Matthew C. Nowlin

Beliefs Updating Through Information Processing

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0500

What Beliefs Are Central in the Climate Change Belief System Network?

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0500

The Other Public Lands: Preservation, Extraction, and Politics on the Fifty States’ Natural Resource Lands

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Cultural Theory, Political Ideology, and Burden Tolerance: The Role of Core Beliefs in Shaping Support for Administrative Burdens

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Behaving Sustainably: Cultural Cognition, Environmental Orientation, and Pro-Environmental Behavior

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Deciding Who Decides: Trust and Support for Elected Official, Expert, and Citizen Decision-Making Regarding Nuclear Waste Management

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Sea-Level Rise Adaptation and Collaboration in Polycentric Governance: A Comparison of Three Regions

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Can We Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S.?

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Environmental Policymaking: Process and Evolution

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Learning and Uncertainty: Information Environments and Policy-Oriented Learning

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Environmental Policy, Politics, and Polarization

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Institutions and Actors in US Climate Policy

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Identifying Barriers Preventing Stormwater Pond Buffer Implementation in Coastal South Carolina

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Policy Beliefs, Belief Uncertainty, and Policy Learning Through the Lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Teaching Quantitative Methods to Students of Public Policy

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Beliefs about Climate Change

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Determining Patterns of Routine Weather Information Usage and Their Demographic Determinants

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0600

Technical Issues and Engagement Processes: Support for Citizen and Expert Deliberation Regarding the Management of Nuclear Waste

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0600

The Internal Dynamics of ‘Scaling Up’ Deliberative Mini-Publics

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Deliberative Processes as a Tool for Stakeholder Engagement

Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Climate Science or Politics? Disentangling the Roles of Citizen Beliefs and Support for Energy in the United States

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0600

Advocacy Coalitions and Political Control

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0600

Who Should ‘Do More’ about Climate Change? Cultural Theory, Polycentricity, and Public Support for Climate Change Actions across Actors and Governments

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0600

Social Capital and Hurricane Warning Response

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Policy Learning and Information Processing

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0600

Political Beliefs, Views about Technocracy, and Energy and Climate Policy Preferences

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0600

Public Attribution of Responsibility for Disaster Preparedness across Three Levels of Government and the Public: Lessons from a Survey of Residents of the U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf Coast Areas

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0600

Revenue Use and Public Support for a Carbon Tax

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 -0500

A Cultural Theory of Partisanship and Policy Attitudes

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600

Place, Values, and Public Opinion About Climate Change in South Carolina

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600

Public Opinion About Climate Change in South Carolina

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 -0500

Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Politics

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0500

Carbon Tax and Public Opinion

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0500

Tracking the Nuclear ‘Mood’ in the United States: Introducing a Long-Term Measure of Public Opinion about Nuclear Energy Using Aggregate Survey Data

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0500

‘Hot Rocks that Shoot Ghost Bullets’: Native American Perceptions of a Nuclear Waste Facility

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0600

Environmental Policymaking in an Era of Climate Change

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0600

Improving Governance of Risk and Uncertainty

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0600

The Policy and Politics of Climate Change

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0500

Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy, and Public Administration

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0500

Understanding Climate Change

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0500

Cultural Theory and Managerial Values: Examining Trust as a Motivation for Collaboration

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0600

Modeling Issue Definitions using Quantitative Text Analysis

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0600

Policy Change, Policy Feedback, and Interest Mobilization: The Politics of Nuclear Waste Management

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0600

Partisanship, Information, and Public Opinion about Yucca Mountain

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 -0600

Weather, Climate and Worldviews: The Sources and Consequences of Public Perceptions of Changes in Local Weather Patterns

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Reconsidering the Relationship Between Cultural Theory, Political Ideology, and Political Knowledge

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Reversing Nuclear Opposition: Evolving Public Acceptance of a Permanent Nuclear Waste Disposal Facility

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Theories of the Policy Process: State of the Research and Emerging Trends

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Excerpted in: Theodoulou, Stella Z., and Matthew A. Cahn (eds). 2013. Public Policy: The Essential Readings. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Pearson, 190–195.

The Implementation of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative to Individuals Receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Bio & C.V.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington.

My research and teaching interests are in public policy, with a specific interest in environmental policy and politics. My work includes such areas as theories of the policy process, policy learning, belief systems (specifically cultural theory), deliberation, climate change, energy, and natural hazards.

