Welcome to the Willamette University Media Guide. We have limited our list to faculty members who have expertise that corresponds with current events, and who are able to meet with media representatives on short notice.
For assistance:
All Subject Areas Except Law/Government
Office of Communications
503-370-6014
Law/Government
College of Law
503-370-6760
Politics: American Presidency
Richard Ellis
Hatfield Professor of Politics
College of Liberal Arts
PhD University of California, Berkeley
MA University of California, Berkeley
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.