Department: Political Science

Areas of expertise:

• Moral issues in politics
• Abortion policy
• Direct democracy (ballot measures)

Ferraiolo teaches courses in American politics and public policy. Her research focuses on the politics of morality policy as well as the use of direct democracy as a policymaking institution in the American states.

Her current projects examine state legislators' approaches to framing abortion restrictions; state lawmakers' responses to successful ballot initiatives; and tobacco control strategies by governmental and nongovernmental groups that are grounded in either denormalization or harm reduction.

Ferraiolo's work has been published in Policy Studies Journal, Politics & Policy, Polity, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Policy & Internet, World Medical & Health Policy, The American Review of Politics, The Journal of Policy History, and Teachers College Record.

She is originally from Connecticut and received her bachelor's degree in political science magna cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusettes. She received her master's and doctorate degrees in government from the University of Virginia.

Ferraiolo is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Alpha Sigma Nu honor societies and she was the 2016 recipient of the James Madison University General Education Distinguished Teacher Award.

Media contact: Chad Saylor, saylorcx@jmu.edu