Nathan R. Shrader

Before arriving at Millsaps College in fall 2014, Nathan Shrader served successively as legislative aide and deputy director of communications to Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll, legislative aide in the Virginia General Assembly, and research analyst at Abrams Learning and Information Systems under General John N. Abrams (retired). He worked from 2009 to 2014 at the Center on Regional Politics at Temple University and was an adjunct professor at Drexel and Neumann Universities. Shrader was also a freelance writer for the Philadelphia Public Record.

He earlier served as legislative intern in Washington for United States Senator Arlen Specter, legislative intern to Pennsylvania State Representative Rod E. Wilt, and as a clerk under Westmoreland County (PA) Recorder of Deeds Tom Murphy. He has also been a consultant, manager, staffer, and volunteer on more than two dozen political campaigns.

Shrader appears as a regular political analyst for television, radio, and print media sources. He has appeared in national and international news coverage of American politics through the Washington Post, Fox News, BBC World Radio, NPR, Bloomberg, Teen Vogue, Governing, USA Today, Newsweek, Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi Today, and others. He regularly contributes on-air to CBS, ABC, and NBC affiliates in Mississippi to discuss Magnolia State government, policy, elections, and issues. In addition to his teaching and efforts to assist in keeping Mississippians informed about politics in their state, Shrader is instrumental in the quarterly Millsaps College/Chism Strategies polling series that examines public opinion trends pertaining to government and politics in the state. He also oversees the non-partisan Millsaps Votes registration, education, and turnout project and serves as a board member of Common Cause Mississippi as well as the Millsaps College/Women’s Foundation of Mississippi Legislative Fellowship Program.

Through his own unique experiences both studying and practicing the art of politics and governance, Shrader encourages his students to build bridges between the theoretical and the real-world application of political science. His main areas of scholarly interest include state and local government, political history, the presidency, political marketing, campaigns and elections, and political parties.