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Northwest Missouri State University

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Meet the Faculty

Robert Dewhirst

Dr. Robert Dewhirst

Phone: 562-1760
E-mail: dewhirs@nwmissouri.edu

Listen! Dr. Dewhirst on Political Science (MP3, 928KB)

Robert Dewhirst joined the Northwest faculty in 1983 after working in journalism and government public relations. He was a public affairs officer for the U. S. Army in Vietnam, a reporter for the Kansas City Star and other several Midwest newspapers, and a public affairs director for an agency in Illinois state government.

A native of St. Louis, Dewhirst holds a pair of undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science and journalism respectively. He received a Ph. D. from the University of Nebraska in 1983. Dewhirst’s areas of teaching and research specialization are American government and politics, Congress, the American presidency, media and politics, political parties, campaigns, elections, and public policy.

Dewhirst has written or edited five books, has two volumes currently being printed, and is working on an additional three books under contract. He also has written numerous book chapters, encyclopedia entries, book reviews, and papers for delivery at academic conferences.

He is a member of the Executive Board of the National Social Science Association and is the sponsor or an advisor for Northwest’s Student Senate, Mortar Board chapter, and Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honorary. He also has been active in the United Methodist Church and the campus chapter of the Wesley Foundation.

Dewhirst’s wife Nina teaches English, speech, and theater at a nearby rural high school. He and Nina have two children, Laura and Jonathan, and a thoroughly spoiled yellow Labrador retriever, “Sunny.” The children mark the family’s fourth generation of diehard fans of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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