About | My Site

Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan. In the Fall of 2026, I will start as an Assistant Professor of political science at the University of Rochester. My research and teaching interests broadly include American politics, Black politics, inequality, and public opinion.

My book project, When Hard Work Isn’t Enough, uses mixed methods to examine heterogeneity in Black public opinion about the American Dream. In a departure from existing work, I consider how Black opinion is shaped by American exceptionalism. I show that Black people who believe upward mobility is achievable in America for anyone who works hard are both less likely to attribute racial disparities to structural racism and are less supportive of policies that call for wealth redistribution. This project and my broader research agenda interrogate how widely-held American values perpetuate myths about inequality.

My work has been supported by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (Ford Predoctoral Fellowship), the American Political Science Association (Minority Fellowship), and the Russell Sage Foundation (Dissertation Grant). My co-authored research has appeared in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.

I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana and earned my B.A. in political science and English from the University of Notre Dame in 2019.

Email: zcwalker [at] umich [dot] edu