Professor Theriault is currently researching the effect of interpersonal relationships within the U.S. Congress. He has published six books: Disruption: The Senate During the Trump Era (Oxford University Press, 2024), Congress: The First Branch (with Mickey Edwards; Oxford University Press, 2020), The Great Broadening (with Bryan Jones and Michelle Whyman; University of Chicago Press, 2019), The Gingrich Senators (Oxford University Press, 2013), Party Polarization in Congress (Cambridge University Press, 2008), and The Power of the People (Ohio State University Press, 2005). He has also published numerous articles in a variety of journals on subjects ranging from presidential rhetoric to congressional careers and the Louisiana Purchase to the Pendleton Act of 1883.
Theriaults expertise includes political party polarization in the United States, the U.S. Congress, congressional elections, and the Politics of the Catholic Church. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the Friar Society Teaching Fellowship (the biggest undergraduate teaching award at UT) in 2009, UT Professor the Year in 2011, and the Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014. In 2012, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
Ph.D.
in Political Science, Stanford University, 2001
M.A.
in Political Science, Stanford University, 2000
M.S.
in Public Policy Analysis, University of Rochester, 1996
B.A.
in Political Science, University of Richmond, 1993
Congress, the presidency, political parties, elections, and party ploarization.
Field Chair,
American Politics, University of Texas at Austin (2013 - Present)
Chair,
University Co-op/George H. Mitchell Undergraduate Awards for Academic Excellence Selection Committee, University of Texas at Austin (2011 - 2013)
Coordinator,
Congress to Campus Program, The Strauss Institute and the Government Department, the University of Texas (2006)
Member,
Faculty Advisory Counsel, Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA), University of Texas at Austin (2005 - 2010)
"The Power of the People: Congressional Competition, Public Attention, and Voter Retribution" (Ohio State University Press, 2005).
Silver Spurs Teaching Award
- University of Texas at Austin (2015)
Regents Outstanding Teaching Award
- University of Texas at Austin (2014)
Provost Faculty Teaching Fellow
- University of Texas at Austin (2013 - 2015)
Academy of Distinguished Teachers
- University of Texas at Austin (2012)
Dads Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship
- University of Texas at Austin (2009)
Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship
- University of Texas at Austin (2009)
Texas Exes Teaching Excellence Award
- University of Texas at Austin (2007)
Texas Blazers Faculty Excellence Award
- Texas Blazers (2007)
Presidents Associates Teaching Excellence Award
- University of Texas at Austin (2006)
Eyes of Texas Teaching Excellence Award
- University of Texas at Austin (2005)
Grant
- Vice President for Research, the College of Liberal Arts, and Undergraduate Studies, the University of Texas at Austin (2001 - 2014)
