Faculty Spotlight

It requires determination to explore new territory. Stephanie Larson, professor of political science, saw a hole in a body of knowledge, and she worked to bridge that gap. But rather than go it alone, she got some students involved—and they all ended up in print.

While Larson was writing her just-released book, Media and Minorities: The Politics of Race in News and Entertainment, she also was teaching a senior seminar on political outsiders, including African American, Native American, Asian American and Hispanic populations.

The book takes scholarship on film and television, mass public news, social movements and politics to a new level.

In politics, for example, “previous research focused solely on blacks,” Larson says. Instead of simply continuing with that trend, Larson did primary, firsthand research. Now, when someone is looking for information on how Hispanic political candidates are stereotyped by the media, the information will be there.

Another distinguishing aspect of this book is that it is “more on the edges of political science,” she says. “The challenge was to cast the net really broadly.” The book spans the fields of English, communications, religion, women’s studies, history, sociology and more.

And as Larson cast her net, she caught hold of four students whose seminar papers stood out from the crowd, and she knew that their inclusion would round out her manuscript. “They were strong students,” Larson recalls. “I could tell they truly were interested in their topics.”

Mark Fiorill ’02, Tara McCoy ’03, Michael Smith ’02 and Michael Weniger ’02 each did primary research on innovative topics, allowing them to write highly original papers. They reported on the Chicano movement as it was represented in the New York Times; protests by Native Americans against certain athletic-team mascots; the Black Panthers and their self-published newspaper; and the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee and its actions during the Civil Rights Movement.

The opportunity to contribute to published work and to the available body of knowledge is highly unusual for undegraduate students.

“These are smart, ambitious, hardworking undergrads,” Larson says. “The great thing about being at a liberal-arts college is that you constantly think of connections outside of narrow areas.”

In her book’s acknowledgements, Larson writes, “I do not know if I would have written this book if I worked anywhere but Dickinson College. The institution’s commitment to crossing borders and interdisciplinarity helped me take the risk of stepping into academic worlds outside of political communications.”