Department of Political Science
Melissa Deckman
Associate Professor of Political Science
Louis L. Goldstein Associate Professor of Public Affairs
E-mail: mdeckman2@washcoll.edu
Phone: (800) 422-1782, ext. 7494
Office: Daly 207
Education
- Ph.D. in Political Science, American University, 1999
- M.A. in Political Science, American University, 1997
- B.A. in Political Science, St. Mary's College of Maryland, 1993
Office Hours
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 2:30-3:30.
Research Interests
Religion and politics, women and politics, political behavior, and local politics.
Published Work
- School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics
- Women with a Mission: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of Women Clergy
- Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence
Press Releases
- Getting It Right On The Christian Right: Professor Melissa Deckman's New Book Separates Fact From Fiction In School Board Politics
- WC Professor's New Book Examines Women's Paths from Local to National Political Power
Biography
A native Marylander, Professor Deckman graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 1993 and received her Ph.D. in Political Science from American University in 1999. Prior to joining the faculty of Washington College in 2000, she taught American politics at American University and served as a Research Associate with the Federal Judicial Center, the education and research arm of the federal courts. She is currently the Louis L. Goldstein Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College.
Professor Deckman's areas of specialty include religion and politics, state and local politics, and women and politics. Dr. Deckman's current research focuses on the ways that religion, gender, and politics intersect, including in the new Tea Party movement.
She is the author of School Board Battles: the Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press 2004), which examines the impact of the Christian Right on school board elections, and which won the 2007 Hubert Morken Award, given by the American Political Science Association biennially to the best work on religion and politics. Along with Laura Olson and Sue Crawford, she is the co-author of Women with a Mission: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of Women Clergy (University of Alabama Press 2005). She is also co-author of the textbook Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence with Julie Dolan and Michele Swers, now in its second edition with Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Her work also appears in numerous academic articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Politics & Religion, Social Science Quarterly, Public Administration Review, Review of Religious Research, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Women, Politics, and Public Policy, and American Politics Research.
At the introductory level, Professor Deckman teaches American Government and Politics. She also offers advanced courses about women and politics, elections and the political process, religion and politics, state and local politics, and empirical political research methods. She also co-ordinates the Maryland General Assembly Internship, which allows students to spend two days per week as state legislative interns in Annapolis during the spring semester.
As an undergraduate, Professor Deckman studied abroad in Costa Rica and England and she has traveled widely. In 2009, Dr. Deckman presented academic papers on women and politics and religion and politics in Tokyo, Toronto, and Montreal; in September 2011, she presented research on women and the Tea Party in Seattle at the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting. In addition to traveling with her husband Sean, she enjoys spending time with her family—including making music and watching Phineas and Ferb with her two sons Mason and Gavin—cooking, and watching the Food Network.