For publishing what has been described as the first comprehensive study of racial and ethnic minorities holding elective office in America at the beginning of the 21st century, UCSB professor of political scientists Pei-te Lien and co-authors have received the 2017 Distinguished Career Book Award from the American Political Science Association’s Race, Ethnicity and Politics section.

Lien and team examined black, Latina/Latino, Native American and Asian American elected officials in state and local governments, and then documented the demographic shifts in governing in their resulting book, “Contested Transformation: Race, Gender and Political Leadership in 21st-Century America” (Cambridge University Press, 2016).