Dr. Carman joined the SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Political Science in Fall 2014. Previously, from Fall 2010 – Spring 2014, he was a Visiting Instructor of Political Science at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA. Dr. Carman earned his Ph.D. from Binghamton University, where he specialized in American Politics, generally, and the courts, in particular.

Dr. Carman’s book, Making Good Law or Good Policy?: The Causes and Effects of State Supreme Court Judges’ Role Orientations, draws from political science and social psychology in order to examine the effect that judicial role orientations — or judges’ beliefs about what should properly be allowed to influence their decisions — has on judicial decision-making. Data for the project, in part, comes from a nationwide survey of the entire population of state supreme court judges.

Since Fall 2015, Dr. Carman has served as the advisor for the Epsilon Lambda Chapter of the Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, for which he received the Fraternity/Sorority Advisor of Excellence Award in Spring 2017. He has also served as the advisor for the Student Association Constitutional Court; as a chair or member of various committees, subcommittees, and task forces; as a faculty senator; and as the secretary of the Faculty Senate.