Letter From the Editors

Happy New Year!

We are pleased to give you the Fall/Winter 2015 issue of The PEP Report. We also want to extend our deepest thanks and warmest congratulations to Justin Vaughn and John Hudak for their
productive tenure as co-editors of The PEP Report. As the new editorial team, we hope to
continue, and build on, their successes.

This issue’s Featured Essay has direct implications for the 2016 presidential election. For 226
years, men have had a lock on the American presidency, and this is not by chance. It is well
established that gender matters. Kelly Dittmar of Rutgers University calls on all PEP scholars to
think more clearly about this election, and our political system more generally, through a gender
lens. Dittmar’s essay is a collection of her writings from the Presidential Gender Watch 2016, a
nonpartisan project created by the Center for American Women and Politics (Eagleton Institute,
Rutgers University) and the Barbara Lee Foundation, of which she is an expert and frequent
contributor. Dittmar points out that gender and presidential politics is not just specific to the
2008 and 2016 elections because “gender dynamics have been at play in all presidential elections
to date.” For more information, visit http://presidentialgenderwatch.org/
Our New Books section displays the dynamism of the PEP community. Topics include President
Obama’s foreign policy struggles, a history of presidential spin, executive masculinity and the
news media, First Ladies, presidential czars, elections, Vice Presidents, the Tea Party, and
executive scandals, among others. These books will keep you busy during the holiday break and
likely through most of 2016!

The new section on Emerging Trends features recently defended dissertations and highlights up-
and-coming scholars that are pushing the PEP discipline, broadly defined, in new and exciting
directions.

You will also find important information in our Announcements section on an interesting
newsletter about former American presidents and a call for an underused funding resource
specific to PEP scholars.

We hope you enjoy this issue. We also wish to produce PEP Reports that are reflective of our
diverse and thriving community so your suggestions and ideas for future issues are necessary and
greatly appreciated. All questions, commentary, and feedback should be sent to us at

PEPReportAPSA@gmail.com

Happy holidays and looking forward to seeing you in Puerto Rico for SPSA!

Mark Major (Penn State University)

Ian Ostrander (Texas Tech University)

Anne Pluta (Rowan University)