Personal
BIO, VITA, CONTACT
Autobiography: The most respectable form of lying.
-Humphrey Carpenter
Rob Salmond
I am a native-born New Zealander, and also hold US citizenship. I work as Political Director in the Office of the New Zealand Labour Party Leader, a position I have held since early 2013. I have been a member of the labour party since 1998, and have worked on various partisan and independent campaigns for left-leaning government in New Zealand since 1996. Earlier New Zealand-based work included positions in the Office of the Prime Minister (2007) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1998-2001).
From 2007-2012, I worked as an Assistant Professor of political science at the University of Michigan, and a Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies. I taught classes in comparative politics and in research design.
My research agenda had two main focuses. The first was the way in which political institutions influence patterns of elite-level political communication and, through that path, also influence mass-level political behavior. The second was the modern study of political competition in New Zealand and the South Pacific. In addition to doing work in these areas, I have also conducted research about female representation in parliaments, aspects of political economy, and opinion polling methods.
Prior to coming to Michigan, I was a PhD student at UCLA. My PhD dissertation, which was about parliamentary question times and was supervised by Kathy Bawn and John Zaller, won APSA's 2008 Carl Albert award for best dissertation in the area of legislative studies. I also hold an MA from The University of Iowa, and a BA(Hons)/BCA from Victoria University of Wellington.
Before winning a Fulbright scholarship to study in the US, I was involved with competitive debating (top 20 world ranking 1998) and student politics (VUWSA executive 1995-6) while an undergraduate at Victoria University of Wellington.
I am married to Jana von Stein. We have had two daughters. Sophie was our first child, and source of inspiration to many, but she is sadly no longer with us. An account of her journey is available here. Paige, our second daughter, is vital and vibrant and a joy to be near.
Curriculum Vitae: Rob Salmond
Employment history | |
| Political Director, Office of the Labour Party Leader, New Zealand (2013-) | |
| Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan (2007-2012) | |
| Faculty Associate, Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan (2007-2012) | |
| Visiting Scholar, Department of Political Science, Stanford University (2010) | |
| Adviser, Office of the New Zealand Prime Minister (2007) | |
| Policy Officer, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1998-2001) |
Education | |
| 2007 | PhD, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). |
| Dissertation: “Parliamentary Question Times: How Legislative Accountability Mechanisms Affect Citizens and Politics.” | |
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| 2001 | MA, The University of Iowa. |
| 1998 | BA(1st class Hons)/BCA, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (VUW). |
Academic publications | |
| 2013 | 'Parliamentary Question Times: How Legislative Accountability Mechanisms Affect Mass Political Engagement.' Forthcoming in Journal of Legislative Studies. |
| 2012 | ‘All the Polls that 'Do Not Count': Opinion Polling and prediction Markets in Election 2011.’ In Jon Johansson and Stephen Levine (eds.), Kicking the Tyres: The General Election of 2011. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 248-268. |
| 2012 | ‘MeTube: Politicians, Election Campaigns, and YouTube.’ Issues in Technological Innovation, No. 16. Washington: Brookings Institution. |
| 2011 | The New New Zealand Tax System: New Zealand Taxes in Comparative Perspective. Wellington: Institute of Policy Studies. 129pp. |
| 2011 | ‘Bureaucrats in the Headlights: Question Times and Delegation to Bureaucrats.’ Journal of Legislative Studies, Vol. 17 (3): 368-381. |
| 2011 | ‘Verbal Sticks and Rhetorical Stones: Improving Conference Presentations in Political Science.’ With David Smith. PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 43 (3): 583-588. |
| 2011 | ‘Cheating Death-by-PowerPoint: Effective Use of Visual Aids at Professional Conferences.’ With David Smith. PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 43 (3): 589-596. |
| 2010 | ‘2008: Opinion Polls and Prediction Markets in New Zealand.’ With Shaun McGirr. In Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts (eds.), Key to Power: The General Election of 2008. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 255-272. |
| 2010 | ‘2008: The YouTube Campaign.’ In Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts (eds.), Key to Power: The General Election of 2008. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 206-221. |
| 2009 | ‘Weekday-Only Polling and Partisan Support Levels: Evidence from New Zealand.’ Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics, Vol. 51 (1): 63-76. |
| 2009 | Review of Making Online News: The Ethnography of New Media Production. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, Vol. 6 (2): 189-190. |
| 2008 | ‘Enforcing Ethical Standards in Election Campaigns.’ Michigan Journal of Political Science, Vol 2 (10): 17-24. |
| 2007 | ‘A Wider View: Ten Years of MMP.’ With Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts. In Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts (eds.), New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2005. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 445-475. |
| 2007 | ‘The Battle of the Blog: A Phony War?’ With Pete Fitzjohn. In Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts (eds.), New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2005. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 249-268. |
| 2006 | ‘Welfare Works: Explaining Female Legislative Representation.’ With Frances Rosenbluth and Michael F. Thies. Politics and Gender, Vol. 2 (2): 165-192. |
| 2006 | ‘Proportional Representation and Female Parliamentarians: Examining Over-Time Changes Across the Developed World.’ Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 31 (2): 175-204. |
| 2004 | ‘Grabbing Governments by the Throat: Question Time and Leadership in New Zealand’s Parliamentary Opposition.’ Political Science, Vol. 56 (2): 75-90. |
| 2004 | ‘Voting Patterns Mirror Socioeconomic Deprivation’ With Clare Salmond. In Crampton, Peter et al (eds) Degrees of Deprivation in New Zealand, 2nd ed. Auckland: Bateman: 35-38. |
| 2003 | ‘A New Zealand/US FTA? A Reality Check.’ Agenda, Vol. 10 (4): 307-324. |
| 2003 | ‘Choosing the Candidates: Labour and National in 2002’ in Boston, Jonathan et al (eds) New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2002. Wellington: Victoria University Press: 192-208 |
| 2002 | ‘Democratic Reform in Tonga: Towards an Alternative Electoral System.’ Revue Juridique Polynesienne, Special Series (2): 171-193. |
Fellowships, grants, and awards | |
| 2009 | Roy Pierce grants competition winner, Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan. With Cassandra Grafstrom. |
| 2008 | Carl Albert award for best PhD dissertation in the area of legislative studies, American Political Science Association (Legislative Studies section) |
| 2008-2009 | Center for International and Comparative Studies Graduate Research Enrichment Grant, University of Michigan. With Anna Grzymala-Busse and Allen Hicken. |
| 2008-2010 | Rackham Faculty Research Grant, University of Michigan |
| 2005-2007 | Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan. |
| 2005 | UCLA Political Science Department Summer Fellowship. |
| 2004 | Teaching and Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, VUW |
| 2001-2005 | Political Science Department Graduate Fellow, UCLA. |
| 2000-2001 | Ford Foundation Crossing Borders Fellow, The University of Iowa. |
| 2000 | Fulbright Graduate Student Award |
| 1999 | Honorary Life Member, University Sport New Zealand. |
| 1999 | Honorary Life Member, New Zealand Universities Debating Council. |
| 1998 | Alan Robinson Memorial Prize for top Honours student in political science, VUW. |
| 1998 | Top 20 speaker, World Universities Debating Championships |
| 1998 | Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champion. |
Contact me
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| rsalmond@umich.edu |
Phone | +1 734 846 6974 |
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| Rob Salmond Department of Political Science University of Michigan 5700 Haven Hall, 505 State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA |
