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:
Dianne Bystrom, director emerita, was interviewed on May 16 by Omaha television station KETV for a story on the 27% voter turnout for the May 14 primary election in Nebraska. Bystrom noted that the photo voter ID law passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 2023 may have had a chilling effect on turnout in the 2024 primary – the first election the requirement was in effect.
Carrie Ann Johnson, associate director for outreach and communication, participated in the Iowa Civic Engagement panel at the Iowa History Conference on June 6 at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines. She was a co-author of the article “Department Chairs as Change Agents: A Virtual Cross-institutional Professional Development Model for Chairs,” published in the June issue of Innovative Higher Education.
Karen M. Kedrowski, center director, was interviewed on May 31 by Laryssa Leone of Local 5 News regarding the verdicts in former President Trump’s hush money trial. On June 3, Kedrowski was interviewed by Jonathan Mann of KDSN Radio for a podcast about American women voters distributed in the United Arab Emirates. On June 4, she was interviewed by Jason Clayworth of Axios Des Moines on the 3rd district congressional race and Democratic primary. On May 31, she was interviewed by Andrew Smith of the Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs) on young candidates running for local office. On June 12, she was interviewed by Ty Rushing from Iowa Starting Line on the impending six-week abortion ban in Iowa, and also appeared on Iowa Public Radio’s River to River. On June 27, Kedrowski was interviewed by Sklyar Tallal of KGAN on the impeding Iowa Supreme Court decision on the six-week abortion ban, and by Dana Searles of WOI-TV about that night’s presidential debate.
Kedrowski received the 2024 Mildred Throne & Charles Aldrich Scholarly History Award from the State Historical Society of Iowa for her article, “’It’s My Greatest Desire Before I Die to be in the Iowa Constitution’: Iowa and the Equal Rights Amendment.” The award, which recognizes the author of the most significant article on Iowa history in a professional history journal during the previous calendar year, was presented during a ceremony at the State Historical Society Museum in Des Moines on June 14. Also in June, Kedrowski published a book chapter, “Embracing the Politics of the Possible: Voter Engagement at an R1 Institution,” in Abraham Goldberg and Carah Ong Whaley, editors, “Leaning Into Politics: Higher Education and the Democracy We Need,” published by Information Age Press.
Amber Manning-Ouellette, a lecturer in leadership studies at Iowa State from 2015 to 2018, was recently promoted to associate professor with tenure at Oklahoma State University, where she holds the endowed Anderson, Farris and Halligan Professorship for College Student Development and serves as a Hargis Leadership Faculty Fellow.
In June, Manning-Ouellette was one of 25 participants selected to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities Institute titled “Unpacking the History of Higher Education,” which featured interactive workshops led by project scholars on such topics as student activism, women in higher education, federal policy, the legacy of slavery, student affairs, historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, internationalization, and town-gown relationships.
Manning-Ouellette and Cameron Beatty – a lecturer in leadership studies at Iowa State from 2013 to 2016 – are co-editors of “Moving Towards Action: Centering Anti-Racism in Leadership Learning,” which is currently in press. Beatty is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Florida State University.
Clare Vilmont, a 2024 alumna in public relations and political science, has accepted a position as a media planner for Dentsu at their Bentonville, Arkansas, office. Vilmont was the Catt Center’s public relations/events planning intern in 2022-2023 and a 2023-2024 Phyllis Davis Legacy of Heroines scholar.