Melody Rose is associate professor of political science at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University where she teaches courses in American government and politics and is the Program Director of NEW Leadership (TM) Oregon, an affiliate of the NEW Leadership (TM) Development Network, which partners with Rutgers University to offer political and leadership training programs to college women in Oregon. She has authored a number of articles and book chapters on national and Oregon social policy and is writing two books: She Flies with Her Own Wings, an analysis of the oral histories of Oregon's first elected political women; and an encyclopedia of primary source documents on abortion history. Rose has served on the Board of Directors for the Classroom Law Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to train K-12 teachers in civic education curricula and strategies, and is a regular political analyst on local, state, and national media on matters of elections, voting, and women's political action. Rose lives in Portland with her husband and their four children.