ISU McNair Scholar Madison Shumway to present research at European Conference on Politics and Gender

Shumway’s research explores sexism on Twitter and Facebook directed at women gubernatorial candidates. Shumway has previously presented her work at the Midwest Political Science Association annual conference and at Rutgers University’s “Resisting Women’s Political Leadership: Theories, Data and Solutions” conference.

Shumway, who is currently studying social media and social theory at Karlstad University in Karlstad, Sweden, is a Department of Communication, Media and Persuasion major with a multiplatform journalism emphasis and a Global Studies minor.

Shumway acts as copy editor of The Bengal, ISU’s campus newspaper, and as a marketing and communications intern for the College of Arts and Letters. She has previously worked with VoteRunLead, an organization that trains women to run for office.

As a TRIO McNair Scholar, Shumway was accepted to University of Texas Austin School of Journalism master’s program and Rutgers political science Ph.D. program. She hasn’t decided where to go yet.

Shumway hopes to continue studying social media, power and women in politics. She hopes to develop innovative methods of analyzing online communication. Ultimately, she aims to help women in politics develop strategies for using social media and countering the sexism they receive online.

The McNair Scholars Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 151 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Education. It is designed to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities.

McNair Scholar participants are either first-generation college students with financial need or members of a group that is traditionally underrepresented in graduate education and have demonstrated strong academic potential. The goal of the McNair Scholars Program is to increase graduate degree awards for students from underrepresented segments of society.

For more information, contact Alma Jam at triomcnair@isu.edu.