Mark Kessler is a Professor of Government and chair of the Department of History and Government. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Pennsylvania State University. He is the coauthor of The Play of Power, winner of the Best Text Award given by the Women’s Caucus of the American Political Science Association for its inclusion and analyses of women and racial minorities in politics,  and the author of Legal Services for the Poor. He has twice won the Pi Sigma Alpha award from the Northeastern Political Science Association for best paper presented at their annual meetings. He teaches courses on constitutional rights, critical legal studies, critical race theory, feminist jurisprudence, and law and social justice. His research interests include law and poverty, law as cultural practice, and the impact of diversity in the legal profession.