Education

Teaching Interests

Animal Politics and Law

Gender and Politics

Terrorism

The Presidency

Urban Politics and Policy

Statistics and Research Methods.

Research

SCHOLARSHIP:

In Progress:

"Animal Welfare and Rights in Disney Animated Movies," in Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark West edited forthcoming Disney's Menageries.

Book in progress: Dog Politics and Law in the United States.

PUBLISHED PEER REVIEWED BOOKS:

Snakes and American Popular Culture: A Hisstory. McFarland Press 2019.

Increasingly Legal Rights for Zoo Animals: Justice on the Ark, Edited Volume,  Lexington Press 2016.

American Zoos During the Depression: A New Deal for Animals, co-authored with Erik Trump, McFarland Press, 2010.

Political Animals: Public Art in American Zoos and Aquariums co-authored with Erik Trump, Lexington Books, 2007.

The Politics of Zoos: Exotic Animals and Their Protectors co-authored with Erik Trump Cornell University Press, 2006.

PUBLISHED CHAPTERS OF BOOKS:

“Surplus Animals are Being Dealt With,” in Christine Van Tuyl, Ed. Zoos and Animal Welfare  (Greenhaven Press: Detroit, 2008).

“The American Animal.” Co-authored with Erik Trump in Lee Trepanier ed., Democracy, Pluralism & Utah (Southern Utah University Press, 2007).

"Gender and Citizen Participation: Is There A Different Voice?" co-authored with Kay Schlozman, Sidney Verba, and Nancy Burns. In Political Science: Foundations for a Fifth Millennium. 1997.  Edited by Gregory M. Scott.  New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

PUBLISHED PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES:

"The Non Representation of Gender: School Committee Members and Gender Equity." 1999.  Women & Politics, Vol. 20 (3): 65 - 81

"It Doesn't Matter: Some Cautionary Findings About Sex and Representation From School Committee Conversations." 1997. Policy Studies Journal, vol 25, (4): 630 - 647.

"Gender and Citizen Participation: Is There A Different Voice?" co-authored with Kay Schlozman, Sidney Verba, and Nancy Burns.  American Journal of Political Science.  1995.  Vol. 39: 267-293.

"Movement Scholarship and Feminism in the 1980s." 1996.  Women & Politics 16: 61-80. 

PUBLISHED BOOK REVIEWS:

Conserving Endangered Species by Inviting Everyone to the Table,” Review of Irus Braverman’s Wild Life: The Institution of Nature (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2015), forthcoming in Society and Animals, 2016, Vol. 1-2.

Review of The Nature of the Beasts: Empire and Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo. in the American Historical Review, 2014.

"Review of The Year of the Woman: Myths and Realities." 1996.  Women & Politics 16 (4): 115 - 117.

"Review of Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change; Pro-Choice and Anti-Abortion: Constitutional Theory and Public Policy; Abortion Politics in the United States and Canada: Studies in Public Opinion; Abortion Politics in American States;" 1997. Women & Politics 17 (4): 93 - 100. 

PEER REVIEWED CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS:

Popular Culture Association Conference “Animal Welfare and Rights in Disney Animated Films” New Orleans, March 16, 2025.

Popular Culture Association Conference, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Chicago, March 28, 2023. 

Popular Culture Association Conference: “In the Doghouse” San Antonio, 2022

Northeast Political Science Association Conference, “David Brooks: Conservative Interpreter for a Liberal Audience,” Virtual Conference, April 2021.

McMaster University Zoo Workshop, "Back to the Future: The Increasing Elite Access to Exotic Animals," McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, December 2, 2016.

Midwest Political Science Association Conference, “Returning them to the Sea: The Politics of Marine Mammal Reintroductions,” Chicago, April 7, 2016.

Popular Culture Association Conference,  “Enhancing Legal Rights for Zoo Animals,” New Orleans, April 1 2015.

Popular Culture Association Conference, “Close Encounters of the Reptile Kind,” Washington D.C. April 2013.

Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Conference, “Danger! Circus Snakes Escape, Bite and Terrify Audiences,” St. Louis, MO, March 31 – April 3, 2010.

Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Conference, “From the Circus to the Zoo: Gus Knudson, Animal Welfare, and the New Deal,” New Orleans, LA, April 8 – 11, 2009.

American Association of the History of Medicine Conference, “Snakebite: Bringing Antivenin to the United States and Brazil at the Turn of the 19th Century,” Rochester, NY, April 12, 2008.

AZA Annual Conference. “The Politics of Zoos.” Tampa, Fl. September 24, 2006.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, IL “Separation of Church and Zoo: The Politics of Religion and American Zoos.” April 2006.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, Il, “Laws of the Jungle and Sea: Zoos, Aquariums and American Courts,” April 2005.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, Il “The Politics of Public Art in Zoos,” April, 2004.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, IL “Cheetohs Cheetahs and Other Corporate Animals”  April 17, 2002.

