Bobbi Gentry

Bobbi G. Gentry

Associate Professor of Political Science, Bridgewater College
Chapter Leader: Virginia SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Bobbi

Gentry is a scholar of teaching and learning who focuses on improving student engagement in the classroom through simulations, policy problem/solution proposals, and research projects. She is also a youth voting scholar and does extensive research in political identify development. Dr. Gentry has recently published her book, Why Youth Vote: Identity, Inspirational Leaders, and Independence. Her current work on the scholarship of teaching and learning includes best practices in internships, curriculum review in higher education, and identity development in the Political Science classroom.

Contributions

In the News

Guest on One on One/WHSV3, September 17, 2019.
Guest on WHSV3 Fox News, April 18, 2019.
Quoted by Valerie Wells in "Courts are focus of Constitution Day panel at Millikin," Herald and Review, September 18, 2013.
Quoted by Allie Grasgreen in " Civic School Spirit," Inside Higher Ed, October 19, 2010.

Publications

"Political Identity Development in a Changing World" in The Psychology of Political Behavior in a Time of Change, edited by Jan D. Sinnott and Joan S. Rabin (Political Identity Development in a Changing World, 2021), 323-333.

Identities that development remains an understudied area of identity development, however, in changing times, knowing where people are in their identity development informs citizens, candidates, and researchers how identity shapes our world.

"Political Science Internships: Towards Best Practices Now Available" (with John C. Berg). American Political Science Association (2021).

Builds on a robust body of evidence that demonstrates the integrative power of internships to help students learn by doing. Targets faculty, instructors, and administrators who deliver political science curricula, this book examines the state of internships in the discipline, scrutinizing different types of internship programs, their vital components, and the roles of key stakeholders: faculty mentors and instructors, 

"Youth Voting Laws in Southern States," Southern Political Science Association Conference, 2020.

Discusses that states vary in their limitation or expansion of voting rights for young people, and especially college students. This research examines nine different southern states and their voter registration laws and residency requirements.

"Why Youth Vote" (Springer, 2018).

Narrates identity and the political components of identity development, this book will be of interest to political scientists studying public opinion and voting behavior, campaigns and elections, and political psychology, as well as practitioners such as civic engagement and youth voting groups who wish to engage young people in the political process.

"Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen" in Bridging Adolescent Engagement and Adult Engagement, edited by Alison Rios Millett McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion and Dick Simpson (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 57.

Uses political psychology to understand the current gaps in the literature and the field between civic engagement and voting behavior, this research explores the theory of political identity development which can help us to understand how to encourage students to participate and better understand who they are in a political world.