Rate My Professor Elizabeth Sharrow

Elizabeth Sharrow is Professor of Public Policy and History in the School of Public Policy and Department of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with affiliated faculty status in the Department of Political Science. They serve as Director of Faculty Research at the UMass Institute for Social Science Research. Sharrow earned a PhD in political science with a minor in feminist and critical sexuality studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s in public policy focused on gender, law, and sports policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Their research centers on the gendered politics of public policy, exploring how U.S. policies have shaped intersectional understandings of sex, gender, race, sexuality, disability, and class over the past fifty years. Core interests encompass the politics and history of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, gender and race in U.S. politics, politics of the family, and politics of college athletics.

Sharrow co-authored the book Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sport with James Druckman (Cambridge University Press, 2023), recipient of the 2024 American Political Science Association Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the best book on U.S. national policy, the 2024 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, and the 2024 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title from the American Library Association. Select publications include “Public Policy as Trans Harm: Troubling Administrative Governance through Transfeminist Sports Studies” (TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2023), “Sports, Transgender Rights, and the Bodily Politics of Cisgender Supremacy” (Laws, 2021), and “The First-Daughter Effect: The Impact of Fathering Daughters on Electoral Support for Women Presidential Candidates” with Jesse Rhodes, Tatishe Nteta, and Jill Greenlee (Public Opinion Quarterly, 2018). Scholarship has garnered awards such as the 2022 Best Paper Award from the APSA Education Policy and Politics Section and the 2021 Best Article Award from the Western Political Science Association. Funding sources include the National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and American Association of University Women. Sharrow serves on the editorial boards of American Political Science Review and Politics & Gender, is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, and previously led the APSA Sexuality & Politics section as president (2023-2024). Their work appears in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and ESPN’s 37 Words docuseries. Courses taught include Gender and Race in US Social Policy (SPP/HISTORY/POLISCI 364) and Sports, Policy, and Politics (POLISCI 392SH).