Michelle DeardorffMICHELLE D. DEARDORFF’S teaching and research focus on the constitutional and statutory protections surrounding gender, race, and religion. She particularly enjoys developing classes that allow students to apply their understandings of law, politics, and political theory to current events; she seeks to foster critical citizens prepared to participate in governing our communities and nation. Deardorff is currently head of Political Science and Public Service at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Before coming to UTC, she spent 10 years teaching at Jackson State, a historically Black university in Mississippi, and another decade at Millikin University, a small private college in Illinois. She recently served on the Council of the American Political Science Association and is a founding faculty member of the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, a coalition of academics who promote civic engagement and popular sovereignty through the study of the struggle for civil rights in the United States.  She lives in Chattanooga with her husband, David, where they enjoy kayaking, hiking, live music, and reading in beautiful places. Read More Read Less