Professor balances teaching, government involvement, family
Aaron Ley, an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Rhode Island, has demonstrated the importance of politics and local government to students for almost 10 years.
After arriving in Rhode Island in 2014, Ley immersed himself in local politics and is currently a member of the Bristol Town Council. He began his career at URI teaching courses on governmental policies and constitutional law. He is also an active participant in political research.
“I’m working on research that’ll help local governments, like environmental policy research,” Ley said. “I’ll bring some of that information to local governments so that they can identify ways of financing environmental projects.”
As the director of URI’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, Ley watches undergraduate and graduate students accelerate in government, non-profit or policy careers. The program entails 36 credits and a capstone project to complete.
“I meet students prior to entering into those careers,” Ley said. “I can mentor them and then help align them with good-paying jobs.”
According to Ley, some students’ capstone projects in the past have demonstrated solutions for homelessness, diversity, equity and inclusion.
The capstone course, required at the end of the program, requires students to do an independent research project. According to Ley, who is currently teaching the capstone course this spring, students can create surveys and collect data to research their chosen topic.
“There’s a lot of energy in some of these students,” Ley said. “They soak everything up.”
URI’s MPA program is currently growing, according to Ley, and they plan to implement an accelerated program for students to receive both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees within five years.
Before his roles as a professor and member of the Town Council in Bristol, Ley served in the military by joining the National Guard at age 17. He grew up in rural Minnesota, where he attended Concordia College in Moorehead, Minnesota.
According to Ley, he served the military until 2003. He became a veteran after a 6-month deployment in Honduras and finished his undergraduate degree. Then he went on to get a Ph.D. in political science at Washington State University.
As an academic, Ley has taught in Arizona, North Dakota and started at URI in 2014.
After arriving in Rhode Island, he quickly immersed himself in the local Democratic Party.
“The thing I like about Rhode Island is it’s so small that you can see your senator all the time,” Ley said. “You can see your member of Congress all the time.”
According to Ley, Rhode Island’s local government is unique because of its municipal powers. There are many individual governing bodies in the state, and conflicts between municipal and state-wide policy making occur often.
Similar to the 3-student housing ordinance in Narragansett, some of Bristol’s ordinances conflict with Rhode Island laws, according to Ley.
Ley resides in Bristol with his wife and three sons; two of whom act and model, according to Ley. All of his son’s given names allude to historical American presidents. His oldest son appeared in a film titled “Birth, Rebirth,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival of 2023. He also appeared on an episode of the CBS “FBI” series in 2022. Ley’s middle son, who models, will likely follow in the footsteps of his older brother and begin acting, according to Ley.
After nine years teaching at the University of Rhode Island, Ley has settled into the small state of Rhode Island contently.
“I’m raising my kids to be ‘little Rhodys,’ they come to campus all the time,” said Ley. “And Bristol is a nice town.”
Ley will continue to serve the Bristol Town Council that he was elected to in 2018. He was recently reelected as a member of the council in the fall of 2022.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction when you’re entering a career where you’re serving the public,” said Ley.