When PEARCE EDWARDS ’13 was an undergraduate, he so admired the work of Ralph Carter, Piper Professor of political science, that he wrote a profile of Carter for TCU 360. In fall 2025, when Edwards returned to TCU to join the faculty as an assistant professor of political science, other one-time faculty mentors — including Michael Strausz, professor and department chair, and Eric Cox, associate professor — became colleagues.

“It’s an honor, really. These are tremendous faculty; they’re great teachers, great scholars,” Edwards said. “TCU set the example for me.”

Pearce Edwards took his academic talents to Atlanta’s Emory University for graduate school after honing his organizational skills in the Chancellor’s Leadership Program and Model United Nations as a TCU student. Courtesy of Pearce Edwards

As a TCU student, Edwards cultivated leadership and organizational skills through the Chancellor’s Leadership Program and Model United Nations that would serve him well. He completed a stint with Teach for America before beginning graduate school at Emory University in Atlanta, where he earned a master’s and doctorate in political science.

At Emory, Edwards developed a focus on repression and resistance in authoritarian regimes, particularly in Latin America.

Edwards went on to a postdoctoral fellowship in Pennsylvania and then took a tenure-track faculty position in Louisiana, where he taught for two years.

As a new professor at TCU, Edwards already appreciates how students engage in his political science classes. He’s also a prolific researcher, with more than a dozen publications in peer-reviewed journals in the last four years.

“I’ve always cared about translating my research into the classroom,” he said, and “into interactions with students.”