By Doug Seites, Student Writer

Published on

Kelly Dittmar ’06 has been named as one of seven recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Women’s Studies Dissertation Fellowship.

Dittmar graduated from Aquinas College summa cum laude with a triple major in political science, sociology, and Spanish. She is a doctoral candidate in political science at Rutgers University, where she also is a research associate and program assistant at the Center for American Women and Politics.

Dittmar’s focus is on women and American politics and her current research focuses on gender dynamics of U.S political campaigns and elections. Her dissertation, Campaigns as Gendered Institutions: Stereotypes and Strategy in Statewide Races explores gender stereotypes and dynamics and how they affect campaign images, tactics and messages.

Recipients of the award receive $2,000 for expenses related to their dissertation; including travel costs, books, and computer access. Recipients will also have their dissertation titles publicized with leading scholarly publishers at the conclusion of the fellowship year.

The Woodrow Wilson Women’s Studies program is the only national fellowship for doctoral work on issues of women and gender. The fellowship supports the final year of dissertation writing for PhD candidates. It is awarded to candidates studying humanities and social sciences in interdisciplinary and innovative ways.

The Woodrow Wilson Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s’ Studies encourages original and significant research about women that crosses disciplinary, regional and cultural boundaries. Since its creation in 1974, nearly 500 emerging scholars have been awarded the fellowship, with many now prominent in their fields of work.