EMPLOYMENT

George Mason University, Department of Public and International Affairs
Assistant Professor, Government and Politics, Fall 2002-present

American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, November 2005-August 2006

EDUCATION

Yale University New Haven, CT

· M.A., December 1998, Political Science

· M. Phil., May 2000, Political Science

· Ph.D., May 2002, Political Science

General Examination Fields: American Politics, Empirical Methodology, History of Political
Philosophy; Dissertation adviser, Professor Stephen Skowronek

Advanced proficiency in statistics and political methodology

Competent in research design, public opinion analysis, qualitative interviewing

Honors average in 16 courses completed in the Department of Political Science

 · Teaching and research areas of interest: American presidency, American ideas and
   institutions, women and politics, Congress, American political development, political
   communications and rhetoric, political leadership, political philosophy.

Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA

· Bachelor of Arts, May 1997, summa cum laude

Political science major with concentrations in American politics, political philosophy, and women’s studies, completed the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program and the Honors
Program in Political Science
 

BOOK MANUSCRIPT (Accepted for Publication, Texas A&M Press)

“Presidential Moral Rhetoric: Leadership, Strategy, and Development”

My current book project analyzes the president’s role as the nation’s moral spokesman.  By employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, I argue that moral and religious rhetoric should not be viewed simply as a reflection of presidential character or as a fulfillment of American “civil religion” but as a strategic tool used to enhance independent authority and power.  To evaluate the most obvious explanations of why presidents moralize and to describe how rhetorical styles have changed over time, I provide content analyses of the Annual and Inaugural Addresses from George Washington through George W. Bush.  My empirical evidence demonstrates the limitations of the more obvious explanations and allows me to offer an original account of presidential moralizing, which stresses the strategic dimension of moral leadership. In nine case studies, I show that presidents who adapt their rhetorical style to the political conditions at hand enhance their authority while presidents who ignore these political restraints often suffer adverse consequences.  From a developmental perspective, I also examine how the language and context of presidential moral rhetoric has changed over time.  I argue that the modern detachment of moralizing from policy considerations encourages twentieth century presidents to express their ideological visions of the entire political order.  The book manuscript concludes with an evaluation of how modern trends in moralizing affect the strategic possibilities of presidential speech, concluding that increased expectations for moral leadership complicate the political benefits of rhetorical leadership.
 

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

· Co-authored with Joyce Gelb. “Community Activism in the United States: Catholic Hospital Mergers and
Reproductive Access.”  Accepted for publication, Social Movement Studies. 42 pages.

· Co-authored with Jerome Short and Nicole Owings. “The Influence of First Ladies on Mental Health
     Policy.”  White House Studies, 5,1 (2005): 65-76.

· Co-authored with Daniel Galvin. “Presidential Politicization and Centralization Across the Modern-Traditional Divide.”
  Polity, 36 (April 2004): 477-504.

· “Rhetorical Moralism in the Plebiscitary Presidency: New Speech Forms and Their Ideological
  Entailments.” Studies in American Political Development. 17 (Fall 2003): 149-167.

· “Speaking Out:  An Analysis of Democratic and Republican Woman-Invoked Rhetoric in the 105th
Congress.”  Women & Politics. 23,1 (2002): 129-146.

· “Tocqueville’s ‘Feminism in America’: A Reconsideration of Women’s Equality and Dignity.” The
 Journal of Contemporary Thought. 13 (2001): 55-69.

· “The Moralist and the Cavalier: The Political Rhetoric of Washington and Jefferson.”  Northern Kentucky
Law Review Symposium Issue on Presidential Power. 28, 3 (2001): 573-94. Other contributors for the issue
 include George Will and George Stephanopoulos.
 

BOOK CHAPTERS

· Co-authored with Rob Raffety.  “Lincoln and the Republican Party.”  In Abraham Lincoln’s American
 Dream: Critical Appreciations and Engagements.  J. Fornieri, ed.  Brassey’s Press (August 2005).
 17 pages.

· Contributor for the 2003 Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, Michael Genovese, editor.
Short essay entries for the volume will discuss the historical significance of
“Air Force One,” “Dolly Madison,” “George Washington,” and “The Whiskey Rebellion.”

· “Speaking Out: An Analysis of Democratic and Republican Woman-Invoked Rhetoric in the 105th
Congress.” Reprinted in Women and Congress: Running, Winning, and Ruling. Karen O’Connor,
ed. Binghampton, NY. Haworth Press. (2002).

