Dr. Kerri Milita
Associate Professor
Office
SCH Schroeder Hall
Office Hours
On sabbatical Fall 2025
Office Phone
Email
Website
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
I received my PhD from Florida State University in May 2014. I study American Politics and Public Policy.
Current Courses
POL 219.001 Interest Groups
POL 232.001 Politics And Public Policy
POL 213.001 U.S. Congressional Politics
POL 106.001 United States Government And Civic Practices
Teaching Interests & Areas
Direct Democracy, Congress, Presidency, Public Policy
Research Interests & Areas
Direct Democracy, Congress, Election Laws, Candidate Position-Taking
Ph D Political Science
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
MS Political Science
Florida State University
MA Policy Analysis
University of Central Florida
BA Political Science
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
RISE to the COVID Challenge
ISU
2021
Research Initiative Award
Illinois State University
2018
Hibbert R. Roberts Teaching Excellence Recognition
Department of Politics and Government
2018
Grants and Contracts
Evaluating the Effectiveness of WomenAlsoKnowStuff
Kerri Milita.
American Political Science Association. June 1 2020
Inequalities in Political Science
Kerri Milita.
Democracy Fund. April 2019
The "Women Also Know Stuff" Initiative
Kerri Milita, Katie Searles, Kim Dionne, Patricia Stapleton, Melissa Michelson.
National Science Foundation. September 2018 - September 2020
Ambiguous Rhetoric and Legislative Accountability
Kerri Milita.
Time Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences. October 2017
Children of the 'Copter: Helicopter Parenting and the Policy Attitudes of College Students
Kerri Milita.
Office of Research and Graduate Studies. May 2016
Restricting the Initiative: the Role of Legislative Threat Perception
Kerri Milita.
Department of Politics and Government. July 1 2015 - July 31 2015
Book Review
Review of Congressional Challengers: Candidate Quality in U.S. Elections to Congress
Kerri Milita.
(2022), 20, Perspectives on Politics
Review of Representing the Disadvantaged: Group Interests and Legislator Reputation in US Congress
Kerri Milita.
(2022), 20, Perspectives on Politics
The Resilient Voter: Stressful Polling Places and Voting Behavior
Kerri Milita.
(2018), Public Opinion Quarterly
Book, Chapter
Scandal in the Post-Abramoff Congress
Kerri Milita.
(2017), Corruption, Accountability, and Discretion
Journal Article
Gendered Dynamics of Academic Networks
Kerri Milita.
International Studies Perspectives, 24 (2), 189-229, (2023)
Ambiguous Rhetoric and Legislative Accountability
Kerri Milita.
(2021)
How Gender Affects the Efficacy of Discussion as an Information Shortcut
Kerri Milita.
Political Science Research & Methods, 8 (2), 268-84, (2020)
It Could Happen to You: How Risk Exposures Shapes Attitudes Toward Social Welfare Policy in the American States
Kerri Milita.
Journal of Public Policy, (2020)
Social Media and the Changing Information Environment: Sentiment Differences in Read versus Re-Circulated News Content
Kerri Milita.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 84 (1), 195-215, (2020)
Battleground States and Local Coverage of American Presidential Campaigns
Kerri Milita.
Political Research Quarterly, (2019)
Clear as Black and White: the Effects of Ambiguous Rhetoric Depend on Candidate Race
Kerri Milita.
The Journal of Politics, (2018)
Outputs Versus Outcomes: Long Term Effects of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families on Caseload Enrollment and Poverty
Jaclyn Bunch, Scott Liebertz, Kerri Milita.
Public Policy and Administration, (2018)
Beyond Roll-Off: Individual-Level Abstention on Ballot Measuring Voting
Kerri Milita.
(2017)
Helicopter Parenting and the Policy Attitudes of College Students
Kerri Milita, Jaclyn Bunch.
PS: Political Science & Politics, (2017)
Rhetorical Strategies in Congressional Elections
Kerri Milita.
