Ian Ostrander

Grad Program Director Associate Professor American Politics

• Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
• American Politics

• Department of Political Science

• 345 S. Kedzie
• 368 Farm Lane
• East Lansing MI 48823
• 517-355-1881
• ostran45@msu.edu

CURRICULUM VITAE

Ian Ostrander

BIOGRAPHY

Ian Ostrander is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University. He is currently serving as Graduate Program Director as well. He joined MSU in the summer of 2016 after working for three years as an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech. Before that, Ian received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013.  He has also spent time working within the Senate as a 2012-2013 APSA Congressional Fellow in Washington D.C.

 Ian’s research and teaching interests primarily concern American political institutions with a particular emphasis on the U.S. presidency, Congress, bureaucracy, and the interaction of all three. Specifically, his research has focused on executive nominations to bureaucratic and judicial posts, presidential policy-making and agenda-setting powers, the development of Senate procedure, and the importance of congressional staff. 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• • King, Jonathan M., Ian Ostrander, and Jessica Schoenherr. Forthcoming. "Anchoring or Expanding: Gender and Judicial Nominations," Political Research Quarterly.
  • Koss, Joshua, Ian Ostrander, and Joel Sievert. 2024. "Analyzing Arguments in Executive Veto Messages." Presidential Studies Quarterly, 54(2): 162-180.
  • King, Jonathan M., Peter McAndrews, and Ian Ostrander. 2022. "President Trump and the Politics of Judicial Nominations." Justice System Journal, 43(4): 524-543.
  • Boyd, Nelson, Ostrander, Boldt. 2021.  The Politics of Federal Prosecution. Oxford University Press. 
  • Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. 2020. "Presidential Communication During the Legislative Process," Social Science Quarterly, 101(3): 1165-1182. 
  • King, Jonathan M. and Ian Ostrander. 2020.  "Prioritizing Judicial Nominations After Presidential Transitions," Forthcoming in Presidential Studies Quarterly.
  • 2019 Ostrander, Ian and Toby J. Rider. "Presidents Abroad: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy,"  Political Research Quarterly, 72(4): 835-848.
  • 2016 Ostrander, Ian. "The Logic of Collective Inaction: Senatorial Delay in Executive Nominations."  American Journal of Political Science, 60(4): 1063-1076.
  • 2015 Ostrander, Ian.  "Powering Down the Presidency: The Rise and Fall of Recess Appointments."   Presidential Studies Quarterly, 45(3):558-572.
  • 2013 Smith, Steven S., Ian Ostrander, and Christopher Pope. "Majority Party Power and Procedural Motions in the U.S. Senate" Legislative Studies Quarterly, 38(2):205-236.
  • 2013 Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. "The Logic of Presidential Signing Statements." Political Research Quarterly, 66(1): 140-152.