Political Science Faculty

Professor Hartney’s research and teaching interests lie in American politics and public policy— with a particular focus on state and local governments, interest groups, and education policy. 

Hartney’s academic scholarship has been published in the field’s leading journals and garnered coverage in media outlets from the Economist and the New York Times to the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. His writing has also appeared in popular outlets such as the Boston Globe, City Journal, Education Next, National Review, New York Post, and Washington Post.

Professor Hartney’s first book, How Policies Make Interest Groups: Governments, Unions, and American Education, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2022, was awarded the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) prize for the best book on education politics and policy. The monograph explains the origins, power, and political activities of America’s teachers’ unions showing how state and local governments helped these unions gain outsized influence in American education.

At Boston College, Hartney teaches courses on the education politics, public policy, interest groups, and US state and local politics. He is also a research affiliate at Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG), and, in 2020-21, was a national fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.  

Before embarking on an academic career, Hartney worked as a policy analyst for the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices, providing technical analysis and assistance to state policymakers on a wide range of school reform issues, from teacher and principal quality to high school redesign. Hartney earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.