Stephen Orvis
Professor of Government Emeritus (retired)
Having joined the faculty in 1988, Professor of Government Steve Orvis studies comparative politics with an emphasis on Africa. He has served as an international election observer in Kenya’s transitional elections to democratic rule and twice led Hamilton students on the Kenya Field School. In addition to numerous articles on rural development in Kenya and African democratization, he authored The Agrarian Question in Kenya and co-authored the textbook Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts and Cases in Context. Orvis’ teaching earned him Hamilton’s Comfort and Channing Richardson Award for Pedagogical Innovation, and he was appointed as a guest scholar at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and as a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Pembroke College. From 2012 to 2016, he served Hamilton as associate dean of students for academics. Orvis earned his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and his master’s degree and doctorate at the University of Wisconsin.
Recent Courses Taught
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Writing About Diversity in America (First-year Course)
Politics of Africa
Poverty and Development
Democracy and Diversity
Distinctions
- Levitt Center student-faculty collaborative research award, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013
- Visiting Fellow, Pembroke College, Oxford University, 2005
- Emerson grant for student-faculty collaborative research, 1999, 2003
- Comfort and Channing Richardson Award for Pedagogical Innovation, Hamilton College, 2002
- Hewlett Grant for Diversity Pedagogy, 2001-02
Selected Publications
Books:
- Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts and Cases in Context (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2014), 3rd Edition, with Carol Drogus.
- The Agrarian Crisis in Kenya. University Press of Florida, 1997.
Articles and anthology chapters:
- “Conclusion: Bringing Institutions Back in to the Study of Kenya and Africa,” Africa Today, Vol. 53. no. 2, winter 2006 (special issue on Kenya)
- “Kenyan Civil Society: Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide?” Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 41, no. 2, 2003
- “Moral Ethnicity and Political Tribalism In Kenya’s Virtual Democracy,” African Issues, Vol. XXIX, nos. 1 & 2, 2001
Selected Book Reviews:
- Makau Mutua. Kenya’s Quest for Democracy: Taming Leviathan. Political Science Quarterly, 2009.
- Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o. Contending Political Paradigms in Africa. Rationality and the Politics of Democratization in Kenya and Zambia. African Studies Review, September. 2007.
- M. Silberschmidt: Women Forget That Men Are the Masters: Gender Antagonism and Socio-economic Change in Kisii District, Kenya, International Journal of African History, 33, no. 3, (2000): 687.
- K. Kyle: The Politics of Independence in Kenya, African Studies Review, April 2001.
- D. Throup and C. Hornsby: Multi-Party Politics in Kenya, Political Science Quarterly, summer 1999.
College Service
- Associate Dean of Students for Academics, 2012-16
- Ad Hoc Advising Committee, 2013-14
- Ad Hoc Committee on the First-year Experience, 2012
- Government Dept Chair, 2005-09
- Posse Mentor, 2005-06
- Committee on Academic Policy, chair, 2001-03
Appointed to the Faculty
1988Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
M.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison
B.A., Pomona College
