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Department of Political Science

Emeritus Faculty

Laura R. Woliver

Title: Distinguished Professor Emerita
Department of Political Science
Email: [email protected]
Resources: Curriculum Vitae [pdf]

BIO:  Laura R. Woliver (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin –Madison, 1986) is Distinguished Professor Emerita in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies.  She came to South Carolina in 1985.  She became a joint appointment in Women’s and Gender Studies in 2001.  She served both Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies in faculty, College, University and professional association committees, and as a mentor to many students and colleagues.  She continues her work on intersectional social justice through her writings and activism.  As a Women’s and Gender Studies Program Partnership Council member, a Faculty Affiliate of the Preston Residential College, and chair of two final dissertation committees, she has remained connected to USC.


 RESEARCH: Professor Woliver specializes in American politics.  Her interests include gender and politics, social justice, social movements and activism.  Her current emphasis is on fair districting in American elections, voter protection, and making democracy work for all people.  She does this in her writings and her work in the League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area.


 TEACHING:  She is the recipient of several teaching and mentoring awards.  Her thirty-two years of teaching at USC included development of new and now established graduate and undergraduate courses in gender and politics and feminist theory. 


 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Push Back, Move Forward:  The National Council of Women’s Organizations and Women’s Coalition Advocacy.  Philadelphia, Pa.:  Temple University Press, 2018.  

The Political Geographies of Pregnancy, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002.

From Outrage to Action:  The Politics of Grass Roots Dissent, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.  1993.

“The South Carolina Confederate Flag: The Politics of Race and Citizenship,” Politics and Policy. Vol. 29, No. 4, Dec. 2001: 708-730.   Co-authors: Chris J. Dolan and Angela Ledford.

“Dissent is Patriotic:  Disobedient Founders, Narratives, and Street Battles,” (2015).  Tulsa Law Review.  Vol. 50, No.2 (Winter):  381-395.  Invited review essay.


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