Recent News
Education
Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 1990
Research Areas
- Law and Courts
- Gender and Sexuality
- Popular Culture
Courses Taught
- POLS 1010: Introduction to U.S. Politics
- POLS 4010 / 5010: Civil Liberties
- POLS 4190 / 5190: Gay and Lesbian Politics
- POLS 4120 / 5120: The Politics of Law and Sexuality
- POLS 4700 / 5700: Legal Theory and Social Problems
- POLS 6600: Graduate Seminar in Law and Politics
Ohio University Affiliations
About Dr. Burgess
Susan Burgess is an Ohio University Distinguished Professor. A Professor of Political Science, her areas of interest in American politics include law and courts, radical politics, gender and sexuality, and popular culture. She is the author of The CQ Guide to Radical Politics in the United States (with Kate Leeman, CQ/SAGE); The New York Times on Gay and Lesbian Issues (CQ/SAGE) ; The Founding Fathers, Pop Culture, and Constitutional Law: Who's Your Daddy? (Ashgate) and Contest for Constitutional Authority: The Abortion and War Powers Debates (Kansas). She is also a co-editor of LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader (with Marla Brettschneider and Cricket Keating, NYU). Her work has also appeared in a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals including Political Research Quarterly ; Polity ; New Political Science ; Review of Politics ; PS : Politics and Political Science ; Law and Social Inquiry; Law and Society Review ; Law, Culture, and the Humanities ; Studies in Law, Politics, and Society ; and differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies .
Dr. Burgess has received several departmental and university-wide awards for excellence in teaching. She has taught a wide variety of classes including: Introduction to U.S. Politics, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights and Liberties; Legal Theory and Social Problems; Law and Sexuality; Contemporary Civil Rights Movements; Graduate Seminar in Law and Politics; Sexuality and Queer Theories; LGBT Politics (on-line); Women, Gender and Rock and Roll; Graduate Seminar in Feminist Social and Political Theory; Women, Feminism and Law; and Law and Social Change: Race and Sexuality.
Dr. Burgess has also held several leadership positions in the American Political Science Association. As part of the Perestroika movement in Political Science, her successful candidacy for a seat on the governing Council triggered an association-wide competitive election, challenging the longstanding system of top-down nominations. During her term on the Council, she was selected to sit on its Administrative (Executive) Committee and co-organized a new section in Politics and Sexuality with Angelia Wilson of Manchester University. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Law and Courts section, Coordinator of the Constitutional Law Division, Chair of the LGBT Caucus, as well as serving on the Committee on the Status of Women, and the Committee on the Status of LGBTs. Dr. Burgess has also been active in the Western Political Science Association, sitting on its Executive Council and serving several times as coordinator of its Politics and Sexuality Section. She also has been an officer in the Midwest Political Science Association’s Women’s Caucus and has served as Program Organizer for its LGBT Caucus.
Dr. Burgess joined the Department of Political Science at Ohio University in 2000, serving as the Director of Women's Studies at Ohio University from 2000-05. During her term as Director, Women's Studies undertook significant program development, including the creation of a new undergraduate major. Prior to her arrival at OHIO, Dr. Burgess was a member of the Political Science faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1988-2000, where she also served as Director of Women's Studies at UWM from 1996-2000.