New Council 2026 – Pi Sigma Alpha

New Executive Council Members Elected for 2026

During the September 2026 biennial business meeting, Pi Sigma Alpha announced the election of Dr. Jared Abbott, Dr. Robert Alexander, Dr. Natasha Bingham, Dr. Mary Currin-Percival, Dr. Monti Datta, Dr. Janna Deitz, Dr. Andrea Eckelman, Dr. Emily Farris, and Dr. Everett A. Vieira III to the Executive Council. The Executive Council approved the election of Dr. Robert Alexander as President-elect and Dr. Everett A. Vieira III as Treasurer. All council members will serve a four-year term, except for Dr. Alexander, who will serve for eight years (as president-elect, president, then past-president), and Dr. Datta, who is serving for the remaining two years of Dr. Russell’s council term. Please join us in welcoming them! You can read more about our new council members below.

Dr. Jared Abbott

Dr. Jared Abbott is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at California State University, Los Angeles, and holds a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. His research spans comparative and American politics, drawing on more than a decade of fieldwork across Latin America, including Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador. His current book project examines why participatory institutions in Latin America so rarely deliver on their promise. In the United States, he uses original survey and experimental research to study working-class candidates, economic populism, and class dealignment .

Dr. Robert Alexander is the founding director of the Democracy and Public Policy Network at Bowling Green State University and is the Director of the BGSU Poll. He previously served as the Wilfred E. Binkley Endowed Professor of Political Science at Ohio Northern University where he was the Founding Director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy. He is currently a member of the Ohio Debate Commission. Dr. Alexander is the author of four books, including Representation and the Electoral College, published by Oxford University Press and hundreds of op-ed columns appearing in outlets such as CNN.com, USA Today, The Hill, and Newsweek. He has served as a Pi Sigma Alpha advisor for more than two decades, where his students have won multiple best chapter awards.

Dr. Robert Alexander

Dr. Natasha Bingham

Dr. Natasha Bingham is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Loyola University New Orleans, where she has taught since 2011. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Louisiana State University in 2012. Her research focuses on comparative politics, nationalism and national identity, and the politics of gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity, as well as the relationship between identity and political conflict. Her scholarship has appeared in peer-reviewed publications including Politics & Policy, Women’s Studies: An Inter-disciplinary Journal, Comparative Sociology, PS: Political Science & Politics, and the Journal of Lesbian Studies. She teaches courses in comparative politics, Russian and post-Soviet politics, Northern Irish politics, gender and politics, nationalism, and conflict and peace studies. Dr. Bingham also serves as faculty advisor to Loyola’s Eta Epsilon chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, and as Director of the Loyola University New Orleans Summer Ireland Program.

Dr. Mary Currin-Percival is Professor of Political Science at San José State University where she also serves as Director of the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (IPACE), Director of SJSU Votes, and the campus Civic and Voter Empowerment Coordinator (CVEC). She teaches courses in political participation, U.S. and state politics, research methods, and campaign advertising. In 2026, she was awarded SJSU Outstanding Professor and awarded the Cal State Student Association’s Faculty of Excellence. She is the faculty advisor for the award-winning Epsilon Iota Chapter and was named a Pi Sigma Alpha Best Chapter Advisor in 2023.

Dr. Mary Currin-Percival

Dr. Monti Datta

Dr. Monti Narayan Datta is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Richmond. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, he earned a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley, an MPP in Public Policy from Georgetown University, and a PhD in Political Science from UC Davis. His first book, Anti-Americanism and the Rise of World Opinion: Consequences for the US National Interest, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. He is currently completing a manuscript with Cambridge University Press examining the legacy of Japanese militarized enslavement on the Korean Peninsula, from the wartime “comfort women” system to US camptowns and contemporary human trafficking. Outside of his academic work, Monti enjoys watching sci-fi TV/movies, practicing qigong, teaching meditation, and working with students and community partners on social justice initiatives for greater mutual understanding in our increasingly polarized climate.

Dr. Janna Deitz is Director of Development and Corporate Partnerships for the College of Engineering at Western Carolina University. She served as Senior Advisor and Director of Capitol Civics for the US Capitol Historical Society, led outreach and partnership efforts for the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and served as Senior Director of Academic & Professional Development and Director of the Congressional Fellowship Program for the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Washington, DC. Her academic interests include legislative politics, congressional elections, women and politics, and civic education. Dr. Deitz was Professor of Political Science and Director of Public Leadership and Outreach at Western Illinois University and served as an APSA Congressional Fellow working in the US Senate. She earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Georgia, her MPA from Western Carolina University, and her BA in political science with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Janna Deitz

Dr. Andrea Eckelman

Dr. Andrea Eckelman is an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Montevallo. She currently serves as chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and French from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Houston. Her research and teaching interests include public policy, gender and politics and state politics. Dr. Eckelman is the chapter advisor for the Alpha Delta Tau chapter at the University of Montevallo.

Dr. Emily M. Farris is a Professor in Political Science at Texas Christian University (TCU), where she specializes in American politics and policy. She received her bachelors in Political Science and Urban Studies at Furman University, where she was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha as an undergraduate, and her masters and doctorate at Brown University. Dr. Farris’ teaching and research focus on local government and public policy, especially around issues of immigration and criminal justice. She teaches courses in American Politics, including Politics of Race, Class and US Policing, US Immigration Politics and Policy, and Urban Politics. She is the co-author of Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the United States and a forthcoming textbook, State and Local Government: The People and Politics. At TCU, she supports undergraduate research in a number of ways, including directing a summer undergraduate research lab, managing the undergraduate thesis program, and serving as chapter advisor for the Pi Sigma Alpha chapter.

Dr. Emily Farris

Dr. Everett A. Vieira III

Dr. Everett A. Vieira III is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, Fresno. As a comparativist, his teaching and research interests focus on political violence, politics of memory, and Latin America. Dr. Vieira has advised the Alpha Delta Beta chapter at Fresno State since 2019, which has earned multiple Best Chapter Awards under his leadership. He holds MA/PhD degrees in Political Science from Temple University, and BA/MA degrees in Political Science from San Diego State University where he was inducted into the Gamma Upsilon chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha as an undergraduate.