About the Director of the Endowed Chair

Dr. Neil Chaturvedi
Director of the Endowed Chair

Dr. Chaturvedi is a professor of Political Science and Public Administration at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His main area of research is in race and ethnic politics, Congress, the Presidency, and American political thought, broadly. He is the author of Life in the Middle: Marginalized Moderate Senators in the Era of Polarization (Oxford University Press, 2021) and has published several peer-reviewed articles in The Journal of Asian American Studies, Politics, Groups, and Identities, American Politics Research, Politics and Religion, the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Presidential Studies Quarterly, among many others. 

Dr. Chaturvedi has also served as the Interim Associate Dean for the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, where he started the CLASS Distinguished Lecture Series, an effort to inform our students, faculty, and broader community and expose them to speakers they would typically not have access to, and build a stronger pipeline to other HSI and HBCU institutions. During the 2023-2024 academic year, he also served as the Interim Associate Dean for the College of Education and Integrative Studies where he helped launch the college's Afrofuturism and CEIS Community Care and Wellness initiatives. 

Dr. Chaturvedi is deeply committed to student success and increasing educational opportunities for underserved, minoritized populations and working towards greater student success for first-generation communities. He draws inspiration from the Weglyn legacy as an opportunity to not only learn from our past, but to right wrongs and build towards a stronger inclusive community.