Miki Kittilson

Miki Caul Kittilson joined ASU in 2004. Her scholarship addresses challenges of democratic inclusion, comparing the effects of institutions and structures for individual-level political behavior, with a focus on gender justice and women's representation in government.  She has authored 4 university press books, along with numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and invited book chapters.  Her most recent book, Reimagining the Judiciary: Women’s Representation on High Courts Worldwide, co-authored with Maria Escobar-Lemmon, Valerie Hoekstra and Alice Kang, is in production with Oxford University Press. The book articulates a chain of favorable influences on women’s representation on high courts: new norms of gender equality encourage the reimagining of the judiciary; advocacy organizations challenge the status quo; and windows of opportunity enable change. 

https://womenonhighcourts.com/

Kittilson's (Oxford University Press, 2020) book Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy: How Women in Politics Foster Connected Citizens is co-authored by Magda Hinojosa (ASU). The book examines the effects of gender quotas and substantial gains in women's election to office for mass-level engagement with the democratic process across Latin America. 

Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, USAID and the AAUW. She serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Politics and recently contributed to design of the Gender Equality and Governance Index (GEGI) from the Global Governance Forum.

Professor Kittilson is former president of the ASU Faculty Women’s Association and chaired the committee that brought the 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s STEM Equity Achievement (SEA Change) Award to ASU. Within The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, she served as Dean’s Fellow. Kittilson is a member of the Governance and Decision Making Focal Group and the SDG5 Working Group in ASU’s Global Futures Lab.