Political Science

Sean F. Evans

Sean Evans is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science. Originally from Decatur, Alabama, he completed his B.A. at Lipscomb University and his M.A. in Political Science at the University of Alabama. He then followed Horace Greeley's advice to "go west young man" and completed his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Colorado. His dissertation examined the legislative strategies that the Congressional minority party follows to become the majority party using the activities of Congressional Republicans before the 1994 election as a case study.

He returned to the South to help start the Political Science major at Union in 2000. In 2007, he became one of the "Founding Fathers" of the Department and has served as its first, and so far, only chair. Dr. Evans primarily teaches courses in American politics and specializes in the national institutions (Congress, Presidency, and Courts) and elections. Over the course of his career, he has studied the minority party in Congress and strategic retirement from Congress and his research has been published in American Politics Quarterly, Vital Statistics in American Politics, and the Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution. More recently, he has begun work on the partisan conversion of Southern state legislatures to the Republican Party.

Active in civic engagement, Dr. Evans speaks regularly to local community groups, is a columnist for the Jackson Sun, and provides political analysis for the Jackson Sun, Jackson 24/7, WBBJ TV-7, and occasionally for the Tennessean, Commercial Appeal, and Foxnews.com. Dr. Evans is also a past President of the Tennessee Political Science Association and Union's Pre-Law Advisor.

Dr. Evans is married to Sharon Evans, a Professor of Nursing at Union. The Drs. Evans made Union history in 2009 becoming the first two faculty members to meet at Union and eventually marry.