Maranda Joyce

Major Field: American Politics
Dissertation Committee Chair: Melissa Marschall

Maranda is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Rice University with a focus in political behavior. Her research investigates the sources and consequences of anti-democratic political behavior among members of the mass public. She is particularly focused on anti-democratic behavior in the context of US local politics, studying withdrawal from public institutions and rising violence directed against local politicians. In her job market paper, Maranda investigates withdrawal from public schools through homeschooling. Using original state-representative survey data and newly collected demographics of local school leadership, she finds that families are more likely to homeschool when public schools serve higher numbers of nonwhite students, especially in resource-constrained settings. In her other work, Maranda explores the costs of high-conflict school board meetings on local governance and how race and gender shape public opinion regarding political violence against local elected officials. To advance her research agenda, she leverages a range of quantitative methods, including survey experiments, large-N observational analysis, machine learning, and audit studies. Maranda has served as an instructor of record, teaching research methods to undergraduate political science students. She has also served as a mentor for students conducting public policy research. She is eager to teach a variety of courses in political behavior, policy, and research methods. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from Southwestern University. You can read more about Maranda’s research and teaching at marandaljoyce.github.io

Tabitha Koch

Major Field: American Politics
Dissertation Committee Chair: Leslie Schwindt-Bayer

Tabitha is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Rice University specializing in American Politics. She studies women in politics with a focus on institutions, with work examining women politicians in Congress, state legislatures, and local offices. Her dissertation researches constituents’ expectations of women representatives, and investigates how women members of Congress adapt their representational styles to combat voter stereotypes. In particular, she explores whether women can leverage an important institutional position, committee assignments, to increase approval and competency evaluations among voters on nonstereotypical issues areas. In her work, she uses large-N data on House members’ committees, newsletters, and public approval, as well as original experiments. Her dissertation has been funded by Rice’s Social Science Research Institute through its pre-dissertation improvement grant and by the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality’s Graduate Certificate Program. Tabitha is passionate about mentoring students, and has had the opportunity to help students develop their writing skills in her multiple semesters working as a coach for Rice’s interdisciplinary First Year Writing Intensive Seminars and teaching American Politics. She will serve as the instructor of record for Gender and Politics in fall 2025, and is also prepared to teach courses on American politics, congressional politics, and political institutions. Her work has been published in Perspectives on Politics. You can read more about Tabitha’s research and teaching at sites.google.com/view/tabitha-koch.

Amorae Times

Major Field: International Relations
Dissertation Committee Chair: Songying Fang

Amorae Times is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Rice University specializing in the intersection of International Relations, Political Hierarchy, and Race and Ethnic Politics. Her research examines how race and global hierarchies shape interactions in the international system, focusing on how both states and multinational corporations exercise influence, transmit values, and navigate the constraints of political and economic hierarchy. To this end, her dissertation investigates the ways in which domestic politics and international hierarchy shape political and economic interactions globally, drawing on survey experiments, large-N quantitative analysis, and qualitative methods.
Amorae is prepared to teach courses in International Relations, International Political Economy, and Historical and Contemporary Race Relations in International Politics (Global Politics). She is committed to creating inclusive and rigorous classrooms that emphasize critical thinking, collaboration, and the application of political science to real-world problems. Her research has been supported by Rice University's Social Science Research Institute Dissertation Improvement Grant.