Research expertise: race, ethnicity, and politics; gender and politics; political psychology

Crystal Robertson, UC Irvine political science assistant professor, received her Ph.D. from UCLA and has spent the past year as a President's Postdoctoral fellow at UCI. Her current book project looks at Black women's experiences within social movements - how they're perceived by the public and how they lead despite racism and sexism faced in political leadership. She’s also working on several articles exploring public opinion toward Kamala Harris and what went right and wrong in the 2024 election.

 

 

Her work, funded by the American Political Science Association Centennial Grant and Center for American Women and Politics, has been published in American Political Science Review, Political Behavior, and the Washington Post.

This fall, Robertson - a self-described “movie nerd” - will teach a course called "Racial Politics of Horror," using popular mediums like film and theater to explore political science and theory from a fresh perspective. Registration is already at max capacity.

She’s excited to be staying at UCI for the great community she’s found in the political science department. “The people in my department are wonderful,” she says. “This is one of the first opportunities in my life to be in a department with so many Black faculty to stand alongside me as mentors, so I'm incredibly thrilled at that opportunity, as well as UC Irvine being a minority serving institution. I’m looking forward to connecting with students across all different facets of life and helping in their educational journeys.”