Kelly Winfrey, an assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, will discuss the unique challenges women candidates face and the communication strategies they use in their efforts to win over voters during the fall 2019 LAS Dean’s Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The lecture, titled “Gender and Communication on the Campaign Trail,” will be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. This event is free and open to the public.
Winfrey said women candidates are increasingly creative in how they respond to gender bias in politics.
“Women candidates still face sexism, but they are coming up with some unique ways to overcome that bias,” Winfrey said. “I’ll be sharing some examples of the communication strategies women have used in recent elections and discussing how effective those messages really are.”
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series highlights faculty excellence in learning, discovery, and engagement in Iowa State’s most academically diverse college. The dean invites LAS faculty of international preeminence to present lectures from their own areas of expertise on topics of interest to the general public, designed to stimulate high-quality, intellectual discussion among faculty, staff, students and community members. Lectures are held during the fall and spring semesters during the academic year.
Winfrey’s research focuses on political campaign communication and gender. Specifically, she has examined gender differences and similarities in political advertisements, social media and news media. Her publications focus on such topics such as gender identification in young voters, the effects of gender in presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns, perceptions of candidate image by debate viewers, online self-presentation strategies of political candidates, campaign coverage of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in 2008 and the content and effects of presidential campaign television ads.
Winfrey is the coordinator of research and outreach at Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. She oversees the Ready to Run® Iowa campaign training program and the Archives of Women’s Political Communication. She also conducts research for the Women in Iowa Politics database and the Iowa Gender Balance Project. Winfrey teaches courses in women and leadership, political campaigns, public relations and journalism and is a faculty member in the Leadership Studies Program at Iowa State.
Winfrey earned a Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in communication with an emphasis on gender from Missouri State University and a bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in ethnic and gender studies from Emporia State University. She is the author of “Understanding How Women Vote: Gender Identity and Political Choices.”
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government).