Miki Kittilson

Miki Caul Kittilson is Vice Dean in the College of Global Futures, and serves as Principal Investigator on the ASU ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project. She previously chaired the Provost's committee that brought the 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s STEM Equity Achievement (SEA Change) Award to ASU. 

Professor Kittilson's scholarship and teaching address how the design of democratic institutions shape political and civic engagement across democracies, and the implications for democratic inclusion and representation. She has authored four university press books, along with numerous peer-reviewed journal articles in journals such as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Politics & Gender, and Party Politics.  

Her most recent co-authored book, Reimagining the Judiciary: Women’s Representation on High Courts Worldwide (Oxford University Press) won an American Political Science Association Award for best book on law and courts.  The findings map 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) co-authored book Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy: How Women in Politics Foster Connected Citizens examines the effects of innovations in electoral institutions (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 served 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.  Kittilson is a member of the SDG5 Working Group in ASU’s Global Futures Lab.