Ian Ostrander

Ian Ostrander
  • Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
  • American Politics
  • Department of Political Science
  • 345 S. Kedzie
  • 368 Farm Lane
  • East Lansing MI 48823
  • 517-355-1881

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

Ostrander, Ian and Christina L. Boyd, Michael J. Nelson, Ethan D. Boldt. 2021. "The Politics of Federal Prosecution." Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-politics-of-federal-prosecution-9780197554685?cc=us&lang=en&

Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. 2020. "Presidential Communications 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 at Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Ostrander, Ian and Toby J. Rider. 2019. “Presidents Abroad: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy," Political Research Quarterly, 72(4): 835-848.

Sievert, Joel and Ian Ostrander. 2017. “Constraining Presidential Ambition: Controversy and the Decline of Signing Statements," Presidential Studies Quarterly, 47(4): 752-776.

Ostrander, Ian. 2017. “The Politics of Executive Nominations in the Post-Nuclear Senate." Congress & the Presidency, 44(3): 323-343.

Madonna, Anthony and Ian Ostrander. 2017. “No Vacancy: Holdover Capacity and the Continued Staffing of Major Commissions," Journal of Public Policy, 37(4): 341-361.

Ostrander, Ian. 2016. “The Logic of Collective Inaction: Senatorial Delay in Executive Nominations," American Journal of Political Science, 60(4): 1063-1076.

Ostrander, Ian. 2016. “The Logic of Collective Inaction: Senatorial Delay in Executive Nominations,” American Journal of Political Science, 60(4): 1063-1076.

Nelson, Michael and Ian Ostrander. 2016 “Keeping Appointments: The Politics of Confirming United States Attorneys,” Justice System Journal, 37(3): 211-231.

Ostrander, Ian. 2015.“Powering Down the Presidency: The Rise and Fall of Recess Appointments.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 45(3):558-572.

Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. 2014. “Presidential Signing Statements and the Durability of the Law” Congress & The Presidency, 41(3): 362-383.

Smith, Steven S., Ian Ostrander, and Christopher Pope. 2013.“Majority Party Power and Procedural Motions in the U.S. Senate” Legislative Studies Quarterly, 38(2): 205-236.

Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. 2013. “What’s So Sinister About Presidential Signing Statements?” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 43(1): 58-80.

Ostrander, Ian and Joel Sievert. 2013. “The Logic of Presidential Signing Statements.” Political Research Quarterly, 66(1): 140-152.

Ostrander, Ian and William R. Lowry. 2012. “Oil Crises and Policy Continuity: A History of Failure to Change.” Journal of Policy History, 24(3): 384-404.