· “George Washington: Can Aristotle Recapture What His Countrymen Have Forgotten?” In George
Washington: Leadership and Legacy.  E. Fishman, W. Pederson, M. Rozell, eds. Westport, CT:  Praeger Press.
(September 2001).
 

COMMENTARIES

· "The Republicans in 2004: A Cautionary Tale." Guest column, The Washington Post. November 11, 2004

· “On Continuity, Both Parties Need to Cooperate.” Guest op-ed in Roll Call, June 1, 2004.

· “Teaching the Presidency with the Socratic Method.”  Presidency Research Group (PRG) Report.
 Volume XXVI, Number 2, Spring 2004.

· “One Term, Two Views on Va. Governorship.” Guest Column. The Washington Post. T5.
January 2, 2003.

· “GESO Uncovered: Dispelling the Myths About Graduate Student Unions.”  The Politic. 2 (2001): 43.
 
 

BOOK REVIEWS

· Book Review of Mary Stuckey's Defining Americans, Journal of Politics 67, 3 (August 2005): 970-971.

· Book Review of Stephen H. Browne's Jefferson's Call for Nationhood, Presidential Studies Quarterly
    35, 2 (2005): 410-411.

· Book Review of Barbara Bush’s Reflections (With Jerome Short). White House Studies 4, 3 (2004).

· Book Review of Hillary Clinton’s Living History. (With Jerome Short).  White House Studies, 4, 1 (2004):
   111-113.

· Book Review of Tevi Troy’s Intellectuals and the American Presidency.  Presidential Studies Quarterly.
33,2 (2003): 451-452.
 
 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

· 2005 American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
-- Discussant, presidential rhetoric panel

· 2005 Southern Political Science Association Conference, New Orleans
--Roundtable presentation on the continuity of Congress in a time of crisis and terrorist threat.
--Discussant, Presidency and Congress panel.

· West Virginia State Political Science Association Conference
--2004 Election roundtable participant, West Virginia Wesleyan College, October 2004.

· 2004 American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
--“Party Building and Presidential Rhetoric: Silent Cal and the Great Communicator.”  Paper presented at the 2004 APSA Conference in Chicago, August 2004.

· 2004 Southern Political Science Association Conference, New Orleans
--“Public Support for the Women’s Movement, 1972-2000.” Paper presented at the 2004 SPSA Conference in New Orleans.
--Roundtable participant, “Lawrence v. Texas and the Future of the Culture Wars”

· LSU Presidential Studies Conference on Thomas Jefferson
--“The Rhetoric of Moral Restraint.” Paper presented October 2003.

· 2003 American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
-- “Anti-Intellectualism and Presidential Leadership.”  Paper presented at the 2003 APSA Conference in Philadelphia, August 2003.

· 2002 Southern Political Science Association Conference, Savannah
--Co-authored with Daniel Galvin. “Presidential Control of the Bureaucracy in the Nineteenth Century.” Paper presented at the SPSA Conference in Savannah, November 2002.

· 2002 American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
--Co-authored with Daniel Galvin. “Executive Authority in American and the Analytical Shortcomings of the Modern Presidency Construct.” Paper presented at the 2002 APSA Conference in Boston, August 2002. (Panel Organizer)
--Roundtable Participant, “Bush’s Leadership: Before and After September 11.” (Panel Organizer)

· 2001 American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
--Co-authored with Joyce Gelb.  “Pro and Anti-Choice Groups in the United States: Hospital Mergers and the Politics of Civic Advocacy.” Paper presented at the 2001 APSA Conference in San Francisco, August 2001. (Paper nominated by the Women and Politics Section for the Franklin L. Burdette Pi Sigma Alpha Award)
--“The Moral Dimensions of Modern Presidential Rhetoric: The Visionary and the Categorical.”  Paper presented at the 2001 APSA Conference in San Francisco, August 2001. (Panel Organizer)

· New England Political Science Association Conference, Portsmouth
--“A History of Presidential Moralizing.” May 2001.

· 2000 Southern Political Science Association Conference, Atlanta
--“Foundations for Moral Rhetorical Leadership in the American Presidency: The Rhetoric of Washington and Jefferson.”  November, 2000.

· Issues Facing the Millennium: American Studies Conference at LSU
--“Feminism’s Third Wave.”  Paper presented at the “Issues Facing the Millennium” October, 2000.

