Department of Political Science News  

Student News

Faculty News

Announcements


The Political Science Department has moved! The department is now located on the 3rd Floor of the A Wing of Old Main.
 To get to the department, enter Old Main at the rear door nearest to Risley Hall on the side of the building facing the Stratton Administration building, and climb the stairs to the 3rd floor.

 

If you have any announcement you would like to share, please contact us!

 


Student News

 

 

 

 

If you have any student news you would like to share, please contact us!

 


Faculty News

 

  • Pulp Politics: How Political Advertising Tells the Stories of American Politics (2d ed.) by Dr. Glenn W. Richardson Jr. has been published by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Pulp Politics argues that the stories of American politics have found their most vivid expression in campaign advertising. It is the central argument of this book that adopting the readily identifiable audiovisual conventions of popular culture is particularly attractive to candidates and communicators, and that analysts can benefit from a closer study of the audiovisual narratives of campaign advertising than scholars have engaged in. From the audiovisual evocation of horror in 1988 ads that read as 30-second trailers for the nightmare on Elm Street that would be the Dukakis presidency to the Bush-Cheney spots in 2004 that drew upon the look and feel of the popular anti-terrorism thriller  24,  evocation of popular culture has proven an extremely effective tool of mass communication in a televisual age.

For more information on Pulp Politics, please click here.

  • Dr. John B. Parrott, assistant professor of political science, has published two books through his independent publishing house Proteus's Compass Publishers. The books are created as inspirational stories for college-aged readers. The Promise, by Parrott, is centered around baseball's historic Milwaukee Braves and chronicles the career of pitcher Warren Spahn as he watched the rise and fall, and rise again of his beloved team. Sarah, by Betty S. Gilchrist (a pseudonym Parrott uses) is a fictional account of a woman's struggle with a jealous sister and self esteem. All proceeds from the sale of the books at the KU Bookstore go to the Kutztown University Annual Fund.

Dr. Glenn W. Richardson Jr. presented a paper entitled "Political Advertising and Ad Watch Journalism:  Beyond the Reason/Emotion Divide" at the 63rd Annual National Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 7-10, 2005.

"Here is a fresh look at political advertising and what has been written about it. Richardson's research-grounded book is a fine example of how such re-evaluations may proceed and the intriguing findings that may ensue."—Doris Graber, Political Science Quarterly

"In an age when college students often are more familiar with the comedians who satirize polticians than they are with the elected leaders themselves, Pulp Politics would be a useful supplement in a media-and-society or political communication course. The text raises important discussion points about the impact of audiovisual elements in advertising, the effectiveness of negative campaigning and the Ad Watch groups that purportedly monitor such campaigns."—Journalism Studies

"Pulp Politics is a nice, easy read for those interested in political advertising. Richardson's theories should inform and enrich the study of modern campaigns, and help both scholars and the news media to rethink the way they evaluate television commercials."—Presidential Studies Quarterly

"A valuable contribution to the study of political campaign advertising. Highly recommended."—Choice



Please click here to register to vote


Click here to download a mail-in voter registration request or to request an absentee ballot.


 


This page was designed and is maintained by Glenn W. Richardson Jr. of the Department of Political Science at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and was last updated on August 26, 2009.  Please e-mail any comments, suggestions or reports of broken or outdated links to richards@kutztown.edu. Thanks!