Tim Chambless teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah where he is an Assistant Professor/Lecturer. He teaches American National Government, Political Parties, Constitutional Law, Law and Politics, Mass Communication Law, and Controversial Legal Issues/Post 9/11 Terrorism, and an annual one-week seminar to Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the University of Utah’s Political Science Department, he worked for Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson and Utah Governor Scott Matheson.

Tim Chambless is a former U of U Hinckley intern and the Hinckley Institute’s former Intern Coordinator. He served political internships with the Utah State Legislature, with Utah Congressman Wayne Owens (2nd Dist.) in Washington, D.C, and with Ted Wilson’s campaign for Mayor of Salt Lake City. Also, he served as student host for “Coffee and Politics” (now known as the “Hinckley Forum”) as well as host for “Books and Banter.”

He remembers his introduction to politics was quite early – before First Grade – when his parents bought a television to watch the political party conventions. His mother and father watched intently, and so, he did too. Growing up, he remembered the serious political conversations in the car and across the dinner table. And he remembers actually counting votes as a teenager with his father who served as a poll watcher. In high school he became actively involved in school politics and student government.

Tim became a familiar face in the Hinckley Institute’s caucus room soon after completing a B.A. at UC Santa Barbara. At the time, the U of U was significantly expanding the number of student interns who serve as staff to members of the Utah State Legislature. He says his life changed forever when Hinckley Director J.D. Williams and Coordinator Bae Gardner encouraged him to apply for internships – first to serve with a Republican member of the Utah State Legislature, and then with a Democratic Party member of Congress in Washington, D.C. Those experiences motivated him, later, to work in over 25 political campaigns in Utah.

Subsequently, Tim earned two graduate degrees at the University of Utah where he wrote both his Master’s Thesis and Ph.D. Dissertation on Utahn Jack Anderson. His Thesis “Columnist Jack Anderson, The Secular Evangelist” and Dissertation “Muckraker At Work: Columnist Jack Anderson and the Watergate Scandal” – combined his ongoing interests in politics and government, media and law.

He has worked in government at the City, County, State and Federal levels – and has a great appreciation for those who are public servants. He taught at Salt Lake Community College and at Weber State University before returning to the University of Utah.

Tim has encouraged his students to participate in the governmental process. He sees government service as an honorable duty – essential to a free society. Between 1990-2001 he served on the Board of Adjustment for Salt Lake City (Chair for 9 years), and since 2001 he has served on the Salt Lake City Planning Commission (recently as Vice Chair and Chair).

In addition, he and his family have hosted many international students over the years from 18 different countries who wanted to live in a “typical” American home. All of those students have heard political discussions in the car and across the dinner table!

Tim has been married to Cathy Bushnell Chambless for 37 years, and he is the father of two who are both former Hinckley interns – Ross who recently returned from four years in Japan where he had been teaching English, and Dominique who works for Human Rights Watch in New York City.