Susan E. Howell
Professor

Susan E. Howell
Department of Political Science
University of New Orleans
2000 Lakeshore Drive
327 Liberal Arts Building
504-280-6057 (Phone)
504-280-3838 (Fax)
sehowell@uno.edu

Areas of Specialization: American Public Opinion, Voting Behavior, and Survey Research

Professor Howell's current research interests include approval of mayors, race and racial attitudes, hurricane evacuation behavior, and citizen recovery post-Katrina. Her book, Race, Perfomance and Approval of Mayors (forthcoming with Palgrage Macmillan) describes how race and perceptions of performance interact to produce an individual's evaluation of the mayor. The four-city project was funded by the National Science Foundation. She has also published articles in the Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Political Behavior, The Polling Report, Urban Affairs Review, and a few others.

Dr. Howell also served as Director of the UNO Survey Research Center which conducts academic and public interest surveys. The SRC is best known for its biennial Quality of Life Surveys which began in 1986. However, following Katrina the SRC has substituted a Citizen Recovery Survey series to assess how citizens living in this metro area are coping with life in the new environment and their evaluations of government services. Prior to Katrina, the SRC had just completed a comprehensive study of evacuation behavior in twelve parishes which was being used as the basis for a public education campaign on the necessity for evacuation.

Dr. Howell retired in May 2007.