Political Science, Pre-Law, Honors
Professor Gary Bugh’s areas of interest include American political theory, constitutional law, and electoral institutions. He has authored two books and several articles and won awards for his scholarship. Professor Bugh is the chair of the University’s Political Science Department and Pre-Law Program.
Professor Bugh started at A&M-Texarkana in 2004 as an assistant professor after receiving his PhD. He established the political science major, minor, and graduate pathways programs. The University promoted him to associate professor in 2007 and to full professor in 2018. Before coming to the University, while he was working on his doctorate, he taught sections of political theory and introduction to U.S. government at the University at Albany and Union College in New York and at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Professor Bugh earned his MA in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1995 and his PhD in political science from the University at Albany, New York in 2004. At Mizzou, he received the prestigious J.G. Heinberg Scholarship for Excellence in Political Theory and wrote his master’s thesis on “Exploring the Political Science Paradigm.” The title of his doctoral dissertation at Albany was “The Electoral Landscape and Institutional Reform: Exploring Efforts to Amend the Presidential Election System, 1948–1979,” for which he won the coveted University Distinguished Dissertation Award. Before graduate school, he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1992.
Professor Bugh regularly teaches American Political Theory, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Political Documentaries, and Introduction to U.S. Government & Politics. He coordinates the highly-regarded political science internship class and was an early adopter of web-delivery for some classes. His teaching facilitates student engagement and success. Students have also benefited from his individual study classes and research assistantships, as well as help with conference presentations, published essays, and admission to law and graduate schools.
Professor Bugh’s scholarship analyzes the interplay between institutions and theory in the United States, concentrating on popular sovereignty, the U.S. Bill of Rights, and Electoral College reform. His recent peer-reviewed books include Incorporation of the Bill of Rights: An Accounting of the Supreme Court’s Extension of Federal Civil Liberties to the States (Peter Lang, 2023) and Electoral College Reform: Challenges and Possibilities (Routledge, 2016). Reviewers have given his works high marks. He has also authored several peer-reviewed articles and essays, book review essays, and online resources and videos. The University has recognized Professor Bugh for his active and important scholarship production.
