Steve Greene is a professor of political science at NC State. His research interests include psychological approaches to voting behavior, partisanship, and public opinion, especially with regards to gender differences, abortion, and the impact of parenthood. He is originally from Springfield, Virginia, about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. Greene studied political science and history as an undergraduate at Duke University before moving to Ohio State to earn his Ph.D. When he is not studying political science, Greene enjoys jogging, playing with his four kids, coaching soccer, playing guitar and piano, photography, and nature, especially birds. Greene and Lisa Parks serve as Park Faculty Scholars for the Class of 2022.
What is the best part about being a professor at NC State?
The students! I love my students from the great conversations we have about politics in class, to mentoring students in detail on senior honors theses, to just having casual conversations about sports, books, movies, TV, or whatever.
What is something all Park Scholars should know about you?
I love, love, love learning new things. I’m also a huge extrovert and always looking for a good conversation on almost anything.
What inspired you to become a Park Faculty Scholar?
I had a lot of Park mentees through the years and it was, invariably, a terrific experience. The opportunity to be fully engaged in the Park Scholarships program and get to work with a whole class of Park Scholars was one I jumped at.
Share a fun or inspiring story about a Park Scholar.
One of my favorite Park Scholars, Neel Mandivilli ’15, never even had a class with me. He was a political science major and we started having conversations about politics that evolved into the most interesting conversations I’ve had about recreational soccer, another great interest of mine. Since Neel works on campus, we still have great occasional conversations on politics, life, soccer, and all sorts of subjects.
Which Park experience are you most excited about?
Learning Lab II was amazing. So much fun to be on a multi-day trip to D.C. where we got to have so much time together and got to learn so much. And I can hardly wait for Senior Retreat.
What has been the most surprising or challenging aspect of your involvement with the Park Scholarships program so far?
These are 36 really different individuals in the Class of 2022. Trying to support them and serve as a Park Faculty Scholar in ways that benefit all of them is not always easy.
What is one thing someone might not know about Park Scholars?
Given all their accomplishments, I think some people look at Park Scholars as almost superhuman. But they have the same struggles, frustrations, weaknesses, etc., as everyone else. They just manage to accomplish great things at the same time.
What advice would you offer to Park Scholars?
It’s OK to be wrong and it’s OK to fail. We learn from these things. The issue is not failure, but how we learn from it. It’s also OK to try different things and change course. Some of the absolutely most successful people are doing things totally different from what they were doing or thought they would do when they were 18-22 years old.
Learn more about Dr. Greene