Jason Whitehead — Grad School

Jason Whitehead — Graduate School

During my time as a law student and as an attorney, I began writing and publishing some legal scholarship in the area of critical legal theory.  This started me thinking again about an academic career (I had actually gone to law school with the idea that I could eventually become a law professor).  So I eventually decided to turn legal scholarship from a hobby into a profession by earning a M.A. and then a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Southern California.  My main academic specialties there were political theory, public law, and American politics.  While I was finishing up my doctorate, I started teaching part-time, first at USC and then at various other local colleges, including LBCC, CSUN, and eventually here at CSULB. While coming back to the Beach part-time was great, I never thought I would be able to come back as a professor.  But — as if by some grand design — that’s exactly what happened in 2007: a tenure-track position opened up at exactly the right time, I applied, and now here I am back at this wonderful university that gave me my start years ago.