“The (Un)surprising Role of Women in Election 2018” will be held Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in Kuhne Auditorium. It is the second lecture in the annual Samuel C. Waters Lecture Series in Political Science.

Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, professor of political science at Rutgers University, will deliver the talk. A reception will precede the event in the Cornelson Center Lobby of Neville Hall at 6:30 p.m.

“This will be a wonderful opportunity for the members of the campus and the local community to hear and engage in discussion with one of today’s leading political scholars about the role that women play in congressional elections – both as voters and as candidates,” said Dr. Booker T. Ingram, chair of the Political Science Department.

Sanbonmatsu is a senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. She is an expert in gender in American campaigns and elections, political parties and state politics.

Sanbonmatsu earned her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and her Ph.D. from Harvard University. She has co-authored numerous books and peer-reviewed articles regarding female candidates’ role in state-wide and national elections as well as the women’s representation in Congress.

She co-authored her most recent book, “A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Presence Matters,” with Dr. Kelly Dittmar and Dr. Susan J. Carroll. The book relies on interviews with women serving in the 114th Congress as a part of an extensive CAWP research study. “A Seat at the Table” examines the experiences and influences of women in the U.S. Congress. It also provides considerable evidence of women’s political achievements despite the environment of gridlock and polarization in which they operate.

Samuel C. Waters, a 1968 PC graduate and an attorney in Columbia, S.C., established the Waters Lecture Series in Political Science. The annual lecture series highlights the value and relevance of the study of politics by hosting guest speakers to address contemporary political and policy issues.

To learn more about political science at PC, please visit the Political Science Department pages.