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, is the co-author – with Mary Christine Banwart of the University of Kansas – of “Gender and Politics: Changing the Face of Civic Life,” recently published by Peter Lang as part of its Frontiers in Political Communication series. Starting with the most common theoretical approaches, the authors trace the history of women’s right to vote in the U.S., women’s political participation, the political socialization of U.S. citizens, gendered political candidate communication and gendered media coverage. They conclude with an analysis of the 2022 election, lessons learned and existing barriers to set the stage for the 2024 election – which features the first Black woman and first Asian American presidential nominee – and beyond. Banwart is professor of communication studies at KU and a recipient of the Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics in 2000. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Peter Lang.
Karen M. Kedrowski, center director, was interviewed by Dana Searles (WOI-TV) on July 21 about President Biden ending his re-election campaign. On July 22, she spoke with Alex Fulton (Local 5) about what the Democratic National Convention would look like and what Vice President Kamala Harris needed to do in the weeks leading up to the convention. Kedrowski appeared on Iowa Public Radio’s River to River on July 24 with Donna Hoffman, professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa, to discuss the transition from Biden to Harris on the Democratic Party presidential ticket and on Aug. 15 to discuss how the Harris-Walz ticket may impact congressional races in Iowa. On Aug. 6, Kedrowski was interviewed by Jason Clayworth (Axios Des Moines) about the vice presidential pick and whether/how that could affect Iowa’s political atmosphere. On Sept. 3, she was interviewed by Maciej Czarnecki of Gazeta Wyborcza about the upcoming presidential debate and presidential election.
At the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kedrowski participated in the roundtable discussion “Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science” in the Centers of Civic Engagement: Supporting Campuses for the 2024 Elections mini-conference on Sept. 6 and the panel “Leveraging Public Engagement in Divided Times” on Sept. 7. Kedrowski recently published two book chapters, “Embracing the Politics of the Possible” in “Leaning into Politics,” and “Civic Education for the Majority: Centering Women in Civic Education” in “Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics.”
Amber Manning-Ouellette, a lecturer in leadership studies at Iowa State from 2015 to 2018 and currently associate professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership & Aviation at Oklahoma State University, has been appointed interim vice president of student affairs at OSU.
Lissandra Villa De Petrzelka, a 2016 alumna in journalism and mass communication and political science, recently began a position as an editor at NOTUS, a new Washington, D.C., publication from the Allbritton Journalism Institute. Villa De Petrzelka was previously a political reporter at the Boston Globe. She was the 2013-2016 Elverna Christian Legacy of Heroines scholar, an intern on the center’s Archives of Women’s Political Communication from 2014-2015, and an honoree on the 2016 Women Impacting ISU calendar.