Download C.V. (PDF)

Academic Appointments

2025–present: Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington
2022–2025: Director of the Master of Public Administration program, College of Charleston
2019–2025: Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston
2013–2019: Assistant Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston
2008–2013: Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Applied Social Research, University of Oklahoma

Academic Affiliations

2024–present: Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, University of Oklahoma
2017–2021: Faculty Affiliate, Sustainability Literacy Institute, College of Charleston
2014–2019: Research Fellow, Center for Public Choice and Market Process, College of Charleston

Education

2013: Ph.D., Political Science, University of Oklahoma
Fields: Public Policy, Public Administration, American Politics
2008: M.A., Political Science, University of Central Oklahoma
Emphasis: Public Affairs
2003: B.A., Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma

Research Funding

Co-PI

2023–2026: Flipping the Cages on Sustainable Aquaculture: A Study on Oyster Aquaculture Technique and Policy to Reduce Pathogens. Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Co-PI with Sarah Pedigo (Lead PI), Matthew Gorstein, Peter Kingsley-Smith, and Mike Marshall. $361,000. Project page
2021–2023: Studying How Things Fall Apart: Exploring Municipal Services System Failures to Help Develop Science-Based Decision-Points in South Carolina Coastal Communities. NOAA Climate Program Office, Adaptation Sciences Program. Co-PI with Susan Lovelace (Lead PI), Kirstin Dow, Matthew Gorstein, Landon Knapp, Norm Levine, Robert Merchant, Abi Locatis Prochaska, Sarah Watson, and Alicia Wilson. $298,218.
2016–2018: Can Deliberative Discussions Lay a Foundation for Integrated Decision-Making Networks? Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Co-PI with Susan Lovelace and Justin Reedy. $259,414.

Lead PI

2018–2019: Stakeholder Collaboration in Climate Change Planning and Decision-Making Networks. Center for Public Choice and Market Process, School of Business, College of Charleston. $5,040.
2018: Risk, Resilience, and Environmental Justice. Sustainability Literacy Institute, College of Charleston. $3,000.
2017–2018: Public Support for a Carbon Tax to Address Climate Change. Center for Public Choice and Market Process, College of Charleston. $7,000.
2017: Institutional Diversity in Dealing with Sea-Level Rise in South Carolina. Sustainability Literacy Institute, College of Charleston. $2,000.
2016–2017: The Political Economy of Climate Change Governance in the United States. Center for Public Choice and Market Process, College of Charleston. $7,000.
2014–2015: Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change in South Carolina’s Coastal Communities: An Approach using Cultural Cognition and Deliberative Polling. South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. $25,000.
2014–2015: Congressional Hearings and the Collection of Information: Committee Chairs and the Politics of Climate Change. Center for Public Choice and Market Process, College of Charleston. $7,000.
2014–2015: Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change in Charleston: An Approach using Cultural Cognition and Deliberative Democracy. With Lorna Parkinson. Student/Faculty Research Development Funding, Master of Environmental Studies Program, College of Charleston. $2,500.

Academic and Professional Conferences

APSA: American Political Science Association — 2014, 2016, 2018–2019, 2023
MPSA: Midwest Political Science Association — 2009–2012, 2014–2019, 2021–2022, 2025
WPSA: Western Political Science Association — 2015, 2019, 2021
COPPR: Conference on Policy Process Research — 2023–2024
IWPP: International Workshops on Public Policy — 2022
Other: Social Coast Forum (2018, 2020, 2024); Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference (2016); Public Choice Society (2014); Used Fuel Management Conference (2014); National Nuclear Fuel Cycle Summit (2012)

For publications and invited talks, see Writings.

Contact

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Email: matthew.nowlin@uta.edu
Department: Department of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington
C.V.: Download C.V. (PDF)
Google Scholar: scholar.google.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-0513-3756
OSF: osf.io/j7nbz
GitHub: github.com/mnowlin

Teaching

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Courses Taught at UTA

Undergraduate

Government of the United States — Syllabus (PDF)
Energy and Environmental Policy — Syllabus (PDF)

Graduate

Making Public Policy — Syllabus (PDF)

Teaching Resources

Jenkins-Smith, Ripberger, Copeland, Nowlin, Hughes, Fister, and Wehde. 2017. Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy, and Public Administration. An open-access textbook.
Nowlin and Wehde. 2024. “Teaching Quantitative Methods to Students of Public Policy.” In Handbook of Teaching Public Policy.