Professor James holds a Ph.D. from Duke University and an A.B. from Georgetown University. He joined the Department of Political Science in 1999 and was awarded tenure in 2005. He has a wealth of experience serving on several important university committees which has allowed him to develop leadership and organizational skills that will be helpful as he joins the Dean's Office team. His administrative positions have included serving as Chair of the Department of Political Science (2014-17) and as Coordinator of the Legal Studies Program (2010-2014).

Professor James is a theorist who studies contemporary democratic theory, theories of political representation, theories of immigration, and the philosophy of race. In his book Deliberative Democracy and the Plural Polity, he articulates how the fair inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities within democratic polities requires not just electing more women and racial minorities, but also envisioning and constructing processes, institutions, and inter-personal norms that allow individuals to understand each other across the identity barriers that divide them. This book was nominated for several prizes including the Ralph J. Bunche Award and the Giovanni Sartori Award. He is an active scholar publishing in journals such as the Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Politics, Polity, and European Journal of Political Theory. He is actively working on his next manuscript.  

He is a well published author, select publications include: Deliberative Democracy and the Plural Polity University Press of Kansas, 2004.  He has been reviewed in Argument and Advocacy, Perspectives on Politics, Political Studies Review, and the Foundations of Political Thought Website (www.politicaltheory.org) and nominated for the First Book Award, the Ralph J. Bunche Award, the Giovanni Sartori Award, the Elaine & David Spitz Award, and the Grawemeyer Prize.

Photo and full biography can be found here: https://www.bucknell.edu/fac-staff/michael-james