Department of Political Science University of Missouri-Columbia College of Arts and Science

L. Marvin Overby

L. Marvin OverbyOffice: 305 Professional Bldg.
Phone: 573-882-2130
Email: Overby@missouri.edu
Web: web.missouri.edu/~overbyl

L. Marvin Overby (Professor) has been with the Department since 2002. He received his Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the faculty at Missouri, he held faculty positions at Loyola University-Chicago (1990-1993) and the University of Mississippi (1993-2002). He also held visiting appointments at the Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, PRC (1997-1998 and 2005-2006) and the University of Szeged in Hungary (2000-2001).

Research Statement
My research and teaching interests are broad, and include both a number of topics in American politics as well as some in the area of comparative legislative analysis. Recent and on-going projects include a number related to Congress (e.g., filibusters in the Senate, public opinion regarding congressional leaders, use of restrictive rules in the House, and the impact of member retirement decisions on partisan balance of power in the House), state legislative organization (e.g., representativeness of committees in both upper and lower state legislative chambers, historical development of state legislative institutions), minority politics (e.g., black committee chairs in state legislatures, racially disparate attitudes toward the judicial system, effects of black elite electoral success on black public attitudes, public attitudes toward homosexuals, public estimations of homosexual population size), campaign advertising (e.g., use of radio in political campaigns), and Canadian politics (e.g., parliamentary free votes on controversial policy proposals).

Courses Taught

Introduction to American Government
Congress and Legislative Politics
Politics of the American South
Legislative Institutions (Graduate)
American Political Institutions (Graduate)

Recent Representative Publications (past five years)

Overby, L. Marvin. N.D. "Some Things Ya'll Need to Know: Teaching Southern Politics at Home and Abroad." Journal of Political Science Education, forthcoming.

Orey, D'Andra, L. Marvin Overby, and Christopher W. Larimer. N.D. "African-American Committee Chairs in American State Legislatures." Social Science Quarterly, forthcoming.

Orey, D'Andra , L. Marvin Overby, Barbara J. Walkosz, and Kimberly R. Walker. N.D. "Accounting for Racism: Responses to Political Predicaments in Two States." State Politics and Policy Quarterly, forthcoming.

Overby, L. Marvin and Jay Barth. 2006. "Radio Advertising in American Political Campaigns: The Persistence, Importance, and Effects of Narrowcasting." American Politics Research, 34: 451-478.

Overby, L. Marvin and Jay Barth. 2006. "Numeracy About Minority Populations: Americans' Estimations of Local Gay Population Size." Polity 38:194-210.

Overby, L. Marvin. 2006. "Public Opinion Regarding Congressional Leaders: Lessons from the 1996 Elections." Journal of Legislative Studies 12:54-75.

Overby, L. Marvin, Robert D. Brown, John M. Bruce, Charles E. Smith, Jr., and John W. Winkle, III. 2005. "Race, Political Empowerment, and Minority Perceptions of Judicial Fairness." Social Science Quarterly 86:444-462.

Prince, David W. and L. Marvin Overby. 2005. "Legislative Organization Theory and Committee Preference Outliers in State Senates." State Politics and Policy Quarterly 5:68-87.

Overby, L. Marvin, Robert D. Brown, John M. Bruce, Charles E. Smith, Jr., and John W. Winkle, III. 2004. "Justice in Black and White: Race, Perceptions of Fairness, and Diffuse Support for the Judicial System in a Southern State." Justice System Journal 25:159-181.

Overby, L. Marvin and Lauren C. Bell. 2004. "Rational Behavior or the Norm of Cooperation?: Filibuster Behavior Among Retiring Senators." The Journal of Politics 66:906-924.

Overby, L. Marvin, Thomas A. Kazee, and David W. Prince. 2004. "Committee Outliers in State Legislatures." Legislative Studies Quarterly 29:81-107.

Barth, Jay and L. Marvin Overby. 2003. "Are Gay Men and Lesbians in the South the New 'Threat'?: Regional Comparison of the Contact Theory." Politics and Policy 31:452-470.

Overby, L. Marvin and Robert D. Brown. 2002. "Race, Redistricting, and Re-election: The Fate of White Incumbent Democrats in the 1994 Congressional Elections." American Review of Politics 23:337-353.

Overby, L. Marvin and Jay Barth. 2002. "Contact, Community Context, and Public Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians." Polity 34:433-456.