Faculty

Tulis, Jeffrey
Associate Professor

Office: MEZ 3.152
Phone: 512-232-7244
tulis@mail.utexas.edu

Education: Professor Tulis received his B.A. degree from Bates College, an M.A. from Brown, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Research interests:
Professor Tulis's interests include American political development, the presidency, constitutional theory, and political philosophy. His publications include The Presidency in the Constitutional Order (LSU, 1981), and The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, 1987), and journal articles and chapters on topics that recently include constitutional interpretation, the logic of political change, and the meaning of political success. Three collections of essays on The Rhetorical Presidency with responses by Tulis have been published. (Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency, Texas A and M Press, 1996, Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in American Political Development, Univ. of Mass Press, 1998, and a special double issue of Critical Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Politics and Society, 2007). His current research spans topics in political theory and American politics, including problems of constitutional design, Tocqueville, and the effects of major political loss on American political development.

Field(s) of Study: American Politics; Political Theory; Public Law

Awards/Honors:
He has served as President of the Politics and History Section of the American Political Science Association. In 1996, he received the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Texas. He has held research fellowships from NEH, ACLS, Olin Foundation, Harvard Law School, and the Mellon Preceptorship at Princeton University, where he taught before moving to Texas. He has held visiting positions at Notre Dame and Harvard. He has served as associate chair of the Department of Government from 1989-2001 and was acting chair during 1992-93. He currently chairs the APSA standing committee on Teaching and Learning.

Recent Publications:
"Andrew Johnson and the Politics of Failure," in Stephen Skowronek, ed. Formative Acts: Reckoning with Agency in American Politics,  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. He is completing a book on the problem of institutional deference, has begun a project on the Legacies of Loss in American Politics, and he is co-editor of the Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought.