About

Kevin R. Kosar, Ph.D., is a researcher and writer in Washington, DC. He has written two books and edited another.

He has published on education policy, governmental and quasi governmental entities, privatization, and government communications and propaganda.

Kosar’s writings have appeared in scholarly and professional journals, such as Presidential Studies Quarterly, Public Administration Review, and Teachers College Record; and in popular media, including The Weekly Standard magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Press, and Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers, and online publications, such as History News Network.

Scholarly Affiliations and Activities

Politique Americaine, Peer Reviewer, February 2009-present

Public Administration Review, Contributing Editor, March 2009-present

Smithsonian National Postal Museum, National Advisory Panel, 2008-present

Journal of School Choice, Editorial Board, 2007-present

The American Review of Public Administration, Peer Reviewer, 2007-present

Public Administration Review, Book Reviewer/Interviewer, 2006-present

Choice, Book Reviewer, 2004-2009

Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Analyst, 2003-present

Teachers College Record, Peer Reviewer/Book Reviewer, 2003-2008

Metro Matters: A Newsletter on Metropolitan Politics and Policy, Editor, 2003-2004

The Texas Education Review, Editorial Board, 2000-2002

Awards and Honors

Presidential Management Fellow, 2003-2005

Judge, San Francisco World Spirits Competition, 2003

Academy of Wine Communications’ wine writer award, 2001-2002

Lynde and Harry Bradley Fellow in Public Policy, New York University, 1997-1998

University Fellow, New York University, 1995-1996

University Fellow, New York University, 1994-1995

Lynde and Harry Bradley Fellow in American Politics, New York University, 1993-1994

Education

BA, political science, Ohio State University, 1993

MA, politics, New York University, 1995

Ph.D., politics, New York University, 2003

Biography

Kevin R. Kosar was born in Akron, Ohio in 1970.  He attended public schools in nearby Silver Lake and Cuyahoga Falls.  After graduating high school, he enrolled at Kent State University for two years, then transferred to the Ohio State University, where he earned his BA from the Honors College, specializing in political philosophy, U.S. constitutional history, and economics.

In 1993, he moved to New York City to attend New York University, receiving University and Lynde and Henry Bradley Foundation fellowships.  In 1995, he earned his MA in political philosophy from the Department of Politics.   From 1996 through 1997, Kosar worked as a program associate at Chess-In-the-Schools, a New York City not-for-profit corporation that helps children in some of New York City’s lowest performing schools.

He then returned to New York University to undertake doctoral studies in political philosophy, U.S. politics, and international relations.  While researching his dissertation, Kosar worked for New York Press newspaper, lectured at the New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and conducted research for the Manhattan Institute and the Hudson Institute.  In 1998, he founded Bully Magazine with Ken Wohlrob, and then created his beverage website, AlcoholReviews.com.

In August of 2002, Kosar was hired to serve as a special assistant to the president of Metropolitan College of New York and lectured in its School for Public Affairs and Administration.  There he edited Bridging the Gap: Higher Education and Career-Centered Welfare Reform (National Urban League/Metropolitan College of New York, 2003).  He completed his dissertation on federal education policy and politics in May of 2003.

Accepted into the Presidential Management Fellows Program, Kosar moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a researcher at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.  While in Washington, he has served as a peer-reviewer for the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History Grant Program and Presidential Academies for American History and Civics programs.  In August 2005, his book, Failing Grades: The Federal Politics of Education Standards (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005), was published.