As President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney prepare to face off in the 2012 presidential debates, Drexel University experts are available to speak with the news media about the following issues and topics:
- Presidential Debates, Presidential Election Process, Public Opinion, Media Coverage of Politics and Voter ID Law: Dr. William Rosenberg, a professor of political science, is the author of more than 80 articles, papers and technical reports on politics. He co-authored two books related to public opinion and public policy. Rosenberg served as a campaign analyst for CNN and the BBC during the 2008 presidential election.
- Jobs and the Economy: Dr. Paul Harrington, director of Drexel’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy, can discuss where the candidates stand on the issues of jobs and the economy. His research expertise includes teen and young adult job access; college labor market; high school to college transition and drop-outs; vocational rehabilitation and job market transition; women, disabled workers, older workers and immigrants in the labor market; career and technical education; economic outlook; and workforce development, planning and evaluation.
- Health Care Reform: Dr. Robert Field, a professor at both the School of Public Health and the Earle Mack School of Law, is a nationally known expert on health law and public health whose research focuses on health care regulation, legal issues in health reform, and the structure of the health care system. He is the author of Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation and Compromise, a comprehensive guide to the government's role in regulating health care in the United States. He writes a regular blog on health policy for the Philadelphia Inquirer and attended the Supreme Court arguments on the health reform law on behalf of the newspaper. He has also been a regular commentator on health care for media outlets including NPR, CNN, ABC News, and several local television and radio stations.
- Women’s Reproductive Rights: Rose Corrigan is a professor in the Earle Mack School of Law and College of Arts and Sciences, who has a particular interest in social movements and the law. Corrigan has worked in the fields of reproductive rights and with survivors of sexual and domestic violence for more than 15 years at organizations including Women Organized Against Rape, the Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County and the Philadelphia Women’s Medical Fund. She also can discuss issues related to violence against women. Her forthcoming book, Up Against a Wall: Rape Reform and the Failure of Success, which examines the intersection of social movements and public policy in the area of violence against women, is scheduled for release in January 2013 from New York University Press.
- The Business of Health Care: Michael Howley, associate clinical professor in Drexel’s LeBow College of Business, specializes in the business of health care and the impact of health reform on the delivery of medical services. He worked as a physician assistant before receiving an MBA and doctoral degree in business administration.
- Financial Regulation: Roger Dennis, founding dean and professor of law at the Earle Mack School of Law, can discuss legal and economic implications of the candidates’ proposals for regulating the financial industry. His scholarship applies modern financial theory to corporate law and strategic corporate behavior. Dennis’ work has been cited by numerous courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He previously served as provost at Rutgers University-Camden and dean of the Rutgers University-Camden School of Law.
- Women’s Equality: Lynn Yeakel is a nationally known civic and community leader and a tireless advocate for women and girls. She can discuss such issues as why women should vote, increasing the number of women in top leadership positions, pay equity and family-friendly policies in the workplace. Yeakel is the director of Drexel University College of Medicine’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership where she holds the Betty A. Cohen Chair in Women’s Health. She also is the founder and co-chair of Vision 2020, a national ten-year initiative of the Institute to advance women’s social and economic equality by the year 2020, the centennial of the 19th amendment.
- Marriage Equality: David S. Cohen, associate professor in the Earle Mack School of Law, explores constitutional law and gender issues in the law that range from sex discrimination to interactions between gender identity and social policy. He also is an expert in women’s rights issues, particularly reproductive rights. A former staff attorney with the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia, he handled cases that included health insurance coverage of contraceptives and health care for women prisoners. Cohen worked on several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including representing the plaintiffs in Ferguson v. City of Charleston, in which the court ruled that involuntary drug testing of pregnant women violated their Fourth Amendment rights.
- Poverty and Hunger: Dr. Mariana Chilton is the director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities at the Drexel University School of Public Health. Her areas of expertise include human rights and health, race, ethnicity and poverty, nutrition and chronic disease, hunger, women and children, complementary and alternative medicine and religion and medicine. Chilton's work spans across a variety of issues that affect low-income families to address nutritional wellbeing, public assistance participation, housing instability and employment.
- Homeland Security, Terrorism & Counter-Terrorism: Dr. Scott White is a professor of homeland security and security management and director of the Computing Security and Technology program in Drexel’s Goodwin College of Professional Studies. Prior to his academic career, he served as a Security Intelligence Officer. He is currently teaching a course in emergency management called “Olympic Terror: Munich-London.” White completed his doctoral degree in criminology at the University of Bristol in Bristol, England.
- Immigration: Anil Kalhan is a professor in the Earle Mack School of Law whose principal interests include immigration law, criminal law, U.S. and comparative constitutional law and international human rights law. He previously worked as a litigation associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where he also served as co-coordinator of the firm’s immigration and international human rights pro bono practice group. He also has previously worked for the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project in New York.
- Climate Change: Dr. Robert Brulle, a professor of sociology and environmental science, can discuss environmental politics and the social interactions that drive how society treats the natural environment. He recently released a study, which was published in Climate Change, revealing that the driving factor that most influences public opinion on climate change is the mobilizing efforts of advocacy groups and elites. Brulle has authored numerous articles and book chapters on environmental science, and is a frequent media commentator on climate change.
- Social Networking and the Election: Dr. Sean Goggins, director of Drexel’s Group Informatics Lab, has examined how current social networking trends could affect party loyalty and how parties will wield these tools to unite behind their candidates. Goggins focuses his research on the uptake and use of information and communication technologies by small groups. His lab has been studying twitter use during the 2012 primary elections and presidential debates and will continue this research through the presidential election.