Kumar Ramanathan

Kumar Ramanathan is a Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on how law and public policy shape inequality in the U.S., with emphases on civil rights, urban politics, and immigrant politics. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University (2023), an MA from Northwestern (2018), and a BA from Tufts University (2015).

His book manuscript, Building a Civil Rights Agenda: The Democratic Party and the Origins of Racial Liberalism, examines the role of northern Democratic Party coalitions in shaping civil rights legislation. His work has been published in journals like Urban Affairs Review and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics.

Ramanathan’s research also includes projects on gentrification’s impact on policing experiences, factional conflict in Chicago’s City Council, and the intersection of civil rights law with social welfare policy. He has received awards such as the APSA Politics and History Section Honorable Mention and the American Bar Foundation’s Robert O. Hetlage Prize.

His teaching experience includes courses on Chicago politics, urban politics, and civic engagement. He actively contributes to academic service, including roles in professional associations like the American Political Science Association and Social Science History Association.