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Liz Sperber

Liz Sheridan Sperber

Associate Professor

elizabeth.sperber@du.edu

303-871-2743 (Office)

https://du.digication.com/sperber/home

Personal

Sturm Hall, 2000 E. Asbury Ave. Denver, CO 80208

What I do

Sperber is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Denver, where she studies how people learn to participate in—and sustain—democracy. Both her teaching and research reflect her interest in how collective identities and moral worldviews shape democratic life. She studies this through two main lines of inquiry: one focused on religion and politics in Africa, and another focused on youth civic identities and engagement, both in the U.S. and abroad. More details about her research can be found at: https://du.digication.com/sperber/home

Sperber's research has received awards from the American Political Science Association (2018, 2025), Columbia University, and Brown University. It is published in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, British Journal of Politics (forthcoming), Journal of Religion in Africa, Journal of Politics and Religion, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of International Social Welfare, and the American Journal of Public Health, among others.

At DU, Sperber is affiliated with DU’s Pluralism and Freedom of Expression Initiative and Joint Doctoral Program in the Study of Religion. She is also a member of the Democratic Erosion Consortium and an affiliate of the Barney Ford Lab for Civic Thought and Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2025-6, Sperber will be on sabbatical conducting research as a Benson Center Sabbatical Research Fellow at CU-Boulder.

Professional Biography

Dr. Sperber hails from the state of New York. Thanks to amazing public school teachers, a Pell grant, and generous financial aid, Sperber earned her BA in History, English, and Africana Studies at Brown University with high honors. She completed her MA, M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Comparative Politics at Columbia University, and has held research fellowships at NYU (2016-7) and the University of Notre Dame's Kellogg Institute for International Studies (2020).

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Political Science, Columbia University, 2016
  • M.Phil., Political Science, Columbia University, 2011
  • BA, History; Africana Studies; Literatures & Cultures in English, Brown University, 2006

Research

For details on my research, please see https://du.digication.com/sperber/research