· New York State Political Science Association Meeting, Hofstra University
--“Gender Traditionalist Thought: A Poison or Antidote for Feminist Theory?”  April 2000.

· Yale Graduate Political Theory Workshop
--“Gender Traditionalism: Friend or Foe of Feminist Theory.” April 1999.
--“Aristotelian Leadership.” October 1999.
--“Tocqueville’s ‘Feminism in America.’” September 2000.
--“Woodrow Wilson and Beyond: Presidential Moral Rhetoric in the Modern Era.” January 2002.

· LSU Presidential Studies Conference on George Washington
--“George Washington: Can Aristotle Recapture What His Countrymen Have Forgotten?”  September 1998.

· Forum on 1996 Presidential Election, Boston College
--“Virtue in the Federalist: Does Character Matter in the Presidency?”  October 1996.
 
 

PUBLIC LECTURES AND COLLOQUIA PRESENTATIONS

· Presidential Rhetoric, Booz Allen Hamilton Policy Forum
-- Roundtable participant with former White House speechwriters on writing the State of the Union and Inaugural Addresses, March 2005

· Woodrow Wilson Center Roundtable
--“Presidential Campaigns and the Congressional Agenda.”  Paper presented at “The Congress Project” roundtable in Washington, DC, November 2004.

· Miller Center American Political Development Colloquia
--Paper presented at University of Virginia, November 2004

· Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council
--2004 post-election wrap-up presentation and analysis, November 2004

· Times Community Newspaper Editorial Board
--2004 post-election wrap-up presentation for eighteen editors of local newspapers, November 2004

· The 2004 Election: Campaigns of the Past, Present, and Future
--Public lecture at the Learning Retirement Institute, George Mason University, July 2004
--Public lecture at Westminster Retirement Community at Lake Ridge, September 2004
--Public lecture at Rappahannock County Voters Forum, October 2004

· The Politics of Direct Democracy
--Public lecture at Westminster Retirement Community at Lake Ridge, April 1, 2004.

· Chief of Staff Retreat, Mercatus Center, Philadelphia Ritz Carlton
--“Recall and Initiative” and “Reforming the Presidential Succession Act” short courses taught at annual retreat for senior congressional staff, February 2004
-- "First versus Second Term Presidents and Their Policy Agendas" short course taught, February 2005

· 2004 Young Scholar Lecture, University of Notre Dame
--“Anti-Intellectual Leadership and the American Presidency.”  Lecture given in January 2004 at Notre Dame as part of their university-wide Young Scholar series, in conjunction with the Program in American Democracy.

· The Importance of Character in the Presidency: The Case of George Washington
-- Keynote speeches at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Colonial Beach, Virginia,
April 27, 2003 and April 30, 2005
--Public lecture at Westminster Retirement Community at Lake Ridge, October 2, 2003
--Public lecture at Trinity Lutheran Church, Falls Church, VA, February 13, 2004
--Public lecture at Arlington Retirement Center, September 28, 2004
--Public lecture at George Mason Family Weekend, October 2004
--Public lecture at Alexandria Senior Citizens Center, December 2004
--Public lecture for Retired Federal Employees Association, February 2005

· Celebration of the Virginia House of Burgesses
--Keynote address at the annual “birthday” celebration of the Virginia legislature, sponsored by elected officials from Arlington County.

· Forum on Virginia Citizenship, Leesburg
--Attended two-day conference with local community leaders, educators, and academics to discuss the current state of civic involvement in Virginia and how to improve political participation in the Commonwealth, September 2002.

· Roundtable Discussion: Public Funding of Religiously Sponsored Hospitals
--Along with public health analysts, legal professionals, activists, clergy, and elected officials, participated in a roundtable discussion in New York City concerning the public funding of religious hospitals and access to reproductive services, May 2001.

· Lincoln on Liberty and Union
--Participated in a symposium conference on Lincoln’s writings and rhetoric held at Yale University in March 2001.
   

