Rate My Professor Chris Cooper

Christopher A. Cooper is the Robert Lee Madison Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs and Director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy at Western Carolina University. He previously served as head of the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs from 2011 to 2021 and as Director of the Master of Public Affairs program from 2005 to 2010, having joined the university in 2002. Cooper's research focuses on American politics, with particular emphasis on elections and voting, state and local politics, southern politics, and North Carolina politics. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals including Public Administration Review, Political Research Quarterly, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, and Election Law Journal. Key publications include "The importance of trust in government for public administration: The case of zoning" (Public Administration Review, 2008, with H.G. Knotts and K.M. Brennan), "Region, Race, and Support for the South Carolina Confederate Flag" (Social Science Quarterly, 2006, with H.G. Knotts), and "The big five personality factors and mass politics" (Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2013, with L. Golden and A. Socha). His books are Anatomy of a Purple State: A North Carolina Politics Primer (UNC Press), The Resilience of Southern Identity (UNC Press, 2017, with H.G. Knotts), and The New Politics of North Carolina (co-edited, UNC Press).

Cooper has received Western Carolina University's Board of Governors Teaching Award, its highest teaching honor, and was named the 2013 North Carolina Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He also earned the University Scholar award for the impact of his scholarship. Cooper serves on the editorial team of the Journal of Election Administration Research and Practice, has provided expert testimony in voting rights and elections cases, co-authored the 2024 North Carolina Civic Index, and is immediate past President of the North Carolina Political Science Association. He contributes to committees including the Commission on the Future of Elections in North Carolina and the State Board of Elections’ Modernization of Election Data Systems commission. Frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media, Cooper teaches courses such as Parties, Campaigns and Elections, Election Administration, and State and Local Politics in undergraduate and graduate programs.