Dr. Sydney Carr, Class of 2018

MA, Ph.D. University of Michigan, 2023

Current position: Assistant Professor of Political Science at College of the Holy Cross

Dr. Sydney L. Carr is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Political Science at College of the Holy Cross. Dr. Carr recently earned her PhD in Public Policy and Political Science from the University of Michigan (2023). She also received her B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut (2018) with a minor in Africana Studies and M.A. in political science from the University of Michigan (2020). She is a native of Hamden, CT.

Sydney’s research has been funded by numerous prestigious fellowships including the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the APSA Minority Fellowship Program, the Center for American Women & Politics Research Grant, and the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research Hanes Walton Jr. Fellowship, among others. Her work has been published in the National Review of Black Politics and is currently under review at other outlets.

Sydney’s primary research interests include American political behavior, race, ethnicity, and politics, gender and politics, and political communication. Sydney’s work grapples with the disadvantages faced by Black women political elites, the factors that influence voter support for minority candidates, as well as news media coverage of minority groups, among other topics. Her work is critical at a time when the political arena continues to grow more diverse across racial and gender lines than ever before. Further, Sydney remains committed to centering the experiences of marginalized political leaders within her work, and particularly those with intersecting identities.

Beyond research, Sydney remained active in regard to DEI initiatives while she was a graduate student at the University of Michigan. She previously served as the President of SCOR (Students of Color Rackham)- one of the largest student-led organizations in the country dedicated to the well-being of minority graduate students. To this end, she often worked closely with university administrators in order to ensure that the concerns of graduate students of color were met. As a faculty member, Sydney looks forward to continuing this important work to further DEI and anti-racist efforts at the institution level, while continuing to advance her research, and serve as a mentor to students.