Nichola Gutgold

Nikki Gutgold

Nichola D. Gutgold is a professor of communication arts and sciences and associate dean of academics at Penn State's Schreyer Honors College. At the honors she works with all curricular and academic aspects of the Schreyer Honors College, including course scheduling, thesis coordination, global programming, the Distinguished Honors Faculty Program, and many other facets of the college.

Image: Kate Morgan

Nikki's research focuses on the rhetoric of women in male dominated fields. Books include: The Rhetoric of Supreme Women: From Obstacles to Options (2012), Almost Madam President: Why Hillary Clinton 'won' in 2008, (2009); Seen and Heard: The Women of Television News, (2008) and Paving the Way for Madam President (2006). With Molly Wertheimer she co-authored, Elizabeth Hanford Dole: Speaking from the Heart (2004). With Ted Sheckels and Diana Carlin she co-authored Gender and the American Presidency: Nine Presidential Women and the Barriers They Faced (2012).

She has co-authored a children's book based on research on women and the American presidency, Madam President: Five Women Who Paved the Way (Eifrig Publishing, 2014).

In 2013 Nikki gave a TEDxPSU talk on women and the American presidency. Link to talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Uo05JoZQo

Lemme Just Say, "Thanks, Geraldine Ferraro!"

When I heard of Geraldine Ferraro’s death, I remembered her generosity when I asked her if she would write the foreword for a book I wrote that chronicles the lives and communication styles of five women who ran for president. She always said that politics is not a spectator sport. more »

This President's Day: Are We Believing in Madam President or Not?

There is evidence to show that more young women were encouraged by the presidential race of Hillary Clinton than by the vice-presidential bid of Sarah Palin and that the effort of both women were more encouraging than discouraging to their belief that there would be a woman president in their lifetimes more »

Sonia Sotomayor Communicates Without Doubt

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is not afraid of running a "hot bench" and routinely asks many questions of lawyers who come before the Supreme Court. That was certainly true in November when Carter G. Phillips represented the State of California a… more »

Reviews of Two Books by Elizabeth Edwards: Resilience and Saving Graces

Who could not admire Elizabeth Edwards? Mother of a dead teenager, cancer patient and political spouse; each role a burden. But when word of her husband’s unfaithfulness hit the news, I wondered why thoughtful and intelligent Elizabeth Edwards would dign… more »