John G. Geer (Ph.D., Princeton University) is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University and a research fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University. Geer is the former editor of The Journal of Politics. He has published numerous articles and several books, including IN DEFENSE OF NEGATIVITY, which won the Goldsmith Book prize from Harvard University in 2008. He has provided extensive commentary in the news media on politics, including live nationwide interviews for FOX, CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, PBS, and NPR. Geer has also… written op-ed pieces for Politico, The Washington Post, the LA Times, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. He teaches a range of undergraduate classes, including Introduction to American Government. In 2005, he won The College of Arts and Sciences' Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. In 2009, he won Vanderbilt University's Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching. In 2014, he won the Vanderbilt Alumni Education Award.
Wendy Schiller (Ph.D., University of Rochester) is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Brown University (Twitter acct @profwschiller). She did her undergraduate work in political science at the University of Chicago, served on the staffs of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Governor Mario Cuomo, and completed Fellowships at the Brookings Institution and Princeton University. At Brown, she teaches popular courses titled The American Presidency, Introduction to the American Political Process, and Congress and Public Policy. Among books she has authored or co-authored are THE CONTEMPORARY CONGRESS (Thomson-Wadsworth) and PARTNERS AND RIVALS: REPRESENTATION IN U.S.… SENATE DELEGATIONS (Princeton University Press). She has also published in academic journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Studies in American Political Development, and the Journal of Politics. Her most recent book is ELECTING THE SENATE: INDIRECT DEMOCRACY BEFORE THE 17TH AMENDMENT. She is a frequent contributor to major national news outlets and is the political analyst for WJAR10, the local NBC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island.