Matthew Holden

Dr. Matthew Holden, Jr., was the Wepner Distinguished Professor in Political Science at the University of Illinois Springfield. 

Dr. Holden came to UIS from the University of Virginia where he was the Henry L. and Grace M. Doherty Professor Emeritus of Politics. In 2009-2015, he concentrated on exchange between contemporary political science and Lincoln studies. He continued new work on (a) energy policy, (b) politics, medicine, and health, (c) the politics of prosecution, and (d) regulatory policy and practice. His later writing and other work focused on on “the practice of power,” exclusion-and-inclusion in political systems, and “diplomatic” models in urban-metropolitan governmental systems. He was the author of five books including Continuity and Disruption (1996) and The Divisible Republic (1973) and more than forty papers in public administration/public policy, politics and law, ethnicity and race relations; urban politics; decision-making, American government; and methodology. He served as past President of the American Political Science Association and President of the Policy Studies Organization. He served as Commissioner of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, 1975-1977 and Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 1977-1981.