Christopher A. Cooper

Christopher A. Cooper is Madison Distinguished Professor and Director of the Public Policy Institute in the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs at Western Carolina University. He studies American politics with a focus on state politics, elections, North Carolina politics, and politics of the American South. Cooper is the the author or co-author of dozens of articles in academic journals including American Politics Research, Political Research Quarterly, Social Forces, Public Opinion Quarterly, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and Election Law Journal. He is also the co-editor of the New Politics of North Carolina, and co-author of The Resilience of Southern Identity. His next book, Anatomy of a Swing State: A North Carolina Politics Primer is under contract with the University of North Carolina Press.

Cooper is a frequent source for journalists and has been quoted in a variety of outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, CNN, Fox News, The New Yorker and the Sylva Herald. He also frequently writes for popular audiences in a variety of outlets, contributes to the Old North State Politics Blog, and has served as an expert witness in voting rights cases.

He has also received Western Carolina University's highest awards for research (university scholar) and teaching (Board of Governors Teaching Award). In 2013, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named him the North Carolina Professor of the Year.