Elizabeth Stiles
Professor
Background
Elizabeth A. Stiles, MPA, Ph.D. is a Professor of Political Science whose teaching centers on research methods, U.S. politics, interest groups and political parties, social movements, and introductory statistics. Her courses emphasize analytical thinking, research design, and the use of data to understand political and social processes.\\Her scholarship examines how political ideas are generated, carried, and sustained through mediating institutions and social networks. Drawing on social movement theory and social network analysis, she studies presidential nomination politics, interest groups, and online political communication as networked processes shaped by attention, agreement, and interaction. Her current research focuses on autistic online communities, using data from digital platforms such as TikTok to examine how differences in communication and cognition produce distinct social network configurations and forms of collective organization.\\She regularly involves undergraduates in collaborative research and serves as University Pre-Law Advisor and Mock Trial Advisor.
Areas of Expertise
- Presidential primaries and nomination politics\\Electoral dynamics and public attention\\Interest groups and political parties\\Social movements and collective action\\Social network analysis\\Digital political communication\\Research methods (quantitative & qualitative)
Research Interests
My research focuses on how political ideas move through mediating institutions and social networks. Using social movement theory and social network analysis, I study presidential nomination politics, interest groups, and digital political communication as networked processes shaped by attention, agreement, and interaction. My current work centers on autistic online communities, drawing on data from platforms such as TikTok to examine how differences in communication and cognition produce distinct social network configurations and forms of collective organization.
