Jewitt ’06 to Present Rude Memorial Lecture

Caitlin Jewitt ’06 will deliver the 2020 Leslie G. Rude Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, January 14, at 7 p.m. in the Celebration Room, Shineman Chapel House, on the Hartwick College campus. Her presentation, “The Primary Rules and the 2020 Presidential Nomination Contest,” is free and open to the public.

Jewitt, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Tech, will discuss her research and offer insights into what is shaping up to be a hotly contested 2020 presidential nomination process.

“The presidential nomination system is complicated, characterized by a mix of primaries and caucuses happening between February and June,” she said. “The lengthy process also looks quite different across parties. This is especially true in 2020, with numerous Democrats competing for the nomination and the Democratic Party eager to heal the divisiveness caused by the 2016 Clinton/Sanders battle. On the Republican side, President Trump is only facing token opposition and many states are cancelling their primaries. This talk will discuss how the presidential nomination system works, focusing on some of the more controversial, complicated aspects, and will also cover the state of the 2020 nomination.”

Jewitt has recently published a book on the topic, “The Primary Rules: Parties, Voters and Presidential Nominations” (University of Michigan Press).

“Leslie G. Rude was a Hartwick College faculty member, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Dean of the College,” said Hartwick College President Margaret L. Drugovich. “He was passionately committed to every citizen’s obligation to participate in the democratic process. This lecture encourages us to consider our individual role in advancing the democracy that we have come to depend upon, but should never take for granted. Dr. Jewitt’s interest in the political process was inspired at Hartwick, and we welcome her back.”

While at Hartwick, Jewitt was a political science major, John Christopher Hartwick Scholar, and varsity swimmer. After visiting New Hampshire in 2004 as part of an off-campus J Term class on the presidential nomination process class, she developed an interest in electoral rules and how they vary across states.

After graduating from Hartwick, Jewitt earned a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from University of Minnesota.

Jewitt’s book is available at Amazon and through the University of Michigan Press.

The purpose of the Leslie G. Rude Memorial Lecture is to bring a prominent speaker with political expertise to the Hartwick campus each year to share ideas with students, faculty, and community members about issues pertinent to the current political climate. Rude was an outstanding Hartwick College faculty member and administrator. Following his death in 1998, Professor Emerita Norma Hutman and Marion Rude established the Leslie G. Rude Memorial Lecture Series to reflect his passionate interests in political science and public speaking and his commitment to public life.

This year’s Lecture will also be webcast, and can be viewed live at the Leslie G. Rude webpage. It will later be archived at the College’s YouTube page.

For additional information on the Leslie G. Rude Memorial Lecture, contact Events Assistant Tim Raimy ’17 at 607-431-4044 or at raimyt@hartwick.edu.