Political Science

Alauna Safarpour is an assistant professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College. Her research interests include race and ethnic politics, prejudice reduction, public opinion, and political participation. She has also conducted extensive research on American public health attitudes and behaviors. 

Prior to joining the faculty at Gettysburg College, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy and a postdoctoral fellow at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute (dual appointment).

Her research has been published by Political Behavior, the Journal of Experimental Political Science, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, The Journal of Race,Ethnicity, and Politics, Research and Politics, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Conversation, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum. A list of Professor Safarpour's publications is available on her CV. 

Professor Safarpour was the 2020 public opinion fellow at The Washington Post where she assisted in polling on the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 Presidential Election. She also worked as an election night analyst for The Washington Post examining exit polling and election returns following the 2020 Presidential and the 2022 midterm elections. Additionally, she worked as a survey statistician for the Kaiser Family Foundation with a particular focus on the attitudes of racial and ethnic minorities. 

Professor Safarpour earned her Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, a Certificate in Paralegal Studies from Duke University, a M.A. in Political Science from American University, and a M.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. She was also a 2019 participant in the Zürich Summer School for Women in Political Methodology at the University of Zürich, Switzerland (UZH).

For further information, please see Professor Safarpour’s website: https://safarpour.sites.gettysburg.edu

Name Pronunciation: Ah-LAWN-Uh Sah-FAH-poor