Rate My Professor Jason Casellas

Jason Casellas is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston, where he has served since 2013 as Associate Professor, promoted to full Professor, Senator Don Henderson Endowed Scholar from 2015 to 2018, and faculty affiliate with the Center for Mexican American Studies and the Hobby School of Public Policy. He specializes in American politics, with specific research and teaching interests in Latino politics, legislative politics, state and local politics, public policy, and immigration. Casellas earned his Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University in 2006, an M.A. in Politics from Princeton in 2003, and a B.A. summa cum laude in Political Science from Loyola University New Orleans in 1999. His previous appointments include Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin from 2005 to 2013, where he also served as Associate Director of the Irma Rangel Public Policy Institute from 2006 to 2013; John G. Winant Visiting Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford from 2023 to 2024; Samuel DuBois Cook Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University from 2007 to 2008; and Postdoctoral Fellow at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney from 2009 to 2010. He holds an Honorary Research Fellow position at the United States Studies Centre since 2010 and is a member of the Texas Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Casellas is the author of Latino Representation in State Houses and Congress (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and co-author of Shifting Allegiances: The Election of Latino Republicans to State Legislatures and Congress (Cambridge University Press, 2025). He co-authored the textbook Governing Texas through its seventh edition (W.W. Norton, 2025). His peer-reviewed publications appear in leading journals including the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, and Urban Affairs Review. Key articles include “A Latino on the Ballot: Explaining Co-Ethnic Voting Among Latinos and the Response of White Americans” (Journal of Politics, 2010), “The Institutional and Demographic Determinants of Latino Representation in U.S. Legislatures” (Legislative Studies Quarterly, 2009), and “Sanctuary Cities: Exploring Public Attitudes towards Enforcement Collaboration between Local Police and Federal Immigration Authorities” (Urban Affairs Review, 2020). Among his honors are the Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011–2012), third-place AAHHE/ETS Best Dissertation Award, Charles Redd Award for Best Paper on the Politics of the American West (Western Political Science Association, 2006), and various research grants from the University of Houston and University of Texas at Austin.