Harvard Griffin GSAS: Elections, Energy, and Public Opinion
October 15th 2025
Join Harvard Griffin GSAS Dean Emma Dench and Stephen Ansolabehere, PhD ’89, the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government at Harvard University, for a fireside chat drawing on Ansolabehere’s expertise in elections, voting rights, political economy, mass media, and public opinion, especially concerning energy and the environment. This dynamic discussion will explore who wins elections and why, how well government represents the public preferences, voting behavior and election law, and the politics and community impacts of climate transitions.
Dean Emma Dench
Dean of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics
Emma Dench was born in York, grew up near Stratford-upon-Avon, and studied at Wadham College, Oxford (BA Hons Literae Humaniores) and at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford (DPhil in Ancient History). Before taking up a joint appointment in the Departments of the Classics and of History at Harvard in January 2007, she taught classics and ancient history at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has been a Craven Fellow at the University of Oxford, a Rome Scholar and a Hugh Last Fellow at the British School of Rome, a Cotton Fellow, a Member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and a Visiting Professor of the Classics and of History at Harvard, and a Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellow.
Dench is the author of From Barbarians to New Men: Greek, Roman, and Modern Perceptions of Peoples from the Central Apennines and Romulus’ Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian. She is currently completing “Imperialism and Culture in the Roman World” for the Cambridge University Press series Key Themes in Ancient History. Other current projects include a study of the retrospective writing of the Roman Republican past in classical antiquity.
While at Harvard, Dench received a Harvard College Professorship in recognition of “outstanding contributions to undergraduate teaching, mentoring, and advising,” a Marquand Award for Excellent Advising and Counseling, and an Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award for her mentorship of graduate students.
Stephen Ansolabehere is the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government at Harvard University. Before joining the faculty at Harvard University, he taught at MIT and UCLA. He is an expert on democracy and representation in the United States, especially U. S. elections, voting behavior, public opinion, and energy and environmental politics. He is author of five books, including Cheap and Clean: How Americans Think About Energy in the Age of Global Warming (2014), and American Government (2022), and has published academic research in a wide range of fields, including political science, economics, statistics, law, and environmental policy.
He leads the Salata Institute’s Research Cluster on Strengthening Communities for Changing Energy Systems. He is principal investigator of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study and consults with CBS News on the Election Night Decision Desk, helping the network call the elections. In 2007, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
EVENT DETAILS
Date: October 15, 2025
Time: 6-9:00pm
6:00 arrive and check-in
6:30 – 7:30 Lecture and Reception
7:30 – 8:30/9pm – reception
Location: The Chicago Club
81 E. Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois 60605
Room: The Lounge (mezzanine level)
Cost:
Current Students: $5
Harvard Griffin GSAS Alumni and Harvard Club of Chicago Members: $25
Recent Harvard Graduates (’20-’25): $20
Non-GSAS Harvard Alumni and Guests: $35
This event is open to all Harvard alumni and their registered guests.
Please register by October 1, 2025. Space is limited.
Click here to register or use the red button below!
Questions? Visit the event website or contact the Harvard Griffin GSAS Office of Alumni Relations for further assistance.
Harvard University and the Graduate School Alumni Association encourage people with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you have questions about the access provided, please email us at gsaa@fas.harvard.edu. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, please reach out at least seven days in advance of the event to describe the type of accommodation needed.