Shayna Strom

Undergraduate Discipline

Politics

BA, Yale College. MSc, University of Oxford. JD, Yale Law School. Research and teaching interests include social change, political institutions, philanthropy, inequality, social policy, organizing, labor, and the gig economy. Currently chief deputy national political director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Worked in the White House (Obama Administration) and the US Senate, in philanthropy, and as a community organizer and political organizer. Senior fellow at the Century Foundation.  Recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship. Taught courses at Johns Hopkins University.  SLC, 2019-

Undergraduate Courses 2019-2020

Politics

Moonshots in Contemporary American Politics

Open , Seminar—Fall

While this course is open, prior background in American politics and history is preferable.

While recently it may feel like American government never accomplishes much at all, particularly at the federal level, sweeping change does happen—either seemingly at once or over a period of time. This course will look at a range of circumstances when advocates across the political spectrum have pushed ambitious agendas over the last few decades and at various levels of government. We will attempt to draw some conclusions about the factors that might make ambitious agendas succeed, including querying whether those factors are distinct in meaningful ways from the factors that make less ambitious agendas succeed. The course will also attempt to explore differences and similarities in the ways that conservatives and liberals have approached pursuing such agendas. The class will begin with an overview of some theoretical literature about agenda-setting in politics and the role of advocacy work and will continue with applied case studies.

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