Lia Howard is a political scientist who specializes in American politics. She has taught at St. Joseph’s University, Villanova University, Eastern University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the SNF Paideia Program, Lia Howard served as the executive director of the Philadelphia Commons Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the practice of civic dialogue. She is a non-resident senior affiliate at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, a non-resident scholar at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, and a senior fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program at Penn. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political culture, American political development, education policy, and citizenship. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania where she also received her B.A. in English and French.