Calvin C. Jillison received his B.S. in Political Science from Oregon State University in 1971 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1976 and 1979. He taught at Louisiana State University (1980-87) and the University of Colorado (1987-95) before joining the faculty of Southern Methodist University in July 1995 as Professor and Chair in the Department of Political Science. Dr. Jillson was the Director of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies and chaired the department from 1996 to 2001.

Professor Jillson teaches and writes in the areas of American Political Thought and development of American Political Institutions. Several recent books, Congressional Dynamics (Stanford University Press, 1994), New Perspectives on American Politics (CQ Press, 1994) and The Dynamics of American Politics (Westview Press, 1994), deal with the origins of American legislatures and with the health and performance of contemporary American politics and political institutions. He is also the co-editor (with Jim Hollifield) of Pathways to Democracy, The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions (Routledge, 1999). Professor Jillson’s latest book is an American government text entitled American Government: Historical Change and Institutional Development (Harcourt-Brace, 1998). His current project, The American Dream: The Politics of Opportunity and Exclusion in American History, will appear from the University of Kansas Press in 2004.

Calvin Jillson chaired the Department of Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1989 to 1993, and served as founding director of the Keller Center for the Study of the First Amendment from 1993 to 1995. Professor Jillson also served as Chair of the Department of Communication Disorders and Speech Sciences at the University of Colorado from 1993 to 1995 where he was charged with the complete reorganization of that department. He served as the President of the Southwest Political Science Association during 1992 and 1993 and currently serves on a number of regional and national committees, boards, and associations relating to teaching and research in political science.