Richard Ellis writes and lectures on public opinion and the initiative process, the American presidency and American political culture. He also teaches courses on liberalism, privacy and patriotism. He is considered an authority on the initiative and referendum process in the United States. His book To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance has been featured on National Public Radio and in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Oregonian, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the Washington, D.C.-based news service, Religion in the News. It was selected as the Citizens Read book of the month for Portland, was the Library Journal’s best-selling book and won an honorable mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. To the Flag is a fascinating history of how the Pledge of Allegiance developed in response to anxieties about immigration and imported social ideas, including Communism.

Melissa Buis Michaux is available to speak about Oregon politics, American politics and welfare reform. She directs the Women and Gender Studies Program, the Politics Department, and Willamette's Legislative Internship Program at the Oregon State Capitol. In 2007-08 she sponsored a local chapter of the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee (WUFPAC), an organization that encourages young women to run for office. One of her most popular courses is "Parties, Elections and Campaigns."

Michaux came to Oregon and Willamette in 2001 to study the state's innovative approach to welfare. Her research also focuses on feminism. She recently co-wrote Making Mommies: Feminist Responses to Parenting Manuals, which documents how feminism and the rise of intensive parenting have influenced parenting manuals since the 1950s.