Electoral Studies, (2017)
Election Laws & Agenda Setting: How Election Law Restrictiveness Shapes the Complexity of State Ballot Measures
Kerri Milita.
State Politics & Policy Quarterly, (2015)
Nowhere to Run, Nothing to Hide, or Nothing to Lose? Candidate Position-Taking in Congressional Elections
Kerri Milita, John B Ryan, Elizabeth Simas.
Political Behavior, 36 (2), (2014)
Testing the Effects of Ballot Access Reform on Non-Major Party Vote Share: the Case of Florida's Revision 11
Kerri Milita.
American Review of Politics, 31, (2010)
The Partisan Duopoly in US House Elections: an Analysis of Minor Party Failure
Kerri Milita, .
Representation, 46 (2), (2010)
Magazine/Trade Publication
Restrictive ballot access laws reduce the technical complexity of initiatives and make them more likely to pass
Kerri Milita.
London School of Economics, (2015)
Presentations
How Do People Learn About Politics on Different News Outlets?
Kerri Milita.
Natural Language Processing for Democracy (NLP4Democracy), Montreal, CA, October, 2025
Refining Civic Concepts with LLMs: Case Studies on Wildlife Conservation, Political News and Climate Pessimism
Kerri Milita.
Natural Language Processing for Democracy (NLP4Democracy), Montreal, CA, October, 2025
ANNOTATETHIS: a Human-Centered System for Domain Experts to Annotate Complex Concepts - Case Studies in Environmental Conservation and Political Communication
Kerri Milita.
34th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Montreal, Canada, August, 2025
What do you Learn about Hard News from Soft News Outlets - a Case Study from People Magazine Online
Kerri Milita.
International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, Copenhagen, Denmark, June, 2025
Should Instructors Discuss Mental Health in the College Classroom?
Kerri Milita.
Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April, 2025
Addressing Mental Health in the College Classroom
Kerri Milita.
2025 Teaching-Learning Symposium, Normal, IL, January, 2025
I've Seen That Before! Towards Understanding Hard News Exposure from Soft News Outlets
Kerri Milita.
International Conference on Computational Social Science, Philadelphia, PA, July, 2024
I’ve Seen That Before! Towards Understanding Hard News Exposure from Soft News Outlets
Kerri Milita.
Midwest Speech and Language Days, Ann Arbor, MI, April, 2024
Addressing Mental Health in the College Classroom
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, IL, April, 2024
Candidate Position Taking on International Conflict and Health Care
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, IL, April, 2023
Gender and Rhetorical Ambiguity
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, IL, April, 2022
(Not So) Great Expectations: Why Women Candidates Benefit from Ambiguity
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Online, April, 2021
(Not So) Great Expectations: Why Ambiguity Benefits Women Candidates
Kerri Milita.
Department of Politics & Government, Normal, IL, February, 2021
Election Polling
Kerri Milita.
Illinois Broadcasters' Association, Urbana, IL, April, 2020
Candidate Gender and Rhetorical Ambiguity
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, IL, April, 2020
Trust in Government and Negative Information Shape US Protest Voting
Kerri Milita, Rhiannon Stringer.
MPSA, Chicago, IL, April, 2020
Risk Orientation and Support for Social Safety Nets
Kerri Milita, Wei Hua.
MPSA, Chicago, April 6, 2019
Initiatives Without Engagement
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, April 5, 2019
Amplifying Underrepresented Voices in Political Science
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, April 4, 2019
Mind the Gap: Inequalities in Political Science
Kerri Milita.
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, February 15, 2019
Helicopter Parenting and the Development of Political Ambition in College Students
Kerri Milita.
SPSA, Austin, TX, January, 2019
Direct Democracy in America
Kerri Milita.
Stony Brook University, Stonybrook, NY, November, 2018
Position-Taking and Legislative Accountability
Kerri Milita.
American Political Science Association, Boston, September, 2018
Risk Orientation and Support for the Welfare State
Kerri Milita.
MPSA, Chicago, April, 2018
Political Ambition in College Students
Kerri Milita.
SPSA, New Orleans, January, 2018