Abbylin Sellers

Abbylin H. Sellers, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science. Her areas of teaching emphasis are American politics and public policy, specifically American government, U.S. political institutions (the constitutional presidency and war powers; Congress and the legislative process), state and local politics, welfare policy, and 20th century Communism. Her primary research interests include welfare policy, such as the institutionalization of welfare in the 1930s, the 1996 welfare reform legislation, and the 2005 welfare reform reauthorization legislation as well as federalism and political behavior. Sellers’ research on welfare reform examines the effects of the caseload reduction credit on federal and state level welfare work requirements, unintended consequences in policy making, and policy implementation and evaluation. Her research on political behavior focuses on descriptive representation and how it affects political participation, efficacy, and trust. Sellers serves as the department’s Practicum Director and Pi Sigma Alpha faculty adviser.