ACADEMIC HONORS AND AWARDS

Undergraduate  Phi Beta Kappa
1997 Order of the Cross and Crown Marshall
1996 Tip O'Neill Summer Study Fellowship Winner
1995 and 1996 Dean's Scholar Award
1995 Office of the Dean of Student Development Leadership Award
Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit National Honor Society
Golden Key National Honor Society
1994-1997 Who's Who Among American College Students
1997 Who's Who Among Students in American Universities

Graduate  1997-1998 Yale University Fellowship
1998-2001 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
2001 John F. Enders Research Grant, Yale University
2001-2002 Robert M. Leylan Dissertation Fellowship Award for the Social
Sciences

Faculty   Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Award, Provost’s Office, George Mason
Summer Research Funding Award, Provost’s Office, George Mason
Best Panel Presentation, WV Political Science Association, 2004
American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship, 2005-2006
 
 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

· Interviewer, Presidential Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, 2003-present
-- Conducted two day interview with Clinton presidential speechwriter Michael Waldman
-- Conducted interview with George H.W. Bush political adviser Ron Kaufman
-- Conducted two day interview with Clinton presidential speechwriter Donald Baer
--Conducted two day interview with Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, Melanne Verveer

· Research Assistantships
-- Coded data for the research team of Professor Kay Schlozman, Professor Sidney Verba, and Professor Nancy Burns by categorizing open-ended responses collected in the third phase of the Citizen Participation Study (results published in The Private Roots of Public Action by Burns, Schlozman, and Verba, Harvard University Press), 1996-1997.

--Researched political ambition and literary reviews of Churchill's Great Contemporaries for Professor Robert Faulkner of Boston College, 1997

--Research assistant, Professor David Mayhew of Yale University, 1997-1998
--Research assistant, Professor Stephen Skowronek of Yale University, 1999-2002
--Research assistant, Professor Norma Thompson of Yale University, 1999-2001; assisted in the research of Ship of State, Yale University Press, August 2001.

--Research assistant, Professor Joyce Gelb of CUNY Graduate School, 2000-2002; conducted in-depth interviews of activists across the country who oppose Catholic hospital mergers in their communities.

· Tip O'Neill Summer Research Fellowship
--Summer study supported by Boston College political science department to study American civil society and declining citizen participation with faculty member Professor Kay Schlozman, 1996
 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

· George Mason University
--The American Presidency, undergraduate course
--Intro to American Politics, undergraduate course
--Seminar in Congress and the Presidency, graduate course
--Senior honors thesis adviser

· University of Virginia Honors Program
-- Outside examiner for undergraduate honors students, American Politics, May 2005

· The Washington Center
-- Faculty Leader for the 2004 Inauguration Program in Washington, DC

· Yale University Teaching Fellow
--Served as a “Writing Intensive” section leader for Professor Ian Shapiro’s course Moral Foundations of Politics; completed a five week Bass Writing Program instructional course on the fundamentals of teaching writing to college students, Fall 2000.
--Served as a section leader for Professor Stephen Skowronek’s course The American Presidency, Spring 2001.
--Served as a teaching assistant for Professor Steven Smith’s course Introduction to Political Philosophy

· Summer Teaching Fellow, Phillips Andover Academy
--Taught philosophy and mythology to high school summer students, Summer 1998.
 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

· American Political Science Association (APSA)
  Presidency Research Section
· Southern Political Science Association
· The Lincoln Forum
· Center for the Study of the Presidency
· Friends of Mt. Vernon
 
 

PROFESSIONAL/COMMUNITY SERVICE

· Elections Officer, Arlington County, VA, 2002-present

· Center for the Study of the Presidency, Faculty Mentor 2003-present
-- Served as the faculty adviser to the winner of Best Paper on the Modern Presidency, 2005

· Faculty Mentor, George Mason University, 2004-2005

· Adviser, Pi Sigma Alpha, 2004-2005

· College of Arts and Sciences, CAS Council, George Mason University, 2003-2005

· University Standing Committee, Disciplinary Appeals, George Mason, 2003-2005

· Presidency Research Group, APSA, Committee for Best Paper Presentation, 2003

·“Fall for the Book Festival” Presenter, George Mason University, 2002 and 2003

· Mentor, Dream Catcher Program, George Mason University

· Advisor, Minor in American Government, Department of Public and International Affairs

· Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Northern Virginia (SPCA) volunteer

· Yale Graduate Student Assembly
--Representative of the Political Science Department, 1998-2000; served on the Graduate School Disciplinary Committee, 1998-1999; advised the Dean of the Graduate School on official policy as one of six student members of the Graduate School Executive Committee, 1999-2000; also served as a member of the Teaching Fellow Advisory Committee of the Graduate School, 2001-2002.

· Graduate Fellow, Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University
--Acted as a graduate liaison affiliated with one of the twelve undergraduate residential colleges at Yale