Portrait of Nigel Boyle

Nigel Boyle

Professor of Political Studies

With Pitzer Since: 1992
Field Group: Political Studies
Campus Address: Fletcher Hall 202
Phone: 607.3770
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: See Faculty Directory

Educational Background
PhD, Duke University
BA, Liverpool University

Professor Boyle has taught at Pitzer since 1992.  A comparative political scientist, his research has focused on the political determinants of social inequality, most recently regarding welfare-to-work policy.  As a teacher/mentor at Pitzer he has been active in working with students applying for prestigious fellowships.  He held the Peter and Gloria Gold Chair at Pitzer 2007-12 and in 2012 he was chosen in a national search to be founding Director of I-GLAS, a position which includes an endowed chair and serving as Associate Dean of Faculty for Global and Local Programs.  In the last three years he has folded the fellowships office into his portfolio and developed the Global Local Mentorship Project, the Junior Faculty Development Seminar, the Pitzer Prison Education Initiative, and a set of foreign language initiatives and short-term study abroad programs with a strong focus on community engagement and training students to be effective educators and researchers locally and globally.  He has helped secure seven outside funding awards for these initiatives.  In 2015 Nigel has received three notable honors: the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board recognized him as the top Fulbright advisor, the Pitzer class of 2015 elected him as a student marshal for Commencement, and he became President of Aston Villa Football Club, Upper Prison, Luzira, Uganda.

Research Interests
Comparative politics, European social policy, labor market policy, Irish politics, soccer and politics

Courses Taught

  • Comparative Politics (POST30)
  • European Politics (POST110)
  • Immigrants, Citizenship, and Nationalism in the European Union (POST113)
  • Rival Modes of Capitalism in Europe (POST115)
  • Irish Politics (POST117)
  • Welfare State in Comparative Perspective (POST183)
  • International Studies Research Workshop (POST194a)
  • International Studies Teaching Workshop (POST194b)

In the News

Publications

“Teaching History and Political Economy through Soccer,” Soccer & Society Vol. 17, Issue 3, 2017.

“Integrating Global and Local Civic Learning (Early and Often),” in Jill Reich, ed., Civic Engagement, Civic Development, and Higher Education, Washington DC: Bringing Theory to Practice, 2014.

“Activating the Long-term Unemployed: the German Hartz Reforms in Comparative Perspective,” Connections: European Studies Annual Review, vol. 8 (June 2012).

“Coaxing Fulbright Applications from Non-traditional Students,” Fulbright Program Adviser Newsletter (June 2011).

“Die vielen Gesichter aktivierender Arbeitsmarktpolitik – Deutschlands Hartz-Reformen im europäischen Vergleich” (The Different Faces of Welfare-to-Work Policy – Germany’s Hartz Activation in Comparative European Perspective), Sozialer Fortschritt (German Review of Social Policy), vol. 60, no. 9 (2011). With Wolf Schünemann.

“What Soccer Teaches Us About Europe, and What European Studies Teaches Us About Soccer,” Connections: European Studies Annual Review, vol. 7 (2011).

“The Malleable Politics of Welfare-to-Work Reform: Germany’s ‘Hartz’ Activation Compared with the Dutch, British and Irish Cases.” American Consortium on European Studies Cases Series, no. 1 (2009). With Wolf Schünemann.

“Shared Mental Models and Active Labor Market Policy in Britain and Ireland: Ideational Coalitions and Divergent Policy Trajectories” in Ravi K. Roy, Arthur Denzau, and Thomas D. Willett, eds. Neoliberalism: National and Regional Experiments with Global Ideas. New York: Routledge, 2007.

Crafting Change: Labor Market Policy under Margaret Thatcher. New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2007.

FÁS and Active Labour Market Policy 1985-2004. Dublin: The Policy Institute, 2005.

Conferences & Invited Talks

“Prison Education at Luzira Prison, Uganda,” keynote address at the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges’ Prison Education and Liberal Arts Colleges conference, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, June 2014.

“Teaching Politics Through Soccer: A Comparative Analysis,” invited talk at the Soccer as the Beautiful Game: Artistry, Identity and Politics conference, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, April 2014.

“Global Education Moneyball: The Art of Winning Fulbrights,” invited talk presented to the League of Women Voters, Claremont, CA, February 8, 2014.

“How Politics Has Shaped the History of Soccer,” invited talk at the Center for Global Affairs, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, November 5, 2013.

“More than a Game: The Academic Study of Soccer,” speech at the Claremont American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) Annual Dinner, Claremont, CA, June 30, 2013.

“Social Partnership and Austerity Shocks in Open Economies: Why Were Social Pacts Institutionalized in Ireland but not Korea?” paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Western Political Science Association, Los Angeles, CA, March 2013.

“The Anthropology of Austerity in the EU: the Irish Case,” paper presented at the Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies Speaker Series on European Studies, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, March 7, 2013.

Teaching International Studies through Soccer,” invited talk to the Claremont International Studies Education Project Institute, Claremont, CA, November 14, 2012.

“Teaching International Studies through Soccer,” paper presented as part of the Sports, Diplomacy and Globalization Speaker Series, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, March 5, 2012.

“The 2011 Women’s World Cup: Lessons Learned?,” invited talk at the European Union Center, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, November 10, 2011.

“The Irish State’s Swiss Army Knife,” Keynote Address at the Southern California Irish Studies Colloquium, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, October 29, 2011.

“The Competition State, Clientelism, Social Partnership and the Rise and Fall of the Celtic Tiger,” paper presented at the Southern California Irish Studies Colloquium, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, October 29, 2011.

“The German Hartz Reforms in Comparative Perspective,” paper delivered at Rocky Mountain European Scholars Consortium, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, October 20, 2011.

“Crony Socialism: Fianna Fáil  and FÁS 1987-2011,” paper presented at the Southern California Irish Studies Colloquium (SCISC), University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, October 29, 2011.

“Through a Soccer Prism: What World Cup and Champions League Soccer Teaches Us about Contemporary Europe,” Keynote Speech, Rocky Mountain European Scholars Consortium, Salt Lake City, UT, October 23, 2010.

“The Malleable Politics of Activation Reform: The German ‘Hartz’ Reforms in Comparative Perspective,” paper presented at the European Union Studies Association 11th Biennial International Conference, Los Angeles, CA, April 2009. With Wolf Schünemann.

Grants, Awards, & Honors

Scholar Rescue Fund grant from the Institute of International Education to support Egyptian scholar Mona Prince Radwan’s visiting professorship, 2014-15.

Grant from Bringing Theory to Practice for the Pitzer Global Local Mentorship Project. With Tessa Hicks Peterson, Brian Carlisle and Barbara Junisbai, 2014-15.

California Community Foundation BLOOM grant for the Pitzer Reintegration Academy, a program designed to help parolees pursue their post-secondary school education. With Renford Reese, Summer 2014.

In June–July 2013, Professor Nigel Boyle (Political Studies; Institute for Global/Local Action & Study), Pitzer students and graduates Lillian Barrett-O’Keefe ’15, Elizabeth Bartolini ’12, Morgan Beazley ’15, Keiko Budech ’14, Tara Rothe ’13 and nine local school teachers participated in a five-week study-tour of Nepal, funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad grant.

Senior Fulbright Fellowship to Germany to conduct research on the Hartz labor market reforms, Universität Koblenz-Landau (Landau campus), 2008-2009.

Research Associate, The Policy Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, 2005-present.

Videos

Page last updated on December 4, 2023