2011 MCA Conference
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Theodore Sheckels
Theodore F. Sheckels is Professor of English and Communication Studies at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in its nearby Maryland suburbs, he received his B.S. in Secondary Education from Duquesne University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from The Pennsylvania State University. As an English professor, he has published book-length studies of South African literature, Australian film, Canadian women writers, and Canadian author Margaret Atwood. As a communication studies professor, he has published a textbook on debating and a critical study of Congressional debating. He has co-authored
Perspectives on Political Communication: A Case Approach and a forthcoming book on women in politics; edited
Cracked But Not Shattered: Hillary Clinton’s Unsuccessful Campaign for the Presidency; co-edited
Readings of Political Communication; and authored
Maryland Politics and Political Communication, 1950-2005 as well as articles of Maryland politics in journals such as
Communication Quarterly and
Rhetoric and Public Affairs. His current Maryland project focuses on the political communication surrounding the turbulent 1962-67 years in Cambridge.
Reception Speaker: Bob Ehrlich
Bob Ehrlich was a four-term congressman representing Maryland’s second Congressional district when he became Maryland’s first Republican governor in 36 years (2003-2007), defeating Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend(Senator Robert Kennedy’s oldest daughter). Gov. Ehrlich had also served as a Member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing northern Baltimore County from 1987 to 1995. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Politics from Princeton University in 1979 where he also captained the freshman and varsity football teams, and his Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1982. Today, he is a partner at King & Spalding’s Washington, D.C. office. He is also an author of a forthcoming book on American politics and culture.
