Colleen J. Shogan began her Washington career in 2002 as an Assistant Professor of American Government at George Mason University in 2002. Transitioning from academia to government service, her work on Capitol Hill began in 2005 as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in Senator Joseph Lieberman’s office, then as a legislative assistant to Senator Lieberman, where she worked on a variety of policy issues, including defense, appropriations, small business, transportation, and science and technology.

Shogan left the Senate for a management position at the Congressional Research Service where she led the Congress and Judiciary section.
She then served in a senior management position as the head of the Government and Finance Division and as an Assistant Director of the Congressional Research Service. In 2012, she was named the Deputy Director of the Congressional Research Service.

An accomplished researcher and published book author, Shogan wrote The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents, recently named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “top five” books on presidential rhetoric.

Shogan was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow for political science from 1998 to 2001, and a Stennis Congressional Staff Fellow in the 112th Congress. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science, summa cum laude from Boston College and her Ph.D., M.Phil. and M.A. in political science from Yale University. At Georgetown, she teaches a course on American Political Development.