Susan J. Carroll

Susan J. Carroll is a professor of political science and women’s and gender studies who joined the Center in 1981. Her books include: More Women Can Run: Gender and Pathways to the State Legislature (Oxford University Press 2013, with Kira Sanbonmatsu); Women as Candidates in American Politics (Second Edition, Indiana University Press 1994); Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics (Third Edition, Cambridge University Press 2014, with Richard L. Fox); Women and American Politics: New Questions, New Directions (Oxford University Press 2003); and The Impact of Women in Public Office (Indiana University Press 2001). Carroll also has published numerous journal articles and book chapters focusing on women candidates, voters, elected officials, and political appointees. Her Ph.D. in political science is from Indiana University.

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University–Camden and scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She has authored multiple book chapters on gender and American politics, and her book, Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press), was published in January 2015. Dittmar’s research focuses on gender and American political institutions, including Congress, with a particular focus on how gender informs campaigns and the impact of gender diversity among elites in policy and political decisions, priorities, and processes. Dittmar was an American Political Science Association (APSA) congressional fellow from 2011 to 2012. At CAWP, she manages national research projects, helps to develop and implement CAWP’s research agenda, and contributes to CAWP reports, publications, and analyses. She also works with CAWP’s programs for women’s public leadership and has been an expert source and commentator for media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, Huffington Post, and The Washington Post. She currently serves on the editorial board for Politics and Gender. Dittmar earned her B.A. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and her Ph.D. from Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Adrienne Kimmell

Adrienne Kimmell has dedicated her career to empowering and advocating for women. As executive director, Kimmell eads the Barbara Lee Family Foundation’s nonpartisan efforts to advance women’s political equality and increase women’s representation in the field of contemporary art. With experience on a broad range of national and local campaigns, Kimmell brings keen strategic insight to our work. A career advocate for reproductive justice, Kimmell served as the executive director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates and the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, where she led Planned Parenthood in advancing their public policy agenda through legislation, organizing, and electoral work. Before her work in Florida, Kimmell managed state policy initiatives for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in Washington, DC, designing model laws and policies and developing legislative strategy to advance reproductive justice at the state and local level. In earlier work with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Kimmell developed and implemented state and national political and electoral strategy. She began her career as a grassroots organizer and, later, a lobbyist for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Kimmell holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and a master’s degree in public policy from Tufts University.

Barbara Lee

Barbara Lee is a national leader in advancing women’s equality and representation in American politics. She founded and leads the Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Inspired by her grandmother’s stories of suffragists marching on New York City’s Fifth Avenue in the early 1900s, Lee has worked to educate the public about gender disparities in government since 1998. Today, through the Foundation’s nonpartisan Governors research, Lee gives women candidates, elected officials, and other leaders at all levels essential knowledge to meet the challenges of campaigning.

Through the Foundation, Lee has endowed a nonpartisan training program for women at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an internship program at the Massachusetts State House for students at Simmons College in Boston.

Boston Magazine has included Lee among “Boston’s Most Powerful Thought Leaders,” “The 100 People Who Run This Town,” and she is listed among their “50 most powerful women” in Boston. Women’s eNews ranks her among the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century.” Lee earned a master’s degree from the Boston University School of Social Work and her bachelor’s degree from Simmons College.

Ruth B. Mandel

Ruth B. Mandel, a founder of CAWP in 1971, was its director until January 1995. Currently she is director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She remains associated with CAWP as senior scholar, teaching and writing about leadership, with emphasis on U.S. women’s political history, women as political candidates and officeholders, women’s political networks, and the “gender gap.” She is the author of numerous publications about women’s changing political roles, including In the Running: The New Woman Candidate, the first book-length account of women’s experiences as candidates for political office. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Connecticut.

Kira Sanbonmatsu

Kira Sanbonmatsu is professor of political science at Rutgers University and senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Her research interests include gender, race/ethnicity, parties, public opinion, and state politics. Her most recent book (with Susan J. Carroll) is More Women Can Run: Gender and Pathways to the State Legislatures (Oxford University Press, 2013). She is the coauthor (with Susan J. Carroll and Debbie Walsh) of the CAWP report, Poised to Run: Women’s Pathways to the State Legislatures (2009). She is also the author of Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States (University of Michigan Press, 2006) and Democrats, Republicans, and the Politics of Women’s Place (University of Michigan Press, 2002). Her articles have appeared in such journals as American Journal of Political Science, Politics & Gender, and Party Politics. She co-edits the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics at the University of Michigan Press with Susan J. Carroll. Sanbonmatsu received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her Ph.D. from Harvard University. She was previously associate professor of political science at The Ohio State University.

Erin Souza-Rezendes

Erin Souza-Rezendes leads the Barbara Lee Family Foundation’s communications team, where she manages media relations and works to conceptualize and promote the Foundation’s nonpartisan research on women running for office. Since joining the team in 2012, Souza-Rezendes has shared the Foundation’s expertise with regional and national audiences by working with media outlets such as The Boston Globe, Glamour, Salon, Politico, Roll Call, and MSNBC. Souza-Rezendes has nearly a decade of government and communications experience, including legislative work, public relations, and journalism. Before joining the Foundation, she served the Massachusetts legislature as Staff Director to former House Majority Leader James Vallee and Staff Director to the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. She also worked as a lifestyle journalist for Boston-based and national publications. Souza-Rezendes holds a Master’s degree in journalism from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree in political science and print journalism from Boston University.

Debbie Walsh

Debbie Walsh is the director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. CAWP is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about American women’s political participation. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about women’s participation in politics and government and to enhance women’s influence and leadership in public life. CAWP’s education and outreach programs translate research findings into action, addressing women’s under-representation in political leadership with effective, innovative programs serving a variety of audiences. Walsh joined the Center staff in 1981. As director, she oversees CAWP’s multifaceted programs that include: leadership and campaign training programs that empower women of all ages to participate fully in politics and public life; research  illuminating women’s distinctive contributions, roles and experiences in politics and government; and up-to-the-minute information and historical perspectives about women as candidates, public officials and voters. Walsh is frequently called upon by the media for information and comment, and she speaks to a variety of audiences across the country on topics related to women’s political participation. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from SUNY Binghamton and her M.A. in political science from Rutgers, where she was an Eagleton Fellow.  Walsh is a member of the Rachel’s Network Circle of Advisors.