Associate Professor
Starting from a young age, Dr. Anand Edward Sokhey was surrounded by politics. 鈥淚 came from a family that talks politics all the time,鈥� he said, reflecting on his upbringing.
This immersion in politics only continued during his years as an undergraduate in Ohio. Sokhey 鈥渟tarted doing research in the summers with a professor鈥� where he became interested 鈥渋n using data to examine questions about social and behavioral science.鈥�
With this experience, it was only natural that this interest in politics stuck with him. 鈥淚 decided early on in undergraduate that I wanted to go to grad school.鈥� Sokhey said.
Fast-forward to today: a big part of what Sokhey does is conduct 鈥渞esearch as it intersects with teaching and mentoring.鈥�
One class that Sokhey enjoys teaching is the PSCI 1101 Intro to American Politics lecture in MATH 100. 鈥淚 like doing the big intro class because it is fun to meet that many people, it is almost like a performance every Tuesday and Thursday.鈥�
Sokhey concentrates on American politics because he finds 鈥渢he American system very interesting, with a lot to study within it.鈥�
鈥淚 love teaching at the undergraduate level, but I also really enjoy conducting research with graduate students,鈥� Sokhey said.
鈥淢y research is about social influence - how our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances structure the information we get and the decisions we make,鈥� he said.
聽鈥淚 got interested in the social nature of political life about the time that social networking and social media was becoming big in broader society,鈥澛爃e noted.
Another aspect of Sokhey鈥檚 research focuses on religion and is the incoming director of the for the study of the First Amendment.
鈥淵ou get this historical experiment in the United States of people trying and finding different religions - I am interested in how religion provides a context for interaction, mobilization, and learning.鈥�
In his free time, Sokhey paints and draws; his paintings have appeared on the covers of a couple of academic books. Anand majored in Studio Art as an undergraduate (he was a double major with Political Science), but went to Grad School for Political Science. Thus, he 鈥渋s a big fan of people who have different major combinations.鈥�
For Anand, 鈥渙ne of the things that鈥檚 important about learning and living in a college environment is being intellectually curious鈥� and taking advantage of the opportunity to 鈥渄o and try a lot of different things.鈥