Dr. Sydney L. Carr

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Dr. Sydney L. Carr is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross. Dr. Carr received her PhD in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Michigan (2023). Dr. Carr previously received her B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut (2018) and M.A. in political science from the University of Michigan (2020).

 

Dr. Carr's research has been funded by numerous prestigious fellowships including the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the APSA Minority Fellowship Program, the Center for American Women & Politics Research Grant, and the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research Hanes Walton Jr. Fellowship, among others. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals including the National Review of Black Politics and Communication Theory, and is currently under review at other outlets.

 

Dr. Carr's primary research interests include American political behavior, race, ethnicity, and politics, gender and politics, and political communication. Her book project, The Right to Bare Arms: Public Opinion, News Media, and Black Women in Politics examines the ways in which Black women political elites are susceptible to intersectional-based disadvantages in the context(s) of American public opinion and the news media, relative to their counterparts of other race-gender groups. Further, The Right to Bare Arms utilizes a methodological approach in order to put the intersectionality framework to a novel empirical test for Black women in the political arena. 

 

Moreover, Dr. Carr's work broadly grapples with the unique experiences faced by Black women political elites, the factors that influence voter support for minority candidates, as well as news media coverage of minority political figures, among other topics. This work is critical at a time when the political arena continues to grow more diverse across racial and gender lines than ever before. Further, Dr. Carr remains committed to centering the experiences of marginalized political leaders within her work, and particularly those with intersecting identities.

 

As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Dr. Carr was active in regard to DEI initiatives. She previously served as the President of SCOR (Students of Color Rackham)- an organization devoted to the well-being of graduate students of color at the University of Michigan. In her role as SCOR president, she was devoted to working toward improving the well-being of minority graduate students. To this end, she often worked closely with university administrators in order to ensure that the concerns of graduate students of color were met. As a faculty member, Dr. Carr continues this important work to further DEI and anti-racist efforts at the institution level.

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For more information pertaining to Dr. Carr's CV, publications, as well as contact information for media and speaking engagements, please explore the website!