Ross E. Cheit

Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy:
Political Science
Phone: 863-3523
Phone 2: 863-2201
rc@brown.edu

My current research focuses on the intersection between law, public policy, and psychology in understanding social responses to child sexual abuse in the contemporary United States. I also have research interests in two other areas: first, in the civil justice system and the relationship between insurance and society; second, in "good government" and ethics in government, particularly at the state and local level in Rhode Island.

Biography

Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and Director of the Center's Law and Public Policy program. J.D. (1981) and Ph.D. (1986), University of California at Berkeley. Previous appointments at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oregon Supreme Court, and the University of California at Berkeley. Specializations in public law and public policy.

His first book, Setting Safety Standards: Regulation in the Public and Private Sectors, was published by the University of California Press. He is currently writing a book on the law and politics of child sexual abuse.

Interests

My current book project involves original court research into major day-care sex abuse cases from the 1980s. Peripheral projects related to this project include: empirical court studies of sentencing practices for sex crimes, and media coverage studies (one extending Beckett's analysis of major magazines and the other examining television newsmagazines).

Degrees

JD, PhD

Awards

Best of WebCT [Social Sciences] (January 2005)

Public Service Award, Common Cause/Rhode Island (November 1999)

William G. McLoughlin Jr. Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Social Sciences (April 1998)

Faculty Fellow, Ethics and Public Administration Program, University of Rhode Island (1994-97)

Presidential Fellowship, Salzburg Seminar in American Studies (summer 1993)

Fellowship, Harvard Program in Ethics and the Professions (1990-91)

Fellowship, Henry Wriston Merritt (Brown University, 1990)

Barrett Hazeltine Teaching Citation (Brown University, 1989)

Affiliations

Member, American Political Science Association

Member, Law and Society Association

Inactive member, California State Bar

Teaching

I teach the Introduction to Public Policy. Beyond that, I teach in a variety of areas where law and public policy overlap. My courses focus on the United States and they tend to take a multi-disciplinary and institutional approach. My teaching interests include a service-learning course (Children & Public Policy) that I did in connection with the Civic Engagement Project of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Funded Research

N/A

Web Links

Curriculum Vitae

Download Ross E. Cheit's Curriculum Vitae in PDF Format