Congress from the Inside

Dole Fellow Dr. Colleen Shogan is joined by J.T. Jezierski, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Reema Dodin, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), to explore how governing and policymaking work in the nation’s federal legislative bodies.

Dr. Colleen Shogan served as the 11th Archivist of the United States – the first woman to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). She currently serves as a senior fellow at More Perfect and CEO of In Pursuit, an ambitious history-based nonpartisan civics initiative that is identifying the most insightful and timeless lessons from the past 250 years of American history. She also currently serves as a Senior Practitioner Fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. Shogan was recognized at the Dole Institute’s Elizabeth Dole Women in Leadership Lecture in early 2026.

J.T. Jezierski, a native of Weirton, WV, serves as chief of staff to Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). He has served in various roles in Senator Capito’s office, including Legislative Director and Director of Appropriations. Prior to his time in Senator Capito’s office, Jezierski worked for Reps. David McKinley (R-WV), and on the Congressional campaign of Evan Jenkins (R-WV). In the U.S. House of Representatives, Jezierski worked for Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. He also served in the George W. Bush administration at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, and at NASA. Jezierski worked on Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and at DCI Group.

Reema Dodin, a native of Irvine, CA, serves as chief of staff to Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a role she has held since the summer of 2023. Before that, Reema served as a Deputy Assistant to President Biden, as his Senate liaison. Reema also served on the Biden-Harris 2020 transition team, helping build and run legislative planning for the early nominations. For the fifteen years before that, she worked for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), first on his Judiciary team, and then over a decade as his Floor Director, managing his whip operation. On her own time, Reema has volunteered as voter-protection counsel with several campaigns including for Jon Tester, Joe Donnelly, and Obama for America. She is a Munich Young Leader, a Truman National Security Fellow, a New Leaders Council Fellow, an Aspen Socrates alum, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Reema has lectured on the modern Senate at NYU, American University, the University of California, the University of Chicago, Harvard, and Georgetown, and is the co-author of a primer on House and Senate Floor procedures through Brookings publications. She is also the co-executive producer of a short film entitled Tallahassee which premiered at the Black Star Film Festival in 2021 and is a New Yorker Screening Room film.