Academic CV
MATTHEW GLASSMAN
Analyst on the Congress • Congressional Research Service
Library of Congress • 101 Independence Ave., SE • Washington, DC 20540
(202) 707-3467 • mglassman@crs.loc.gov
EMPLOYMENT
Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC
Analyst on the Congress, February 2007-present. Issue areas include: congressional operations, legislative branch appropriations, congressional powers, congressional commissions, congressional history, and Member communications. Disclaimer: All writing and opinions on this website reflect my own personal views and in no way represent the views of the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, or the Congress of the United States.
United States House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC
Detailee to Legislative Branch Subcommittee, 2009-10. Worked with Members of subcommittee and full committee to prepare FY2010 and FY2011 bills; staffed chair in hearings, markups, and floor action; conducted oversight of legislative branch agencies. Disclaimer: All writing and opinions on this website reflect my own personal views and in no way represent the views of the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, or the Congress of the United States.
Catholic University, Washington, DC
Adjunct Faculty, 2008-present. Courses taught include Modern Congress and Interest Groups and Congressional Lobbying.
New York State Senate, Albany, NY
Graduate Fellow, 2006-2007. Served as Legislative Aide to Senator Michael Balboni.
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Summer Faculty, 2005 & 2006. Developed and taught The American Presidency.
EDUCATION
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Ph.D., Political Science, May 2007
Subfields: American Politics (Distinction), Political Economy, Quantitative Methods
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
B.A., magna cum laude, Government (with thesis honors), May 2000
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Book
Matthew Glassman and Stephen Skowronek, eds. 2007. Formative Acts: American Politics in the Making. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Articles and Chapters
Jacob Straus, Matthew Glassman, Colleen Shogan, and Susan Smelcer. 2012 (forthcoming) “Communicating in 140 Characters or Less: Congressional Adoption of Twitter in the 111th Congress.” PS: Political Science & Politics.
Matthew Glassman. 2012 (forthcoming) “Congressional Leadership: A Resource Perspective,” In Straus, Jacob, ed., Navigating Congress: Party and Procedure in the House and Senate. Roman and Littlefield.
Matthew Glassman. 2011 “Beyond the Balance Rule: Congress, Statehood, and Slavery, 1850-1859,” In Paul Finkelman and Donald Kennon, eds., Congress and the Crisis of the 1850’s. Ohio University Press.
Matthew Glassman and Stephen Skowronek. 2007. “Political Action and Political Change: Agents, Leaders, and Entrepreneurs in American Political Development.” In Formative Acts: American Politics in the Making, Matthew Glassman and Stephen Skowronek, eds. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Dissertation
“Building States: Institutions, Interests, and Actions in the Political Development of the
American West, 1776-1912.”
Committee: David Mayhew (chair), Stephen Skowronek, Gregory Huber
This project examines the political construction of the western states of the United States. I show that existing accounts of western institutional development are based on theoretical models that fail to explain the key constructive moments of state development: the creation of territories, the division of these territories, and the admission of the subsequent states. I then illustrate that the politics of state construction is best explained by the weak institutional specification of the Constitutional statehood process, and the resulting individual agency of, and interactions between, political entrepreneurs — both in the territories and Congress.
CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE REPORTS (SELECTED)
“A Parliamentary-Style Question Period: Proposals and Issues for Congress.”
“Congressional Commissions: Overview, Structure, and Legislative Considerations.”
“Mass Mailing and Mass Communications in the House, 1997-2010.”
“Congressional Careers: Service Tenure and Patterns of Member Service, 1789-2011.”
WORKING PAPERS
Matthew Glassman. “Blueprints for a More Perfect Union: Construction and Contestation over the Constitutional Structure of State Admissions, 1776-1861.” Under Review.
Matthew Glassman. “Memorabilia as Data: What 3300 Political Buttons Tell Us About Presidential Campaigns.” Under Review.
Daniel Galvin and Matthew Glassman. “Party Legacies and Adaptive Capacities: Democrats in the Rust Belt.”
Matthew Glassman. “Why are the western states so big?: Congressional institutions, incentives, and interests in American Political Expansion.”
Matthew Glassman. “What’s a Soldier to do? Wesley Clark, military candidates and the changing institutional structure of the presidential nominating and election system.”
Matthew Glassman. “Why did the North Reject Oregon? The Balance Rule, the Party Rule, and Statehood Politics, 1791-1959.”
Matthew Glassman. “Politicians as Weathervanes of American Fedearlism.”
INVITED RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
Catholic University, 2010. “Running a 21st Century Congress on an 18th Century Blueprint.”
U.S. Capitol Historical Society, 2008. “Beyond the Balance Rule.”
Yale University, 2006. “Why Did the North Reject Oregon?”
Hamilton College, 2003. “The Return of Patriotic Politics.”
CONFERENCE AND WORKING GROUP PRESENTATIONS
American Political Science Association 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011
Midwest Political Science Association 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011
Southern Political Science Association 2005
New England Political Science Association 2004
New York Political Science Association 2003
Yale University 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
COURSES TAUGHT
Catholic University, CPOL graduate program
CPOL 671, “The Modern Congress,” 2008, 2010, 2011
CPOL 675, “Interest Groups and Congressional Lobbying,” 2009
Yale University Summer Program
PLSC 263-S, “The American Presidency,” 2004, 2005
Yale University Teaching fellow, 2002-2004
Section leader, “Constitutional Law”
Section leader, “New Haven and the Problems of Urban Change”
Section leader, “Intro to American Politics”
Section leader, “The American Presidency”
FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS, AND AWARDS
2006-07 New York State Senate Graduate Fellowship
2006 Humane Studies Summer Fellowship
2005-06 Yale University Dissertation Fellowship
2004-05 Humane Studies Fellowship
2002 Yale University ISPS grant for statistical training
