Mark Hurwitz

Dr. Mark S. Hurwitz, who received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Michigan State University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, currently is a Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University (WMU). As well, he is the Executive Director of the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA). As Executive Director, Hurwitz serves as the chief executive officer of the SPSA, which holds an annual meeting and other events for the professional benefit of its 1,400 or so members. The SPSA also is responsible for publication of The Journal of Politics, an academic journal and leading outlet for research in the discipline.

Hurwitz previously served as Program Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF). While at NSF his portfolio extended across the agency. His primary programs included Learning and Workforce Development in the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, and Law and Science in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. Hurwitz also had responsibility in Working Groups for Navigating the New Arctic, Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation, Cyberinfrastructure for Emerging Science and Engineering Research, Disrupting Operations of Illicit Supply Networks, and Science of Broadening Participation.

Hurwitz is recipient of a grant from NSF: Build and Broaden: Indigenous Peoples Before United States Courts: A Systematic Examination. This award in the amount of $479,995 is a joint project with Drs. Rebecca A. Reid and Todd A. Curry (WMU PhD, 2012) of the University of Texas at El Paso. Reid, Curry, and Hurwitz analyze all cases involving Indigenous Peoples and Nations in state courts of last resort, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court, from 1960 through 2020.

Hurwitz has published his research in leading political science and law journals, such as American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, Justice System Journal, Law & Policy, Judicature, Review of Policy Research, and American Review of Politics, among others. Hurwitz was co-principal investigator with Dr. Ashlyn Kuersten of the WMU Department of Sociology for the WMU/Cooley Law School Innocence Project, which analyzed DNA evidence to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals, based on a grant from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, in the amount of $418,000 (Award #: 2015-DY-BX-K008). At WMU he served as Director of Special Initiatives within the Office of Research and Innovation, and he served as Special Assistant to the Provost with respect to the affiliation between WMU and the Law School. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Justice System Journal. Hurwitz previously held faculty positions at University at Buffalo (SUNY) and University of Utah, and he practiced law in New York City before earning his Ph.D. in political science.