Erin McAdams, Ph.D.

Dr. McAdams is a proven educational leader on campus, having completed three years of service as chair of the Faculty Senate and as an ex-officio member of the President’s Cabinet. She has served on numerous college committees, including the Provost’s Dean’s Council, the Undergraduate Programs Committee of the PC Board of Trustees, and the Curriculum Committee.

The 2017 Professor of the Year continues to serve as a member of PC’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, the Women’s and Gender Studies Committee, and as advisor and director of the college’s Pre-law Studies Committee. Dr. McAdams also advised the Political Science Club, College Republicans, and College Democrats.

Most recently, Dr. McAdams was selected to participate in the 2024-25 Senior Leadership Academy sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges and the American Academic Leadership Institute. This prestigious yearlong program prepares the next generation of administrators in higher education prepare for cabinet-level positions at independent colleges or universities.

Dr. McAdams earned her undergraduate degree from Allegheny College and earned her Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University in 2009. Before joining PC’s faculty, she taught at Ohio State, Dickenson College in Pennsylvania, and the College of Charleston. Her work has been published in Electoral Studies, Politics and Religion, and the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, and she is currently writing a book on changes in the Republican Party since the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2010.