Rodolfo Espino will join the faculty in August 2004. He received his B.A from Luther College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Espino’s primary research and teaching interests are in the fields of minority politics, political behavior, and political methodology. His dissertation focuses on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Latino representation in Congress, specifically focusing on how institutional and electoral forces both hinder and facilitate the representation of Latinos. He is presently engaged in a number of research projects, some of which include an examination of Latino political empowerment, the campaign rhetoric of Latino candidates and Spanish political campaign ads, and the political behavior of whites in response to Latinos. Aside from research on Latino politics, he is also conducting work that examines bias in survey item response as well as the composition of congressional committees.