Southwestern Social Science Academy, Fort Worth, Texas.  "Children, Children, Children: Reconsidering the Focus on Women's" Policy Concerns in State Legislatures.  March 15, 2001.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago Illinois, "Gender and Special Education." April 13, 1998.

Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, "Committee Talk." Women and Citizenship in the Twenty-first Century," March 13 -15, 1996. 

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, "The Non Representation of Gender:  School Committee Members and Gender Equity." The National Association of Women in Catholic Higher Education, July 13, 1996.

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, "Gender and Citizen Participation: Is There a Different Voice?" April 15, 1994.

Department of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, "Gender and Citizen Participation: Is There a Different Voice?" November, 1993.

INVITED LECTURES:

Invited Talk: Women’s History Month talk on Gender and the 2024 Election. Saginaw, Hoyt Library, March 26, 2025. 

Presenter on a Faculty Roundtable on Misinformation in the Presidential Campaign. October 8, 2024. 

Invited Podcast guest on Kelly Swope’s Podcast on the Zanesville Animal Tragedy, January 2024. 

Invited Talk “Animal Welfare” Creative 360, Midland, Mi, February 7, 2024. 

Invited Presentation: Association of Zoos and Aquariums Annual Meeting, "The Kitty Through the Door: Increasing Legal Rights fo Zoo Animals," September 25, 2018.

Trump and Gender, Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internationales, Buenos Aires, May 8, 2018.

La Historia política de los Zoológicos Estadounidenses , UADE, Buenos Aires, May 8 and 9, 2018.

McMaster Zoo Workshop, "Back to the Future: The Increasing Elite Access to Exotic Animals," McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, December 2, 2016.

Highlights of Research and Creativity Lecture Series, Saginaw Valley State University, MI, “Whiskey for Everyone: Curing Snakebites in the United States, March 27, 2012

Future of Zoos Symposium, Buffalo, New York. February 10-11, 2012.

Detroit Zoological Society, Detroit, “From Good Care to Great Welfare: Advancing Zoo Animal Welfare Science and Policy.” Presentation. August 6-7, 2011.

CRC Research Presentation, Zoo Politics, Midland, February 8, 2011.

Political Science Department Research Presentation, Saginaw Valley State University, April 12, 2011.

Community Engagement

Interview with Kelly Swope on Doge Cutbacks on USDA inspectors and the impact this will have on big cats, May 8, 2025. 

Interview with Radio Station WJR on Harris and the Presidential Election, February 20, 2025. 

Interview with Bloomberg News about Michigan’s 8^th Congressional District on October 6, 2024 

Interview with Steve Carmody of Michigan Public Radio on the 8^th Congressional District, October 22, 2024. 

Interview with the Washington Post about Saginaw, the Economy, and the 2024 Presidential Election, July 30, 2024. 

Interview with MLive about Campaign Visits to the District, April 2024. 

Humane Society of Midland County Board Member, October 2019 - 2022.

Co-Chair of Community Endowment Committee April 2016- January 2019.

Civic Engagement Institute, June 2016 – April 2017.

Civic Engagement Institute, June 2014- June 2015

Interview with Steve Carmody, from Michigan Public Radio about Michigan voters and the presidential election, June 13, 2016.

Organized and Hosted the Ready to Run Conference at SVSU, 2015.

Research Project with SVSU Students for the Animals & Society Institute, Ann Arbor & Washington D.C., 2015-1016.

Research Project with SVSU Students for the National Zoo, Washington D.C., 2013

Interview with Berrie Barber, Saginaw News, Campaign Ads, July 21, 2006 Interview with Barrie Barber, Saginaw News on President Bush, Jan. 20, 2005.

Interview for Channel 12 on Voter Turnout, September 28, 2004.

Interview about election recall issues.  Saginaw News.  July 20, 2003.

Leadership

College of Arts and Behavioral Sciences DEI Activation Leader, 2024- present. 

Political Science Department Chair 2014- 2018

Faculty Ambassadors Committee, 2015- Present

Wrote Departmental External Review Report 2015

Chair of PS External Review Committee, 2015

Law Review Adviser, 2012- Present

Honors Program, Chair 2005-2009

Academic Integrity Task Force – Co-Chair, 2005.

Member of the Faculty Association Executive Board, 2001- Winter 2006

Chair of the Honors Committee, September 2003 – December 2003.

Honors and Awards

Ruben Daniels Community Service Award, Saginaw Valley State University, 2024.

Excellence in Online Teaching Award, Saginaw Valley State University, 2020.

Earl Warrick, Excellence in Scholarship Award, 2011.

Faculty Association Scholarship Award, 2010.

Political Science Department Research Award, 2010.

Honors Program Leadership Award, 2009.

Ruth and Ted Braun Fellowship, 2006.

Honors Program Leadership Award, 2009.

Women’s History Month Award.  Saginaw Valley State University.  March 2002. 

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award, May 4, 1992.

University of California, Santa Cruz, California, Honors in Politics, June 1989.

University of California, Santa Cruz, California, College Honors, June 1989.

Affiliations

Midwest Political Science Association

Animals & Society Institute