'Trump Didn’t Start the Fire: The Story of Racialized Campaigning in Politics'

The Penn State Berks Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) degree program presents "Trump Didn’t Start the Fire: The Story of Racialized Campaigning in U.S. Politics," a discussion lead by two scholars from The Race Project that explores the relationship between race and political communication in our current presidential election, at 12:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, in room 5 of the Luerssen Building, Penn State Berks. This event is free and open to the public.

The discussion will be led by Charlton McIlwain and Stephen M. Caliendo of The Race Project. In 2011, Mcilwain and Caliendo co-authored the book "Race Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in U.S. Political Campaigns," which received the Ralph Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association for addressing ethnic pluralism.

Mcilwain is the associate dean of faculty development and diversity and associate professor of media, culture and communication at New York University (NYU). His work mainly focuses on how political candidates construct, mobilize, benefit or suffer damage from race-based appeals. In addition to "Race Appeal," Mcilwain authored four other books and close to thirty scholarly journal articles and chapters in edited volumes. He regularly provides expert commentary for local, state, national and international media.

Caliendo is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science at North Central College. He is co-founder and co-director of The Project on Race in Political Communication and has been associated with the Junior State of America since 2000. He is often asked to provide media commentary on national and local political news, and he serves as a political analyst for CBS2 Chicago and WDCB Public Radio.

This event is sponsored by the Penn State Berks Communication Arts & Sciences program, and supported by the Howard O., Jr., and Jean S. Beaver Endowment for Guest Lecturers, and the HASS Diversity Grant. For more information, contact the Michele Ramsey, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and women's studies ?at 610-396-6148 or via email at [email?protected].