Kate KnutsonFaculty

One of my very first political memories involves standing and waving on the side of the road next to giant cut out letters of a candidate's name on Election Day in Mt. View, Hawai'i.  I was about five years old.  My interest in politics continued to develop and in high school I had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. for a week through a program called Presidential Classroom.  A year later I won another week long trip to D.C. for an essay I wrote on the role of women and minorities in World War II. 

In my first semester of college at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, I took an introductory course on American politics from one of the toughest professors on campus.  I was scared to death of the professor, but also enthralled by his knowledge of American politics and history.  To this day, I still have the pages and pages of notes I took in his class that semester.  When the time came to choose a major, I did what any good Type A personality might do: I went through the entire Course Catalog and circled every class that looked interesting to me.  Sure enough, I ended up with nearly all of the courses in the Political Science department circled!

The opportunity to study political science at a liberal arts college had a deep and lasting impact on me.  The close relationships I developed with faculty and other students, the opportunities to work collaboratively on research with faculty, and the opportunities to conduct my own original research inspired my interest in pursuing a career as a college professor in the field of political science.

I left Linfield for a PhD program in Political Science at the University of Washington.  Here I had the opportunity to pursue my developing interests in the subfields of religion and politics, interest groups, public policy, and political communication. 

My dissertation research merged my interests in religion, interest groups, media, and policy, examining the question of why some public policy issues are framed in the media as "moral" issues, while others are not.  I found that religious advocacy groups were active in a variety of policy debates, making the argument that policies such as low income housing vouchers were indeed "moral" issues.  Journalists, however, generally resisted these attempts at framing.  Various portions of this research appeared in the article, “Breaking the Chains: Constraint and the Political Rhetoric of Religious Interest Groups,” (Politics and Religion, Vol.4, No. 2, (2011): 312-337) and the book chapter, “Same-Sex Marriage: The Impact of Religiously-Motivated Political Action on Public Policy” (in Church and State Issues in America Today, Steven Jones and Ann Duncan (Eds.), Praeger Publishers, 2007: 37-74).

After completing my PhD in 2005, I left the Pacific Northwest for the great state of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus College.  I joined a phenomenal department of award winning teachers, accomplished scholars, and caring mentors in the fall of 2005. 

At Gustavus, I primarily teach courses in American politics, including U.S. Politics and Government, Public Policy, Congress, Interest Groups, and Gender and Politics.  I also regularly teach the Analyzing Politics course required for all Political Science majors and a First Term Seminar course titled Fast Food and Politics.  My philosophy on teaching and learning is that students learn best when they can become fully involved in the learning process.  I strive to incorporate many active elements into my courses including regular small and large group discussions, service learning projects, field trips, group projects, films, guest speakers, and simulations. 

In addition to teaching, I also maintain an active research agenda at Gustavus, and have been fortunate to have had many students as collaborative partners. Several students have attended national conferences with me to present our research.  One of these conference papers developed into the journal article, “Sharing the Faith: How Religious Interest Groups Build Media Strategies” coauthored with Mikka McCracken ’09 and published in The Journal of Communication and Religion.  Jackie Schwerm '11 helped participate in interviews and data collection for my book, Interfaith Advocacy: The Role of Religious Coalitions in the Political Process. I'm also the author of an open-access (free to students) textbook on public policy that features contributions from some of my former students who now work in politics and government, An Introduction to U.S. Public Policy: Theory and Practice.  

When I'm not teaching or researching, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, walking, playing music, trying out new recipes, reading for fun, and volunteering with Seeds of Hope, a camp for kids in the social services system.

Kate Knutson is the recipient of the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Disginguished Teaching (2020) and the Swenson-Bunn Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence (2024).  She won the Faculty Service Award at Gustavus in 2018 and again in 2023 (for her service on the Faculty Task Force).  She directed the First-Term Seminar program at Gustavus from 2012-2018 and served as the Interim Director for the Academic Support Center in 2017.  

• Knutson CV.pdf

Courses Taught