Paige Kolnes
My research and teaching emphasize the importance of understanding the political and economic world in context. This idea was originally cultivated during my years as a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where the Department emphasized interdisciplinary understandings of politics, governments, and markets that are rooted in history, culture, and contention. I now have the great pleasure of teaching in the Political Economy Department at the College of Idaho, where we task ourselves with imparting broad, holistic, and critical understandings of real-world issues upon our students. My own research interests encompass a range of U.S. and comparative policy topics, and my teaching courses center on themes of institutional power, business influence, capitalism, deindustrialization, and party politics. My past scholarship has focused specifically on U.S. deindustrialization, analyzing how federal economic policy choices shaped political consequences for actors most closely affiliated with industrial decline in the United States: former industrial workers, unions, manufacturing businesses, and historically industrial-focused communities. The opportunity to teach at the College of Idaho is one that fulfills my passion for liberal arts education that began at Willamette University when I was an undergraduate student, and has not relented since. Growing up in Eagle, Idaho, and then moving up and down the west coast throughout my higher education years, I am thankful for the opportunity to reestablish roots in the Treasure Valley. Not only do I get to immerse myself in the famously tight-knit Yotes community, I get to go “all-in” on my favorite Idaho hobbies, which include mountain biking, hiking, and being really, really nice to everyone I pass on the trails. EDUCATION Ph.D., Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2022 B.A., Politics, Willamette University, 2014
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