When I first heard that Brown University professor Jennifer Lawless was going to challenge U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin in a 2006 Democratic primary, I thought it might be an academic exercise.

At age 31, Lawless had never run for public office before, and Langevin was well-financed and popular. But I realized her campaign might have an edge to it when she plopped a lectern in front of Langevin’s campaign headquarters in Warwick. As her news conference began, a green dump truck started moving back and forth in the parking lot, beeping, and then some guy fired up a leaf blower and a lawn mower, letting them run. (Langevin’s campaign said it had nothing to do with it.) Undaunted, Lawless shouted, “I am used to screaming over a classroom of rowdy kids, so I can definitely take on a lawn mower and a truck.”

Now, Lawless is taking on a new challenge, which will make her voice more easily heard in the nation’s capital. This summer, she will become director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University in Washington, D.C. The institute conducts research and provides women with academic training to encourage them to become involved in the political process. So it’s a perfect fit for Lawless, who in 2005 joined Union College professor Richard L. Fox in writing a book called It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office.

“For the last six years, I’ve spent my time trying to figure out how to get more women involved in politics, and now as director of the institute, that won’t be my own little pet project anymore,” Lawless said. “There’s infrastructure and an institute in place to make that happen.”

Lawless submitted her resignation last week on the same day that she received a letter saying she’d been granted tenure at Brown. “It was a good week,” she said. She said she’s been happy at Brown but “this opportunity is simply too incredible to forgo.”

Lawless said that in 2006, early polling showed her trailing Langevin by a wide margin — 11 percent to his 68 percent — but she narrowed the gap, losing with 38.2 percent of the vote to Langevin’s 61.7 percent. She said that provides a lesson for all prospective candidates: Campaigns matter. “Incumbents shouldn’t be running safe. They should be running scared,” she said. “If you are interested and passionate and willing to work hard, you can run for office and you can do well.”

Lawless noted Rhode Island has never had a woman governor or senator, and it hasn’t had a woman in Congress since U.S. Rep. Claudine Schneider left in 1991. While Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts is considering running for governor and state Rep. Elizabeth M. “Betsy” Dennigan is considering running for lieutenant governor, she said, “We are still talking about two women’s names being floated for five statewide positions and two congressional seats. Women are still doing pretty poorly in terms of comprising the candidate pool.” But when women do run, they are just as likely to win as men at the congressional and state legislative levels, she said.

On Thursday, Lawless will chair a Women’s Fund of Rhode Island fundraiser to benefit the Women’s Policy Institute. The event’s title — “Will we ever leave the ’70s?” — signifies that women still make just 77 cents for every dollar made by men, and the event will honor seven women who made significant contributions to Rhode Island in the 1970s: Barbara Colt, Lynette Labinger, Peg Langhammer, Liz Morancy, Mary Ann Sorrentino, Anne Fausto Sterling and Carol J. Young. The event runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Federal Reserve, 60 Dorrance St., Providence. For more information, go to www.wfri.org.

efitzpat@projo.com