Dr. Lisa Parshall, a professor of political science, has been promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor at Daemen University, the highest professorial rank awarded to faculty. The Distinguished Professor rank honors faculty members who have achieved distinction in their scholarly discipline and service to the university and society. Dr. Parshall is only the second faculty member to receive this distinction.
Dr. Parshall has authored multiple books, with topics spanning the presidential nominating system, comparative constitutional reform, and administrative politics and law. Her most recent book, In Local Hands: Village Government Incorporation and Dissolution in New York State was published by SUNY Press in 2023. She is also the author of multiple law review articles, book chapters, and policy reports and serves as an assistant editor for the Federal History journal.
In both scholarship and service, Dr. Parshall is a recognized expert in New York State government and municipal reorganization. Since 2018, she has served as a policy fellow for the Rockefeller Institute of Government since 2018 and organizes their annual Local Government Lab conference, bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of state and local governance. In 2024, she was recognized by the American Public Administration Society’s Buffalo-Niagara chapter (ASPA) as an Outstanding Educator in the field of Public Administration.
A past president and current secretary of the Northeastern Political Science Association (NPSA), a past vice president and current section chair for the New York State Political Science Association (NYSPSA), and a current board member of ASPA-Buffalo-Niagara, Dr. Parshall has given extensive service to the discipline. She is a frequent commentator on political events with dozens of print-media interviews for outlets, including Newsday and Newsweek, and has multiple national and international podcast interviews to her credit.
Dr. Parshall has contributed extensive service to Daemen University, having served as President and Vice President of the Faculty Senate and multiple major committees. She was recently appointed as the faculty co-chair for the 2025 Middle States Commission on Higher Education Self-Study and chaired the working group on governance, leadership, and administration. She has also long served in the capacity of campus pre-law advisor.
