Marvin Overby has been described as the Political Science department’s "utility infielder" in American Politics, and over the years his expertise has only spread. His research interests range from legislative procedures in the U.S. House and Senate (and Canadian Parliament, too) to the politics of minority groups. And his interests continue to grow.

“One of the scariest things I found in researching Desegregating the Dollar was that as early as the 1930s,” explains Weems, “corporate marketers figured out that black people had an especially acute case of status anxiety” because of their particular history of slavery. Weems’ current project reacts against the conspicuous consumption celebrated in the realm of hip-hop as “bling-bling.”