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:
Jaden Ahlrichs, Mariana Gonzalez and Anna Olson are among the recipients of the 2023 Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award from the ISU Alumni Association. The award recognizes outstanding seniors who display high character, outstanding achievement in academics and university/community activities, and promise for continuing these exemplary qualities as alumni. Ahlrichs is a Meylor Family Legacy of Heroines scholar, Gonzalez is a Catt Center intern and a 2022 Women Impacting ISU calendar honoree, and Olson is a Kedrowski and Fitzgerald Family Legacy of Heroines scholar.
Kathryn Burns and Mariana Gonzalez presented “‘That’s Like the Inherent Sexism That We All Deal With’: Women’s Experiences Running for Office” at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on April 14. The presentation featured results of research conducted through the Catt Center’s multi-year undergraduate research initiative. On April 21, Burns, Gonzalez and Ashleigh O’Brien also gave this presentation at the 2023 Ready to Run Iowa workshop held at Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens.
Kathryn Burns, a senior in political science and Spanish and a Kedrowski and Fitzgerald Family Legacy of Heroines scholar, presented her honors research project, “Political Party Polarization and the Impact of Media, 1980-2020,” on May 3 at the Spring 2023 Honors Program poster presentation in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.
Dianne Bystrom, director emerita, participated in three panels at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association held March 29 through April 2 in St. Louis, Missouri. She gave presentations as part of two panels—“Looking Back, Looking Forward: Examining the Elections of 2022 and 2024” and “The Post-Roe Election: Gender in the 2022 Campaigns”—and chaired a panel featuring five chapter authors from a 2022 book she co-edited, “Democracy Disrupted: Communication in the Volatile 2020 Presidential Election.” On April 27, she participated in a virtual panel presentation, “Fearless Focus 2023: Leadership,” sponsored by the Des Moines Business Record. More than 250 people participated in the virtual program featuring a conversation with five Iowa Women Hall of Fame honorees about women in leadership. A recording of the 60-minute program can be viewed here. On April 29, she presented “A Century of Women’s Suffrage: Celebrating the 19th Amendment” at the North Platte, Nebraska, Community Playhouse as part of the Humanities Nebraska speaker’s bureau.
Mariana Gonzalez, a senior in political science and public relations and a Catt Center intern, was interviewed for a March 23 story in USA Today, “DEI came to colleges with a bang. Now, these red states are on a mission to snuff it out.” Gonzalez has accepted an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in the United States.
Peyton Hamel, a senior in English and a Elizabeth Hoffman and Brian R. Binger Legacy of Heroines scholar, presented her honors research project, “The Modern Retelling of Frankenstein,” on May 3 at the Spring 2023 Honors Program poster presentation in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.
Demarquis Heard, a senior in political science and a voting engagement intern with the Catt Center, has been recognized as part of the 2023 ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll, which awards college students doing outstanding work to advance nonpartisan democratic engagement at participating campuses. Members of the honor roll are recognized for their voter registration, education and turnout efforts ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Carrie Ann Johnson, interim research and outreach coordinator for the Catt Center, was awarded the 2023 Karas Award for Outstanding Dissertation from the Graduate College at Iowa State University for her dissertation, “Whisper Networks: Sexual Harassment Protection Through Informal Networks.” This award recognizes excellence in doctoral research at Iowa State, with the two annual winners becoming Iowa State’s nominees to the national competition for the Council of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms International Distinguished Dissertation Award.
Karen Kedrowski, center director, presented a virtual lecture at Northeastern Iowa Community College on March 22 titled “Hard Won, Not Done: The ERA at 100.” On March 31, she presented “Building Institutional Capacity for Civic Engagement” at an event sponsored by Lumina Foundation in Washington, D.C. On April 10, Kedrowski was a guest lecturer in a community nutrition course at Eastern Carolina University, speaking on breastfeeding activism. From April 13-16, she attended the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago, where she participated in roundtables on mentoring in the discipline and moving into administration. She also presented a paper on the symbolic politics of fashion. On April 22 she presented “Hard Won, Not Done: The Equal Rights Amendment at 100” at the spring conference of the AAUW of Iowa in Des Moines. On May 5, Kedrowski spoke about suffrage in Iowa to three classes of 4th graders at Garton Elementary School in Des Moines.
Kedrowski is the recipient of the 2023 LAS Award for Inclusive Excellence. She will be recognized by the college at the LAS Fall Convocation on Thursday, Sept. 7 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.
Ashleigh O’Brien, a senior in women’s and gender studies and an intern on the Archives of Women’s Political Communication, has accepted an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in the United States. This fall, O’Brien will be attending graduate school at George Washington University to earn a dual master’s degree in women, gender and sexuality studies, and public policy.
Anna Olson, a senior in journalism & mass communication and political science and a Kedrowski and Fitzgerald Family Legacy of Heroines scholar, presented her honors research project, “The Teaching of Women’s History in Iowa High Schools,” on May 3 at the Spring 2023 Honors Program poster presentation in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.
Maggie Luttrell Roby received the inaugural Outstanding Leadership Studies Alumni award on May 4 at the Leadership Studies Program year-end event. One of two new awards to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the undergraduate leadership certificate at Iowa State, this award is given to a leadership studies alumnus who has continued leadership and service beyond their time at ISU and in their community. Roby graduated from Iowa State with a Bachelor of Science in history and women’s studies and a certificate in community leadership and public service (now leadership studies) in 2009—the first to earn the certificate—and a Master of Education with a certificate of social justice in higher education in 2011. She was a member of the Catt Associates learning community, a Catt Center intern and a Helen Jensen Howe and Jane Greimann Legacy of Heroines scholar.