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Contact: Jon Meerdink ([email protected])

ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research honored the career of Mark Tessler with a research symposium on Friday, September 29.

Tesler, a research professor in ISR’s Center for Political Studies (CPS) and the Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science in U-M’s Department of Political Science, is retiring after a long and distinguished academic career, which began as a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1969. Since then, he has held positions at the University of Arizona and U-M; he arrived at Michigan as a collegiate professor of political science in 2001 and began work at ISR the same year. He served as the director of CPS from 2003 to 2004.

“I share the utmost respect and admiration for what you’ve done with all of my colleagues,” said Ken Kollman, director of CPS, of Tessler in his opening remarks. “You’ve managed to pull off, in some ways, an ideal academic life, writing and publishing influential research, building data infrastructure for others to use, influencing so many students, and just respected all over the world for your work. Your many contributions to knowledge are legendary.”

The symposium featured presentations from five of Tessler’s former students:

• Lindsay Benstead, “Why Women Vote: Wasta and Political Participation under Authoritarianism”
• Daniel Corstange, “Religiosity Inside and Outside the Muslim World”
• Diana B. Greenwald, “Stasis or Interregnum: Prospects for Political Transformation in the Israeli-Occupied West Bank”
• Amaney Jamal, “The Global Segregation of the Poor: Racialization and Poverty in Modern States”
• Michael D. Robbins, “Reexamining Popular Support for Islam and Democracy”

The full symposium is available to watch below.