Dr. Melissa Deckman is a political scientist who studies the impact of gender, religion and age on public opinion and political behavior.

She is author of The Politics of Gen Z (Columbia University Press), Tea Party Women (NYU Press: 2016), which examined the role of women in conservative politics, and School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press: 2004), which won the American Political Science Association’s Hu Morken Award for best book on religion and politics. Along with Julie Dolan and Michele Swers, she is the author of Women and Politics, a top-selling textbook on gender politics in the United States, now in its updated 4th edition.

At Washington College, Melissa taught courses on American politics, women and politics, religion and politics, research methods and state and local politics. Dedicated to promoting leadership opportunities for young women, she is the co-founder of Training Ms. President, a Maryland-based, non-partisan program that encourages young women to consider running for political office. She is proud to have conducted research for IGNITE, a leading non-profit organization that builds political ambition in young women across the country.

Melissa received her Ph.D. in Political Science from American University and her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she graduated class valedictorian.