Elizabeth Sharrow

Elizabeth Sharrow (they/she) is Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and the Department of History (affiliated faculty in the Department of Political Science) and Director of Faculty Research at the UMass Institute for Social Science Research. They specialize in the gendered politics of public policy and how policy has shaped intersectional meanings of sex, race, sexuality, disability, and class in US politics over the past fifty years.

Sharrow’s research interests are in the politics, history, and impacts of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the politics of gender and race in US politics, the politics of the family, and the politics of college athletics. They are co-author of Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sport (Cambridge University Press), which was awarded the 2024 Gladys M. Kammerer Award from the American Political Science Association for the best book on U.S. national policy, and the 2024 Outstanding Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education of the American Educational Research Association. Their scholarship has been published in many scholarly forums, and has been covered in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe. She is principal investigator on a major research report with the Women’s Sports Foundation, Play to Lead: The Generational Impacts of Sports on Women’s Leadership (2024). Her expert commentary is featured in many major journalistic outlets, and in an award-winning, four-part ESPN docuseries on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, 37 Words (available for streaming on ESPN+).

Sharrow’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the American Association of University Women, the American Political Science Association, the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School, the Myra Sadker Foundation, the Gerald Ford Presidential Foundation, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. She currently sits on the editorial board of the American Political Science Review and Politics & Gender.

She teaches courses on the politics of public policy, and gender and race in policy history, and serves on the UMass Public Engagement Project Steering Committee. They currently serve as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Sharrow received their PhD in political science with a minor program in feminist and critical sexuality studies from the University of Minnesota. She holds a master’s in public policy with a focus on gender, law, and sports policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Research interests

Social policy, Title IX, policy history, gender and race in US politics, LGBTQ+ politics and rights, politics of the family, politics of college athletics