Newswise — CU Boulder faculty experts are available to discuss the Republican and Democratic candidates, political violence, U.S. Supreme Court cases, immigration, misinformation and more leading up to the General Election on Nov. 5.
Email [email protected] to request an interview.
Please note: Several faculty experts can speak about multiple topics on this list. If you have a question or inquiry, please email us.
Race and Gender
Jennifer Ho is the daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica, whose parents themselves were immigrants from Hong Kong. She is the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she specializes in Asian American literary and cultural studies and Critical Race Theory. She can discuss race, racism, multiracial identities, intersectional oppression, and social justice.
Angie Chuang, an associate professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information can discuss race and gender in politics and how the media covers race and ethnicity.
Celeste Montoya, associate professor of women and gender studies, can discuss how a candidate’s racial, ethnic and gender identity can influence voter perceptions, and the unique challenges that women of color face on the campaign trail.
Abortion, birth rates
Amid reports of falling birth rates in the U.S., headlines have stoked concern that as generations of humans shrink, economic development will stall, labor shortages will worsen, and schools will close. Social demographer Leslie Root is an assistant research professor who studies fertility rates. She can discuss what the numbers really say, whether declining birth rates should worry us, and why TikTokers are obsessed with Ballerina Farm.
Amanda Stevenson is an assistant professor of sociology who studies the impacts of, and responses to, abortion and family planning policy. Her latest research shows federal statistics suggesting that maternal mortality rates plummeted after the overturning of Roe v. Wade are “highly misleading” and being misinterpreted by abortion opponents.
Trump assassination attempt, political violence
Elizabeth Skewes is an associate professor of journalism and media studies, whose research focuses on media sociology, news practices, and the media’s role in electoral politics. She can discuss news coverage surrounding the assassination attempt and subsequent media response.
Ross Taylor, an assistant professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information and an award-winning photojournalist, can discuss what he views as “the perfect news photo” taken of President Donald Trump immediately following the assassination attempt.
Regina Bateson is an assistant professor in the political science department. She studies and can speak about the following topics: Electability, gender and politics, vigilantism, immigration, asylum policy and Central America.
Supreme Court and elections
Doug Spencer is an expert in election and constitutional law. He can speak about the ongoing cases involving former president Donald Trump, particularly Trump v. Anderson (Colorado ballot/14th Amendment) and the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Professor Spencer is also an expert on statewide redistricting efforts and manages the website “All about Redistricting.”
Immigration and Indigenous communities
Pratheepan (Deep) Gulasekaram is a professor of constitutional law and immigration law at CU Boulder. He can speak about immigration policy, border enforcement, state and local immigration law, the constitutional rights of noncitizens and DACA.
Christina Stanton is a clinical professor and leads the American Indian Law Clinic at CU Boulder. She can speak about election rights and election discrimination in Indigenous communities—both in Colorado and around the country.
Crime rates, gangs
David Pyrooz is a professor of sociology who studies crime trends, gangs, policing and criminal justice policy. He is the co-author of “On Gangs” (Temple University Press, 2022), and wrote the foreword for “The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society.” He can discuss local and national crime trends and myths and realities around gangs.
Misinformation and technology
Ethan Poskanzer is an assistant professor at the Leeds School of Business. His current research focuses on misinformation and voters—including how voters differentiate between the concepts of “factual” and “true” based on how it aligns with their political beliefs.
Sandra Ristovska is an assistant professor of media studies. Her work focuses on how media influence and shape issues around human rights, justice and the law. She can speak about artificial intelligence and deepfakes, such as AI-generated robocalls.
Nathan Schneider is an assistant professor of media studies and director of the Media Economies Design Lab. He researches democratic ownership and governance on the internet. The author of Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life (2024), he can speak to the role the internet, its design and its culture have played in the rise of authoritarianism worldwide.
This list of experts will be updated here as they become available.
MEDIA CONTACT
Register for reporter access to contact detailsRELEVANT EXPERTS
Regina Bateson
Assistant Professor in the Political Science
University of Colorado BoulderAmanda Stevenson
Affiliate Assistant Professor, Sociology
University of Colorado BoulderDavid Pyrooz
Professor of Sociology
University of Colorado BoulderDoug Spencer
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research
University of Colorado BoulderPratheepan Gulasekaram
Professor of Law
University of Colorado Boulder
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