Alison Dagnes
Alison Dawn Dagnes (born July 6, 1969) is a professor, author, and commentator on American politics. Her work focuses on politics and the media, politics and humor, and political scandal. She is a Professor of Political Science at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. Education. Dagnes earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2003. Her dissertation focused on the use of media by right-wing extremist groups. She earned her BA in government from St. Lawrence University in 1991 and graduated from the Maret School in Washington, DC in 1987. Career and commentary. From  1991 to 1996, Alison Dagnes was a producer at C-SPAN in Washington, DC. She left Capitol Hill to attend graduate school. She was a lecturer at St. Lawrence University for two years and then joined the Political Science Department at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania in 2003. She is currently a Professor of Political Science and teaches courses on political behavior. Despite being a Democrat, Dagnes served as the faculty adviser for the College Republicans at Shippensburg for over a decade. The Rev. Dr. Dagnes is also an ordained minister and has officiated the marriages of five of her former  students. She is also an expert in animal calls and Muppet voices. She collects elephant figurines. Dr. Dagnes also learned how to play the cello, horribly, at the age of 45. Dagnes commentates in print, radio, and television for both American and international audiences. She offers analysis and commentary on US media and politics, political sex scandals, and politics and humor. She has been featured in a variety of publications and outlets including, among others: Vanity Fair USA Today, National Geographic “Startalk” with Niel DeGrasse Tyson, The Atlantic Monthly, CNN, Netroots Nation, Wired, L.A. Times, New York Post, Washington Times , NPR, Smithsonian, C-SPAN, MSNBC “The Cycle”, Huffington Post, Real Clear Politics, Canadian Broadcast Corporation, Psychology Today, The Hill, Miami Herald, BBC, Al Jazeera, Triblive, UPI, Sirius/XM Radio “StandUp! With Pete Dominic,” Excelsior (Mexico), The Age (Australia), Kansas City Star, and the Atlantic Journal Constitution Books. Alison Dagnes' book "Super Mad at Everything All the Time" was released in 2019. She has written or edited four books and contributed chapters to several other volumes. Her books include: "A Conservative Walks Into a Bar: The Politics of Political Humor" (Palgrave-Macmillan 2012); "Politics on Demand: The Effects of 24 Hour  News on American Politics" (Praeger 2010); "Sex Scandals in American Politics: A Multidisciplinary Approach" (edited) (Continuum 2011) and "Scandal! An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Consequences, Outcomes, and Significance of Political Scandals" (Edited with Mark Sachleben) (Bloomsbury 2013).