Education
Ph.D., Political Science, University of Hawaii, 1990
M.A., Political Science, University of Hawaii, 1979
B.S. (High Honors), Psychology, University of Tennessee, Nashville,1975
Areas of Specialization
- American Politics: national political intuitions; political parties, public opinion, women and politics and political participation.
- American Political Thought
- University and Community Engagement
- Public Administration: election administration; ethics; democratic leadership; citizen participation in public administration; and conflict management.
- Conflict Resolution: judicial politics, mediation, arbitration.
Research Interests
Dr. Slaton’s research interests have focused on the means to advance and enhance democracy; building trust and creating greater transparency in governance; promoting ethics in leadership; improving election administration; and creating collaborations between universities and communities. She began her academic career as the co-designer of a method of public opinion polling—Televote– that was developed to educate citizens on complex issues, foster dialogue, and obtain responses to questions after deliberation. She also is a trained mediator, arbitrator, and focus group facilitator, who co-founded the first community-based mediation center on a university campus, which was established at the University of Hawaii.
Obtaining her graduate education at the University of Hawaii gave her a deep appreciation of the value of a multicultural and international perspective She has given given key-note addresses at international conferences in Germany, Austria, and Finland and been an invited speaker at several conferences in the United States, Denmark, and Sweden. She conducted nationwide polling in New Zealand and nationwide mediation training in the Philippines and served as a professional facilitator at international conferences in Greece, Czech Republic, and Finland.
While a professor at Auburn University, she and her colleagues partnered with the nonprofit Election Center and developed a certification training program for election and voter registration officials and traveled across the United States to train local and state officials who administer and oversee elections. They developed the nation’s first election administration concentration in the Masters in Public Administration Program. In 2009, Dr. Slaton received the National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion (NASS), 2009 from the Secretary of State of Alabama in recognition of her outstanding service and dedication to furthering NASS’s mission: fair and honest elections, civic education and service to state government.
Her research has been funded by the Kettering Foundation, Markle Foundation, Future Generations Alliance Foundation (Japan), Meridian International Institute, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the Alabama Department of Agriculture.
Publications
- Books
The Future of Teledemocracy (with Ted Becker) Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.
Transformational Politics: Theory, Study and Practice (with Steven Woolpert and Edward Schwerin) Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Televote: Expanding Citizen Participation in a Quantum Age: New York: Praeger, 1992.
- Articles
“The University Role in Civic Engagement: Serving as a Spark to Community Building,” Higher Education Exchange: A Retrospective (2015), pp. 34-42.
“Building Capacity in Election Administration: Local Responses to Complexity and Interdependence,” (with Kathleen Hale) Public Administration Review 68 (September/October 2008), pp. 839-849.
“Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for Biopower: Results from Focus Groups,” (with Diane Hite, Patricia Duffy, David Bransby) Biomass and Bioenergy 32 (January 2008), pp. 11-17.
“The University Role in Civic Engagement: Serving as a Spark to Community Building,” Higher Education Exchange (2005), pp. 34-42.
“Interdependence and Ethics in Elections: The Case of the Butterfly Ballot,” (with Robert Montjoy) Public Integrity 4:3 (2002), pp. 195-210.
“New Models of Citizen Deliberation,” Futures 33 (2001), pp. 356-360.
“Democracy Beyond the Information Age: Twenty-first Century Political Communication,” (with Ted Becker) Foresight 2:2 (April 2000), pp. 199-209.
“Democracy’s Quantum Leap,” Demos 3 (1994), pp 32-33.
“Cross-Cultural Mediation Training: Lessons Learned,” (with Ted Becker) Mediation Quarterly No. 17 (Fall 1987), pp. 55-67.
“Hawaii Televote: Measuring Public Opinion on Comlex Policy Issues,” (with Theodoe Becker) Political Science (N.Z.) Vol. 33, No 1 (July 1981), pp. 52-83.
- Book Chapters
“Civic Engagement and Transparency for Regaining the Public Trust” in Cal Clark and Don-Terry Veal (ed.) Advancing Excellence and Public Trust in Government (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2011), pp. 101-104.
“Leadership in Public Administration,” in Richard A Couto (ed.) Political and Civic Leadership (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press, 2010), pp. 450-458.
“The Case of the Butterfly Ballot,” (with Robert S. Montjoy) in Richard J. Stillman II (ed.) Public Administration: Concepts and Cases (8th edition) (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), pp. 515-525.
