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NEWS RELEASE

09-30-02

Contacts:
Kevin Brown, ISU News Service, (515) 294-8986

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY SOURCES ON POLITICS, ELECTIONS

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University faculty experts are available to provide insightful commentary on the upcoming Iowa gubernatorial and statehouse elections, the Iowa caucuses and the presidential election in 2004. They are arranged by topics.

Topics: Civic engagement; cyber (Internet) politics; foreign policy; international politics; judicial politics; national/regional/local elections/campaigns; media and elections; voting and the media; youth voting patterns

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science. Schmidt specializes in congressional and presidential elections. He is a frequent media source who is known for bringing insight and wit to his commentary on American politics and international political issues (he was born in Columbia, South America, and has studied in Colombia, France, and Switzerland). Schmidt hosts "Dr. Politics," a weekly political call-in show on WOI-AM, a National Public Radio affiliate. He is the author of a leading American government textbook.

Office: (515) 294-3825
Home: (515) 382-5240
E-mail:sws@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~sws/

Campaign speeches; civic engagement; gender/women political issues; media and elections; national/regional/local elections/campaigns; TV and negative political advertising; voting and the media; youth voting patterns

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Bystrom has done extensive writing on issues related to women in politics and political advertising. She is researching the styles and strategies used by women and men political candidates in TV advertising and speeches, and the coverage of women candidates and political leaders in the media. She is working on chapters in upcoming books on women in the U.S. Congress, the 2000 election, civic engagement and political communication.

Office: (515) 294-4145
Home: (515) 296-2276
E-mail: dbystrom@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cccatt/

Campaign speeches; effective public speaking; political rhetoric Ray Dearin, professor of English and political science. Dearin studies speech communication, effective speaking, and can talk about the rhetoric of political and campaign speeches.

Office: (515) 294-4826
Home: (515) 233-1510
E-mail: rdearin@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.engl.iastate.edu/faculty/directory/Dearin!.html

Foreign policy; international and national security; international politics

Richard Mansbach, professor of political science. Mansbach specializes in international politics, foreign policy and international security. He is the co-author of "Politics: Authority, Identities and Change." He is a consultant and lecturer on international politics for several federal agencies and organizations.

Office: (515) 294-8726
Home: (515) 268-1934
E-mail: mansbach@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mansbach/

Crisis behavior and international politics; foreign policy; global human rights; international politics

James McCormick, professor of political science. McCormick specializes in American foreign policy and international politics. He is the author of "American Foreign Policy and Process."

Office: (515) 294-8682
Home: (515) 292-0180
E-mail: jmmcc@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jmmcc/

Coalition building; gender/women's political issues; grassroots campaigns; social/women's movements

Jill Bystydzienski, professor of sociology and women's studies. Bystydzienski studies gender and women's issues, particularly as they relate to politics. She researches coalition-building within and between social movements and women's movements and organizations. She is the co-editor of "Democratization & Women's Grassroots Movements" and "Forging Radical Alliances Across Difference."

Office: (515) 294-9733
Home: (515) 292-6456
E-mail: bystydj@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~wsprogram/faculty/bystydzienski.html

Factors/issues that influence voters; independent voters; politics and media; voting and the media

Kim Smith, professor of journalism and mass communication. Smith researches the role and effects of media on the political process. His research has particularly focused on how independent voters use the media to make voting decisions during election campaigns.

Office: (515) 294-0482
Home: (515) 233-6371
E-mail: kimsmith@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.jlmc.iastate.edu/

International economic issues and politics; tax policy (state and national); taxation and politics

Harvey Lapan, university professor of economics. An expert on international trade and finance issues, Lapan was a senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, serving both the Reagan and Bush (Sr.) administrations.

Office: (515) 294-5917
E-mail: hlapan@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/lapan/

Latinos and politics (national/regional/local); minorities and politics

Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies. Avalos specializes in Latinos and their political impact.

Office: (515) 294-0051
E-mail: havalos@iastate.edu

African religions and politics; Islam and politics; minorities and politics

Robert Baum, associate professor of philosophy and religious studies. Baum specializes in Islam, African religions and religion and politics.

Office: (515) 294-0052
Home: (515) 232-3217
E-mail: rbaum@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.las.iastate.edu/news/Baum1009.html

American politics; judicial politics; presidential selection of Supreme Court justices; public policy; U.S. Supreme Court and politics

Christine Nemacheck, assistant professor of political science. Nemacheck specializes in the U.S. Supreme Court, judicial politics, American politics and public policy. She has written on the presidential selection of Supreme Court justices.

Office: (515) 294-5665
Home: (515) 268-8836
E-mail: nemachec@iastate.edu
Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nemachec/homepage.html

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