Steffen W. Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. He grew up in Colombia, South America, and has studied in Colombia, Switzerland, and France. He obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, in public law and government. Schmidt has published six books and over 70 articles in scholarly journals, and is the recipient of numerous prestigious teaching prizes, including the Amoco Award for Lifetime Career Achievement in Teaching and the Teacher of the Year award. He is a pioneer in the use of Web-based and real-time video courses and is a member of the American Political Science Association's section on Computers and Multimedia. He is on the editorial… board of the Political Science Educator. Schmidt also has a political talk show on WOI radio, where he is known as Dr. Politics. The show has been broadcast live from various U.S. and international venues.
Mack C. Shelley, II, is a professor of political science and statistics at Iowa State University. After receiving his bachelor's degree from American University in Washington, D.C., he went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received a master's degree and a Ph.D. He taught for two years at Mississippi State University prior to arriving at Iowa State in 1979. In 1993, he was elected co-editor of the Policy Studies Journal. Shelley has also published numerous articles, books, and monographs on public policy, including THE PERMANENT MAJORITY: THE CONSERVATIVE COALITION IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS; BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: A GUIDE TO… THE LITERATURE (with William F. Woodman and Brian J. Reichel); and AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY: THE CONTEMPORARY AGENDA (with Steven G. Koven and Bert E. Swanson).
Barbara A. Bardes is professor of political science at Raymond Walters College at the University of Cincinnati. She held a faculty position at Loyola University in Chicago for many years before returning to Cincinnati, her hometown, as a college administrator. Bardes has written articles on public opinion and foreign policy, and on women and politics. She authored THINKING ABOUT PUBLIC POLICY AND DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE: WOMEN AND POLITICAL POWER IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELS and co-authored PUBLIC OPINION: MEASURING THE AMERICAN MIND. She received bachelor's and master's degrees from Kent State University and her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.
William Earl Maxwell is a professor emeritus at San Antonio College, where he has taught courses in U.S. and Texas government since 1971. Throughout his career Maxwell has focused on innovative teaching techniques and improving the teaching and learning environments for students. As a part of that effort, in 1975 Maxwell co-authored UNDERSTANDING TEXAS POLITICS, his first text on Texas government. He also co-authored such texts as POLITICS IN TEXAS and THE CHALLENGE OF TEXAS POLITICS: TEXT WITH READINGS. He performed his undergraduate and graduate work at Sam Houston State University.
A thirty-five year veteran instructor of political science, Ernest Crain specializes in political party competition, comparative state politics, and Texas public policy. Crain coauthored UNDERSTANDING TEXAS POLITICS, POLITICS IN TEXAS, THE CHALLENGE OF TEXAS POLITICS, and four editions of INTRODUCTION TO TEXAS POLITICS. Crain received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Texas in Austin.