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Graduate Coordinator
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Melinda A Mueller
Professor, Political Science
Office: 2010 - Coleman Hall
Phone: Political Science
Email: mamueller@eiu.edu
Dr. Mueller (B.A. Susquehanna University, M.A., Ph.D. Rochester) teaches courses in American Politics, Public Policy, and qualitative research methods. She serves as the department's Honors Coordinator.
She was honored as the 2008 Faculty Laureate, the 2009 Teaching Excellence Award in the College of Sciences, and several Achievement and Contribution Awards in the area of teaching.
Her Spring 2013 office hours are MWF 10-11 am and Thursday 9:30-10:50 am, and by appointment.
Professor Mueller regularly teaches the graduate seminar on Congress, and occasionally the seminar on Public Policy. She also teaches Introduction to American Government (regular and honors sections), the Presidency, Interest Groups & Lobbying, Environmental Politics & Policy, and Introduction to Political Science Research. She often directs undergraduate and graduate independent studies in the area of congressional politics, public policy, and women and politics. She also regularly directs departmental Honors, including recent theses on gender and gubernatorial campaigns, education policy, and women in Congress.
Professor Mueller conducts research on gender and politics, focusing on questions of descriptive representation and substantive policy representation. Recent publications include a chapter on "the soccer mom" and voting, in Engaging the Public: How the Government and Media Can Reinvigorate American Democracy, and research on how female House candidates discussed the issue of war in the 2006 election, published in the Thomas Jefferson Law Review. She is currently working on research involving gender and school board politics, exploring the factors that explain different levels of gender representation in local politics.
She is also interested in pedagogical research. She co-authored an article in PS: Political Science & Politics about teaching at a comprehensive university. She also has attended and presented research at the American Political Science Association's Teaching & Learning Conference the past two years, focusing on civic engagement, curriulum and assessment. She is currently working on a co-authored work focusing on qualitative research methods for undergraduate majors.
In part due to her interest in pedagogy, teaching, and education policy, Professor Mueller serves on several education-related boards and councils. She is a member and past chair of the university's Honors Council, and serves on the university's Truman Scholarship Committee. She also serves on the Charleston school board's gifted education committee, music boosters, and Excellence in Education Foundation, which provides grants to teachers.
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