Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science

Ashley D. Ross

Associate Professor
Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science

E-mail: ashleydross@tamug.edu

Phone: +1 (409) 740.4485

Fax: +1 (409) 740.4429

Ocean and Coastal Studies Bldg., Office 358

Google Scholars Page

Learn more about Ashley D. Ross

Get To Know Ashley D. Ross

What in your life drew you to your current field of study?

I am a political scientist turned hazard scholar. My graduate training focused on the comparative politics of Latin America with emphasis on public policy and administration. It was not until completion of graduate coursework and my dissertation on public service provision in Mexico that I began to engage in hazards and disasters scholarship. This change was prompted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I recognized the governance challenges surrounding response and recovery to the spill were similar to public service provision in the developing world – both must balance fiscal and human capital constraints within prescribed institutional bounds while addressing underlying social and infrastructure vulnerabilities. Both fields also involve high stakes as human well-being is dependent upon the outcome. Encouraged by this connection to my graduate studies, I made a deliberate choice to transform my scholarship to focus on the critical issue of local disaster resilience.

What do you hope your students gain from studying or working with you?

I believe universities have an obligation to mentor and train the next generation of thinkers. Whether our students pursue academic careers or positions in the public or private sector, they become leaders in community. To be good leaders, we should provide them with a knowledge and skill base to make sound, evidence-driven decisions. Research experiences train them to systematically tackle problems using evidence.

What are you passionate about in your personal life?

I love spending time with my family, taking walks on the beach, and listening to live music with my husband. Every day, I try to find the beauty in the world around us and spread a little kindness.

Publications

Rouse, Stella M. and Ashley D. Ross. Forthcoming. The Politics of Millennials: Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences of America’s Most Diverse Generation, University of Michigan Press.

Ross, Ashley D. 2016. Perceptions of Disaster Resilience among Gulf Coast Emergency Mangers. Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy, 7(1): 4-24.

Ross, Ashley D. and Stella M. Rouse. 2015. Economic Uncertainty, Job Threat, and the Resiliency of the Millennial Generation’s Attitudes toward Immigration. Social Science Quarterly, 96(5): 1363-1379.

Ross, Ashley D. 2014. Local Disaster Resilience: Administrative and Political Perspectives. New York: Routledge.

Escobar-Lemmon, Maria C. and Ashley D. Ross. 2014. Does decentralization improve perceptions of accountability? Attitudes in response to decentralization in Colombia. American Journal of Political Science, 58(1): 175-188.

Ross, Ashley D. and Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon. 2011. The Price of Personalizing Politics: Political Distrust and Economic Performance in Latin America, 1996-2006. Electoral Studies, 30(3): 406-416.

Taylor-Robinson, Michelle M. and Ashley D. Ross. 2011. Can Formal Rules of Order be Used as an Accurate Proxy for Behaviour Internal to a Legislature? Evidence from Costa Rica. Journal of Legislative Studies, 17(4): 479-500.

Ross, Ashley D., Stella M. Rouse, and Kathleen A. Bratton. 2010. Latino Representation and Education: Pathways to Latino Student Performance. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 10(1): 69-95.

Presentations

March 2018: "The Forgotten Communities of Hurricane Harvey: Filling in Gaps in the Conceptualization of Disaster Resilience." Northern European Conference on Emergency and Disaster Studies. Amsterdam, Netherlands. With Lauren Clay.

January 2018: “Millennials and Public Opinion on Climate Change.” Southern Political Science Association Conference. New Orleans, LA. With Stella M. Rouse.

January 2016: “Environmentally-Minded: The Attitudes of Latinos about Climate Change,” presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico. With Stella M. Rouse.

November 2015: “Perceptions of Resilience among Coastal Emergency Managers,” presentation at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management 2015 Fall Research Conference, Miami, Florida.

January 2015: “Unpacking Disaster Resilience in Rural Communities,” presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, Louisiana. With graduate student, Steven Perry.

November 2014: “Building Disaster Resilience: Lessons from the Gulf Coast,” presentation at the Restore America’s Estuaries 7th National Summit on Coastal and Estuarine Restoration and 24th Biennial Meeting of the Coastal Society, National Harbor, Maryland.