海角换妻

As we close out 2024, here鈥檚 a snapshot of what the great team at WPI has been working on this year.

Academics

We offered 15听core Women, Policy and Political Leadership certificate courses, enrolling over 377 undergraduate and graduate students. Our dedicated faculty include top academics and practitioners:

• Dr. Karen O鈥機onnor, Jonathan N. Helfat Distinguished Professor of Political Science
• Kate Black, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Dr. Diana Carlin, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Dr. Rebecca DeWolf, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• China Dickerson, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Betty Fischer Martin,听Executive Director, Women & Politics Institute
• Lucy Gettman, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Amanda Hunter, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Laura Cox Kaplan, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Amanda Fuchs Miller, J.D., Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Shilpa Phadke, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
• Susannah Wellford, J.D., Adjunct Professorial Lecturer

WeLead Campaign Training Program

Now in its 20th year, our non-partisan WeLead program successfully positions young professional women to run for office or lead a political campaign. Our 665+ alums work in the halls of Congress, campaign war rooms, K Street offices, state legislatures, city councils and corporate boardrooms across the country.听

The emerging leaders in the class of WeLead2025听hope to expand their influence in a political or professional leadership role. They have already worked with top political practitioners, expert speakers, and leadership coaches on how, why and when to run for office, and will start raising money for the program in December as part of the WeLead Fundraising Challenge.

Through the support of your generous contributions, we are proud to be able to offer this program at no cost to the participants. We are also most grateful for the WeLead alum network that continues to mentor and inspire each new class to close the gender gap in political leadership.

Research
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Gender on the Ballot
听is a nonpartisan project of 海角换妻鈥檚 Women & Politics Institute that examines and contextualizes gender dynamics in American politics. Originally co-founded by WPI and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation in 2019, Gender on the Ballot contributes to the dialogue on gender and politics through accessible content from experts and practitioners.听

This year, we welcomed WPI Instructor Lucy Gettman as Editor of Gender on the Ballot, and our continue to share their insights and analysis on topics such as intersectionality, and women鈥檚 political leadership.

Poll Release
鈥�.鈥� and the explored the issues shaping women voters and their political opinions leading up to the 2024 election.

The study revealed women voters cite 鈥渢he economy and inflation鈥� as their top concern, with abortion and immigration as their second and third choices. Across the board, women say they trust Harris more than Trump on these key issues.

To learn more about this new research, check out our website where you will find , , and our .

Governors Research
WPI began cataloging Barbara Lee Family Foundation鈥檚 archives of more than 25 years of research on women gubernatorial candidates. These valuable documents will be made accessible for scholarly research and include transcripts of post-election interviews with female candidates and their top campaign staff, offering a historical record of every major party general election campaign for governor with a female candidate since 1998.

Women鈥檚 Suffrage Research
WPI faculty fellow Pamela Kurland鈥檚 research focuses on the women鈥檚 suffrage movement in the United States. She is currently working on a short book to honor the women who fought for 70 years for women鈥檚 suffrage.听

Events

We continued our regular weekly series, "," which brings together our WPI community together with dynamic and thought-provoking women leaders, authors, scholars, journalists, and activists.听In addition, WPI regularly co-sponsors events with campus organizations and external groups. This year, our events included:

• A special screening of Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter, followed by a panel discussion with co-producers/co-directors Abby Ginzberg and Christy Carpenter, Karen Tumulty, Political Columnist, Washington Post; Zakiya Thomas, President and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women's Equality

• A book talk with Liza Mundy, Author of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA听

• A panel discussion on our Gender on the Ballot Poll with Amanda Hunter, Former Executive Director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation; Lindsay Vermeyen, Senior Vice President with BSG; Elena Schneider, POLITICO鈥檚 National Political Reporter

• A panel discussion on the 鈥淰oices of Women 50+鈥� with Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer at AARP; Margie Omero, Principal at the Democratic polling firm GBAO; Kristen Soltis Anderson, Founding Partner at Echelon Insights

• A fireside chat with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo

• A book-talk with The West Wing cast-members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack will discuss their new New York Times best-selling book, What's Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service, and their experiences and relationships built making the show. Don鈥檛 miss out on this fun and engaging conversation with two women who helped make the West Wing happen.听

• A Pre-Election event with Sine Executive Director Amy Dacey and top journalists and strategists, Meredith McGraw (National Politics Reporter, Politico), Zolan Kanno-Youngs (White House Correspondent, New York Times), and Scott Jennings (Republican Strategist)

• A book-talk with 海角换妻 Alumna Dr. Melissa Deckman, SPA/Ph.D. 鈥�00, discussed her new book, The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy

• A special screening of the new documentary Majority Rules, with Lindsay Drath, CEO of the Forward Party, answering questions from the audience

• A 鈥淟unch and Leadership鈥� discussion with 海角换妻 Alumna Cheryl Parker, SOC/BA '05 and CAS/BA '05, founder of Spotlight Media Booking

• A post-election event featuring Molly O鈥橰ourke, Sine Institute Senior Advisor, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Founding Partner of the polling firm Echelon Insights, Cheyanne M. Daniels, race and politics reporter for The Hill, and Amanda Hunter, former Executive Director of the Barbara Lee Family听

As we look toward celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Women & Politics Institute, we eagerly anticipate a busy and energetic year ahead.听

Only with your help can we offer more courses, enroll more students, train more young women to run for office, conduct more research, convene more special events, and ensure that women have a seat at all of the tables where the most important decisions are made.

And please consider supporting our work in 2025 with a $1,000, $500, $250, or $100 tax deductible contribution .

Together, we will change the face of politics!