Don Beachler

Associate Professor, Department of Politics

Don Beachler

Don Beachler

Don Beachler studies Congress, public policy, the politics of Social Security and Medicare reform, elections, voter turnout, reapportionment and gerrymandering, and how issues of race, genocide and the Holocaust play out in politics.

Beachler has published numerous papers and articles on Congress, elections and voter turnout as well as two books in the “Winning the White House” series on presidential elections. His book “The Genocide Debate: Politicians, Academics, and Victims,” which examines how different episodes of mass killing--in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nazi Germany and the Ottoman Empire--have been politicized. He also co-authored "When Good Companies Go Bad," a book examining the disasters that happen when companies forget ethics, take operational shortcuts, or willingly endanger customers and the general public in their quest for profits.

Ithaca College Expert: What factors will influence the 2012 election?

Research Focus

  • Redistricting
  • Medicare and social security reform
  • Economic policy
  • Foreign policy
  • Voting and elections
  • How we view and respond to genocide

Education

Cornell University
Ph.D., American Politics/ Minors in Comparative Politics and Political Theory, 1992
Dissertation Title: The South and Divided Government

Cornell University
M.A., Government, 1985

West Virginia University
B. A., Philosophy/ Minors in German and Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, 1979