Christopher Arterton

F. Christopher "Chris" Arterton is a Professor of Political Management at The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM), the nation's first school for professional politics. Before joining the GSPM as its founding Dean in 1987, Dr. Arterton was a professor at Yale University for ten years, teaching in both the Political Science Department and the School of Organization and Management. From 1975 to 1988, Arterton also played an active role at The Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government serving on five faculty study groups during that period. Dr. Arterton is a graduate of Trinity College, he holds an M.A. in International Relations from the American University, and he received his Ph.D. in Political Science from M.I.T. in 1974.

Dr. Arterton's research, his 25 years of teaching, and his considerable experience as a consultant on American public opinion make him an expert on the strategic environment of American political leaders -- an area which encompasses the news media and communications technology generally, political strategy and tactics, public opinion, and ethics and leadership in politics. Dr. Arterton has written four books on these topics; his two most recent are The Electronic Commonwealth (co-authored with Jeffrey Abramson and Gary Orren) published by Basic Books and Teledemocracy: Can Technology Protect Democracy? published by Sage Publications.

Chris Arterton is a well-known commentator and moderates a series of panel discussions on political issues which are frequently televised by the C-SPAN cable network. From 1979 to 1990, he was a consultant to Newsweek magazine on polling and campaign coverage, and in 1986 and 1987 he consulted the Gallup Organization on opinion surveys. He is currently researching a book blending political leadership and political strategy.

Arterton's work at The GSPM also has an international component: he has assisted academics in a number of other nations to develop their own curriculum in democratic politics by drawing upon GSPM's experience.

Dr. Arterton has been active in Democratic party politics for over 20 years. He has served as a polling consultant to many local and statewide political campaigns. He has written several articles on party rules and conventions and has served on three national commissions on party rules for the National Democratic Convention.