The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics is pleased to recognize the accomplishments and activities of its faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters:
Sawyer Baker recently started a new position as policy and innovation director at Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, an organization that addresses the social determinants of health and the racial equity through healthy housing. Baker, a 2013 graduate in political science and sociology, was an intern on the center’s Women in Iowa Politics Database and Gender Balance Project in 2012-2013 and a Legacy of Heroines scholar from 2011-2013.
Crystal Brandenburgh, a third-year doctoral student in history at Carnegie-Mellon University, was awarded a Princeton University Library Research Grant to conduct four weeks of research in Princeton’s Special Collections. Brandenburgh also recently began a position as assistant social media manager for Nursing Clio, a peer-reviewed blog on the history of gender and health. Brandenburgh, a 2020 graduate in history, was an intern on the center’s Archives of Women’s Political Communication from 2018-2020 and a 2019-2020 Legacy of Heroines scholar.
Dianne Bystrom, director emerita, was among the panelists speaking at “Iowa: Let’s Talk Reproductive Rights” on Nov. 7 at the Willow on Grand in Des Moines. More than 200 people attended the event, which was organized to educate and empower the next generation of advocates on this issue. Bystrom’s remarks drew upon gender and politics research on this issue, and were not made on behalf of the center or university. Panelists included Dr. Deborah Turner, president of the national League of Women Voters, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University in 1973.
Bystrom will present “From Boards and Commissions to Political Office: A Case Study in Gender Balance” on Nov. 19 during the annual convention of the National Communication Association meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. The presentation focuses on Iowa’s gender balance legislation at the state, county and municipal levels, including data collected by the Catt Center, as well as the leadership paths of the 43 women who served in the Iowa Legislature in 2022. Her case study is part of a panel titled “Honoring Her Place at the Table and on the Ballot: Supporting Women to Run and Serve.” Bystrom will also serve as a respondent for papers on news and entertainment and political rhetoric during a Nov. 19 conference session featuring high density research roundtable discussions.
Elyse Davis started a new job as digital and social media coordinator at Chris Hervochon, CPA, CVA LLC in October. Davis, a 2021 graduate in public relations, was the center’s public relations/events planning undergraduate intern for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Karen Kedrowski, center director, gave a presentation on changes to Iowa voting laws to the AAUW of Ames on Sept. 13. At the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting in Montréal, Québec, on Sept. 15, Kedrowski gave a presentation on three chapters that she authored or co-authored for the book “Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond” that was recently published by the American Political Science Association. At the meeting, she also chaired the APSA Civic Engagement Section committee and was appointed to APSA’s Distinguished Award Civic and Community Engagement Honors Committee for 2022-2023.
On Sept. 20, Kedrowski presented the Constitution Day speech on the history of the Equal Rights Amendment at Bridgewater College in Virginia. On Sept. 27, she was the moderator for ISU’s Constitution Day panel “It’s Personal What the Recent US Supreme Court Decisions Mean for Individual Liberties” and on Sept. 30 she was a co-presenter with Iowa State political scientist Steffen Schmidt on “2022 Election Outlook” before the Big 12 Government Relations Conference. She gave presentations on the 50th anniversary of Title IX before the Emmetsburg/Palo Alto chapter of AAUW on Oct. 18 and at the The Way Up Conference in Cedar Falls on Nov. 3-4.
Kedrowski gave a number of media interviews in September and October, including with WOI Local 5 news reporter Khalil Maycock on Sept. 22 and Oct. 19; appearances in Iowa Public Radio’s River to River on Sept. 30 and Oct. 19; with Zachary Oren Smith from IPR on Oct. 13; with Emily Kestel of the Iowa Business Record on Oct. 14; with Kate Riga of Talking Points Memo and Skylar Tallal, statehouse reporter for KGAN, on Oct. 17; with Charity Nebbe of IPR’s Talk of Iowa on Oct. 19; with Zach Fisher from WHO-13 on Nov. 1; with O. Kay Henderson from Radio Iowa on Nov. 2; with Nora Reichart from WOI-TV on Nov. 7; and with Trent Rice from iHeartMedia on Nov. 9.
Clare Vilmont and Ellie Flynn-Snider were among the top six teams of finalists who traveled to Washington, D.C., in June to present their plan to a panel of judges in the 2022 Washington Media Scholars Media Plan Case Competition, and were the youngest to reach the finals in the competition’s 15-year history. Vilmont is a junior in public relations and political science and is the center’s public relations/events planning intern. Flynn-Snider is a sophomore in public relations and data science.