Elizabethtown College Faculty Scholarship Series highlights work of senior professors

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Fletcher McClellen speaks at Elizabethtown College Faculty Scholarship Series

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (01/22/2013)(readMedia)-- What began last year as part of Elizabethtown College's presidential inauguration continues as the Faculty Scholarship Series, highlighting the scholarly work of the college's senior professors. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, Dr. Fletcher McClellan, Dean of Faculty, speaks on "Barack Obama and the 2012 Presidential Election in Political Time.

The free lecture takes place in the Susquehanna Room of Myer Hall. A reception precedes the lecture at 7 p.m.

Applying the concept of political time developed by Stephen Skowronek of Yale University, this talk assesses the significance of the 2012 presidential election and the impact of the Obama Presidency. Will the 2012 national election results break or continue the political stalemate in Washington, D.C.? Were the past four years the beginning of a transformative political era, a personal triumph (and perhaps tragedy) or merely an interruption in an otherwise anti-government age? What does Obama's record as political leader tell us about the possibilities and limitations of the American presidency as an instrument for change?

McClellan, of Palmyra, earned a bachelor's degree in government from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa.; a master's degree in political science from East Tennessee State University; and a doctorate in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Joining the Elizabethtown faculty in 1982, he has been associate professor of political science, professor of political science, department chair and interim provost. He was president of the faculty assembly and associate dean of faculty. In the late 1990s, McClellan served as co-chair of the Elizabethtown College Institutional Self-Study Committee for re-accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and he served as interim provost and dean of faculty.

As Dean of Faculty, McClellan oversees Elizabethtown College's academic departments and is instrumental in the recruitment, appointment and advancement of faculty members. He also is closely involved in curriculum development, outcomes assessment, and programs that promote scholarship and teaching effectiveness among Elizabethtown's faculty.

In 2008, McClellan was a lecturer in American Studies with the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, School of English Studies, in Dalian, China, and in the following year, was a lecturer in political studies at Queen's University, International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England. His major areas of academic interest include American government, presidential studies, U.S. policy toward Native Americans, and American politics and popular culture. He has presented dozens of papers at international, national, and regional professional conferences. His most recent publication is an article for the Journal of Information Technology and Politics, coauthored with colleagues Oya Ozkanca and Wayne Selcher, which demonstrated how his first-year seminar on political self-determination promotes general education outcomes.

McClellen has served as an external reviewer for several political science departments in the Northeast, and has conducted numerous workshops on outcomes assessment at national and regional political science meetings. He is on the executive council of the Political Science Education section of the American Political Science Association (APSA), and was section program chair for the 2010 annual APSA meeting.

Contact: Nancy Kaufhold at 717-361-1416 or kaufholdn@etown.edu.

Read about additional events at Elizabethtown College.

Elizabethtown College, located in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic rigor, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become a bigger part of the world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are prepared intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

Visit www.etown.edu for more information about Elizabethtown College.

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