 2019, she received the Susan Clarke Young Scholar Award for Urban Politics in recognition of her research exploring how both the physical design and racial/ethnic/class composition of one’s neighborhood impacts one’s propensity to participate in politics. She is an expert on voter mobilization and the participation of individuals from varying socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds; her work can be found in scholarly publications like Politics, Groups, and Identity and American Politics Research.
In her forthcoming book Neighborhoods that Matter: How Place and People Affect Political Participation, she demonstrates that neighborhood design does matter, because it affects civic engagement. Using an innovative method for measuring neighborhood design—she “virtually walked” over 750 census tracts across the United States in Google Streetview—she shows that neighborhood design impacts civic health—the level of political engagement of the residents who live there. Her argument is that when neighborhoods are built so that they isolate, require cars and driving, and are zoned for single-use, this design stifles civic engagement. However, when neighborhoods are designed so that they bring people together, are walkable, and are mixed-use, they help revitalize public life.
She teaches classes on American Politics; Race, Ethnicity & Politics; and Research Methods: