Like many political science professors, Dr. Jonathan Wharton, Stevens Tech Renaissance, is also a published author. But the story behind Wharton’s book has a plot twist unique to academia. It takes us to SigEp’s Residential Learning Community at Stevens Institute of Technology.

When the Stevens Tech Chapter asked Wharton to become a Renaissance Brother, he accepted the invitation, and he went on to become the chapter’s resident scholar and faculty fellow. He mentored undergraduates in the chapter, and asked some of them to assist in research for his dissertation at Howard University. That research is reflected in his recently published book, “A Post- Racial Change is Gonna Come: Newark, Cory Booker, and the Transformation of Urban America.”

Wharton and his new chapter brothers studied the behaviors and attitudes of voters in Newark during the 2002 and 2006 elections. “We met each week for as long as four hours at the chapter house,” Wharton said. “I would buy dinner, and we’d discuss numbers and statistics to see if there was a certain angle to deal with the data we were collecting.”

The research enabled Wharton to successfully defend his dissertation at Howard, and many of his brothers went to Washington, D.C., to share the milestone.

“I was taken aback. My advisor even made a comment about how many students attended the dissertation defense,” Wharton said.

After earning his doctorate, Wharton continued the research for his book with the help of the chapter.

Wharton credits undergraduate Chris Lantz, Stevens Tech ’07, for assisting him in finding a publisher for the book. “We were able to help out a friend and brother,” Lantz said. “There was definitely a sense of pride among the men when they learned that the book was going to be published.”

Wharton has since left Stevens and works as an assistant professor of political science and urban affairs at Southern Connecticut State. He is grateful for the help he received from the Stevens Tech Chapter, and he is thankful to have been able to offer them a unique academic experience.

“I think this process opened them up to understanding the whole graduate level research process,” said Wharton.

“I think it’s rare for any undergraduate to get this experience in a classroom, and these men got the experience inside their Fraternity house.”