~ RGVRC Affiliate Scholar ~

Kristin A. Goss is a public policy and political science professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. She directs Duke’s Semester-in-Washington program and is a member of the university’s honorary Bass Society of Fellows.

Goss’s research focuses on interest groups and civic engagement in America, focusing on gun politics and policy, gender, and philanthropy. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous articles and book chapters, as well as four books: The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Philip J. Cook; 1^st ed. 2014, 2^nd ed. 2020), Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America (2006), Gun Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Politics, Policy, and Practice (co-edited with Jennifer Carlson and Harel Shapira; 2018), and The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women’s Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice (1^st ed. 2012; 2^nd ed. 2020).

Goss is now at work on a book about elite philanthropy in an age of democratic distress. The book focuses on the role of individual and foundation donors in shoring up democratic norms and institutions in the US. Before entering academe, Goss was on the founding staff of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she served as a senior editor.

She received a bachelor’s with high honors from Harvard College, a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University, and a PhD in political science from Harvard University. Her doctoral study on the political challenges facing gun violence prevention advocates won the American Political Science Association’s award for best dissertation in public policy (2003).