Melinda (Molly) Ritchie

Welcome! I am an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the Ohio State University. Prior to joining the faculty at OSU, I was an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside. I was previously a visiting scholar at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Democratic Politics for the 2019-2020 academic year and a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University in 2015-2016. 

My Ph.D. is from the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and I received a B.A. in Government from Smith College in 2006. Prior to my graduate studies, I worked in Washington, DC as a legislative assistant for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. I am originally from western New York State.

My research interests include American political institutions, U.S. Congress, bureaucratic politics, and the impact of separation of powers on policymaking. My current research is funded by an NSF CAREER award, CAREER: Preserving Democratic Governance, Representation, and Accountability Within an Evolving Policymaking Environment (2024-2029). My research examines how members of Congress engage with federal agencies on policy issues.  This research appears in my book, Backdoor Lawmaking (Oxford University Press).  My other research is published in Political Behavior, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and the American Journal of Political Science.