ZOE C. WALKER, Ph.D.
Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Race and Ethnic politics in the department of political science at the University of Rochester.
My book project, American Dreams, Racial Realities, explores divisions in Black public opinion about access to opportunity and the rewards of hard work within a broken system, revealing how narratives of progress constrain political imagination and limit the possibilities for social transformation in America.
My broader research agenda investigates the relationship between American Exceptionalism and attitudes about inequality. My work has appeared in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. My research has been supported by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Political Science Association, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
I received my Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 2025 and my B.A. in political science and English from the University of Notre Dame in 2019.
