University professors to talk politics, contemporary issues at Presbyterian College – April 26

The Presbyterian College Department of Political Science will present the annual Samuel C. Waters Lecture Series in Political Science on April 26, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. The event will take place in Kuhne Auditorium in Neville Hall.

Emmy Award-winning University of South Carolina professor Charles Bierbauer and Furman University professor C. Danielle Vinson will serve on a panel during the series. This year’s topic is “Partisan Polarization in Today’s Media: The Impact of Fragmentation & Selective Exposure on Civil Discourse and Political Consensus in America.”

A 5:30 p.m. reception with food and beverages will held in the Lobby of the Cornelson Center prior to the start of the event.  The event is open to the public.

Bierbauer joined the USC College of Information and Communications as dean in 2002 after a more than 30-year-career in journalism. He stepped down as dean July 31, 2017, and is now a member of the faculty. Bierbauer is the host of SCETV’s weekly public affairs show, “This Week in South Carolina.”  Bierbauer has lived in seven different countries and reported from many others. He received a 1996 news and documentary Emmy for CNN coverage of the Olympic Park bombing.

A professor of politics and international affairs at Furman, Vinson is the author of Congress and the Media: Beyond Institutional Power. In the volume, Vinson goes back in history four decades to examine how members of Congress have increasingly embraced media relations as a way to influence national policymaking and politics. Vinson’s teaching and research interests focus on institutions in American government with a particular emphasis on Congress and the media. She teaches courses on Congress, the Presidency, Media and Politics, and American Government and regularly directs the Department’s Washington internship program.

The Samuel C. Waters Lecture Series in Political Science aims to highlight both the value and relevance of the study of politics and contemporary issues. The lecture series hosts notable political scholars as guest lectures, who through their research and writings, enrich the academic experience for PC students as well as engage the local community.