The University of Houston-Downtown has wonderful professors dedicated to helping students achieve goals and guiding their next steps. In the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, political science instructor Dr. Eugenia Artabe is one of the many faculty members who make UHD a great place to grow.
As the 2026 spring semester comes to a close, Dr. Artabe discussed her plans for the summer, “ I’ll be spending time with family and traveling to Argentina, where I’m originally from. Professionally, I will be working on research papers and applying for research funding.”
She also touched on research she is in the process of developing, “I am currently working on two projects. One, with Manuela Muñoz (Texas Tech University), examines voter participation in Mexican judicial elections, focusing on how political parties can mobilize voters even in nonpartisan elections. The second project, with Martin Gandur (PhD candidate, Florida State University), explores public support for gender diversification on the Supreme Courts of Argentina and Brazil.”
Dr. Artabe continues, “Additionally, I recently published an article in Political Research Quarterly with Alex Badas (University of Houston) and Lucía Lopez (who recently graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Houston) on how partisanship shapes public attitudes toward state supreme courts in the United States, and a book chapter in The Law and Politics of Constitution Making (eds. Alemán and Soto Velasco), with Gabriel Negretto (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) on Chile’s recent constitutional processes in comparative perspective.”
Her work is structured and holds tremendous impact, as she mentions, “I also have a forthcoming chapter, ‘Democratic Backsliding in Latin America,’ in the Handbook of Latin American Politics (Edward Elgar, 2026), coauthored with Benjamín García-Holgado (University of Delaware).”
UHD summer and fall semester course registration is open, and Dr. Artabe is offering the following courses for interested students. “I will be teaching Texas Government, Federal Government, and a Special Topics course on the U.S. Supreme Court. I am especially excited about the Supreme Court course, where students will explore key approaches to judicial decision-making and the Court’s role within the political system. The course covers topics such as the constitutional foundations of the Court, judicial behavior, public support, and interbranch relations. What I find particularly exciting is that students will apply these ideas to analyze and predict how justices may rule in real and pending cases through a research and presentation project that brings theory into real-world Supreme Court decision-making,” said Dr. Arabe.
