Stella M. Rouse is a Professor in the Department of Government and Politics and Associate Director of the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Rouse’s research and teaching interests focus on youth politics, Latino politics, minority politics, state politics, civic engagement, and immigration. She is the author of three books:  Latinos in the Legislative Process: Interests and Influence (Cambridge University Press, 2013), which was voted as one of the best political science books of 2013 by The Huffington Post, The Politics of Millennials: Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences of America’s Most Diverse Generation (co-authored with Ashley Ross), published by Michigan University Press in 2018, and Citizens of the World: Political Engagement and Policy Attitudes of Millennials across the Globe (co-authored with Jared McDonald, Richard N. Engstrom, Michael J. Hanmer, Roberto González, Siugmin Lay, and Daniel Miranda), published by Oxford Universit Press in 2022. She has published articles on the behavior of Latino legislators in congressional committees, how generational and ethnic identities influence climate change beliefs, the effect of electoral structures on minority representation, religion and ethno-racial political attitudes, and Latino representation and education.

Dr. Rouse’s research has been funded by the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation. She has presented her work at such forums as the Brookings Institute, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. She has also written for such media outlets as Politico, the Washington Post, The Hill, The Conversation, Reuters, and NBC News. Rouse is a board member of the Public Religion Research Institute and former board member for the “Women Also Know Stuff” initiative.

Rouse is a native of Colombia. When she was two years old, her parents immigrated to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where she grew up. She fluently speaks, reads, and writes Spanish.