More about the presenter :  Dr. Dianne Bystrom is serving a two-year term (2019-2021) as co-president of the League of Women Voters of Nebraska. A League member since 1995, Dr. Bystrom served as director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University for 22 years before retiring in August 2018. She also established Iowa State’s Leadership Studies Program and served as its director for 10 years. Dr. Bystrom has contributed to 25 books—including Women in the American Political System: An Encyclopedia of Women as Voters, Candidates, and Office Holders (2019); An Unprecedented Election: Media, Communication, and the Electorate in the 2016 Campaign (2018); and Gender and Elections (2018, 2014, 2009 and 2006)—as a as a co-author, co-editor or chapter author. She was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018, named a Woman of Influence by the Des Moines Business Record in 2017, and received the Iowa Network for Women in Higher Education’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2016. Dr. Bystrom continues to serve as a speaker and commentator about women’s issues, leadership and politics for community groups, professional organizations and the media. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kearney (NE) State College and a master’s degree in journalism and Ph.D. in communication, both from the University of Oklahoma.