Dianne Bystrom

Dianne Bystrom served as the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University from July 1996 to August 2018. She established Iowa State’s interdisciplinary undergraduate Leadership Studies Program, taught courses on leadership, women and politics and political campaigns and spoke frequently to university and community organizations throughout the state and nation on women’s leadership and political status.

A frequent commentator about political and women’s issues for state, national and international media, Bystrom's current research interests focused on the styles and strategies used by female and male political candidates in their television advertising, websites and social media and the coverage of women candidates and political leaders by the media. Bystrom is a contributor, co-author or co-editor of 21 books.