“Instilling Public Trust through Greater Collaboration with Citizens,” (with Jeremy Arthur) in Matti Malkia, Ari-Veikko, and Reijo Savolainen (eds.) eTransformations in Governance: New Directions in Government and Politics (London: Idea Group Publishers, 2003), pp. 110-130.
“Enlightened Democracy and the Responsibility to Future Generations,” (Theodore L. Becker) in Tae-Chang Kim and James A Dator (eds.), Co-Creating a Public Philosophy for Future Generations (Twichenham, England: Adamantine Press, 1999) pp. 98-110.
“And Overview of the Emerging Political Paradigm: A Web of Transformational Theories,” in Stephen Woolpert, Christa Daryl Slaton, and Edward W. Schwerin (eds.), Transformational Politics: Theory, Study, and Practice (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998), pp. 2-23.
“Removing Barriers to Voter Participation in the United States: New Technologies, New Techniques,” (with Theodore L. Becker) in Thomas J. Johnson, Carol E. Hays and Scott P. Hays (eds.), Engaging the Public: How Government and the Media Can Reinvigorate American Democracy (Lanham, Maryland: Roman and Littlefield, 1998), pp. 207-216.
“Empowering Citizens by Televoting,” in Claus Leggewie and Christa Maar (eds.), Internet and Politics (Munich: Bollmann, 1998), pp. 321-341.
“The Community Mediation Service: A University-Based and Student-Administered Mediation Program,” in Theodore L. Becker and Richard Couto (eds.) Teaching Democracy by Being Democratic (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997), pp. 123-143.
“The Failure of the United States Greens to Root in Fertile Soil,” in Matthais Finger (ed.) The Green Movement Worldwide (Greenwich: JAI Press, 1992), pp. 83-111.
Quantum Theory and Political Theory,” in Theodore L Becker (ed.) Quantum Politics: Applying Quantum Theory to Political Phenomena (New York: Praeger, 1991), pp. 41-63.
“Tale of Two Movements: ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and the Greens,” (with Theodore L. Becker) in John Burton (ed.), The Conflict Resolution Series (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), pp. 301-315.
- Proceedings – Publications of Select Papers from Conferences
“The Curriculum-Based Neighborhood Justice Center: Of the University, By the Students, For the Community,” Proceedings of the Nineteenth National Conference on Teaching Public Administration, Savannah, Georgia, February 16-17, 1996, pp. 320-324.
“A Christian Liberal’s Plea to Respect Religious Contributions to Political Discourse,” Proceedings of the Ninth National Symposium on Public Administration Theory, Savannah, Georgia, February 18-19, 1996, pp 82-85.
- Book Reviews
Cheryl Simrell King and Lisa A. Zanetti, Transformational Public Service: Portraits in Practice in Administrative Theory and Praxis 28:1 (March, 2006), pp. 162-167.
Cathy J. Cohen, Kathleen B. Jones, and Joan C. Tronto (eds.) Women Transforming Politics in Southeaster Political Review(September 2000), pp. 589-592.
Joseph L. Pappin, III, The Metaphysics of Edmund Burke in Southeastern Political Review, (March, 1995), pp. 181-183.
Valentine M. Mogdam, Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East in Journal of Third World Studies, (Fall, 1993), pp. 495-496.
Courses Taught
- American National Government (GOVT 100)
- Introductory Government Seminar (GOVT 101)
- Introduction to Political Science (GOVT 110G)
- American Political Issues (GOVT 150G)
- Special Topics in Public Administration (GOVT 331)
- The Supreme Court (GOVT 345)
- Political Parties and Interest Groups (GOVT 348)
- Special Topics in American Government (GOVT 350)
- Campaigns and Elections (GOVT 351)
- Campaign Strategies and Techniques (GOVT 352)
- Women, Politics and Administration (GOVT 353/526)
- Special Topics in Political Theory (GOVT 381)
- American Political Thought (GOVT 385)
- Constitutional Law (GOVT 391)
- Civil Liberties (GOVT 392)
- Judicial Process (GOVT 394)
- Law and Society (GOVT 395)
- Skills Workshop (GOVT 543)
- Sector Leadership (GOVT 548)
- Ethics in Government (GOVT 549)
- Seminar in American Politics (GOV, T 550)
- Issues in American Politics (GOVT 553)
Contact Information
Email: slatocd@nmsu.edu
