Eisenhower Institute to host Tanya Melich

Tanya Melich, a nationally recognized political analyst, writer, and authority on women in politics, will visit Gettysburg College from October 6 through October 10, 2008 as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow hosted by the Eisenhower Institute.

 

Melich co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, helped to organize the Manhattan Women’s Political Caucus, and led the National Women’s Education Fund. A former Republican who served on the political staffs of Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, Charles Goodell, and John Lindsay, she is now an independent. 

 

Melich’s 1996 book, The Republican War Against Women: An Insider’s Report, received the Gustavus Meyer Center Award as an outstanding book on human rights in North America.  Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Daily News, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, Glamour, and Ms.  Recently, Melich has become an advocate of election reform, publishing an article in 2005 in The Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy on negative campaigning directed at female congressional candidates.

 

“Women have made enormous strides in politics as of late, and [Melich’s] visit will provide an opportunity to reflect on that,” said Eisenhower Institute Undergraduate Fellow Madeline Shepherd.  Shepherd looks forward to hearing Melich speak on campus in the fall and added that her career “demonstrates the power of the individual with her wide range of accomplishments.”

 

Melich has been named by the Manhattan Women's Political Caucus as one of New York's outstanding women. She received the New York NOW Susan B. Anthony Women of Achievement Award, the Alfred F. Moran Advocacy Award by Family Planning Advocates of New York, and was honored by the New York State National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).

 

 

Melich’s fellowship at Gettysburg College will focus on a variety of topics, including: the effect of U.S. electoral politics on international issues, the role of women in politics and the treatment of women in the world, the 2008 presidential campaign, the role of internationalism in maintaining security in the U.S., protecting civil liberties in a time of war, intolerance in America, the non-military aspects of the war on terrorism, and electoral management and reform.

 

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