Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan is Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Elizabethtown College. A member of the Elizabethtown faculty for 41 years, he served in many leadership roles at the College, including Dean of Faculty from 2010 to 2016, Interim Provost on two occasions, and department chair. He was a lecturer in political studies at the Queens University Bader International Study Centre in East Sussex, England in fall 1999, and an American studies lecturer at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Liaoning Province, China in spring 2008. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Dr. McClellan teaches the senior capstone in political science and legal studies, as well as previously teaching courses in American government, the presidency and presidential elections, public policy, and public administration. He has presented dozens of papers at professional conferences in such areas as the American presidency, politics and popular culture, and teaching and learning in political science. Undergraduate students and alumni co-author some of his papers and columns, and many students he has mentored have presented their research at professional conferences. He is the recipient of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2018 Craig L. Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Mentorship, presented by the Political Science Education Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). In 2020, Elizabethtown College awarded him the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence.
His recent publications include a 2023 article on how political science departments adjusted their undergraduate curricula during the 2010s and a 2021 article on the effects of high impact practices on student learning, both co-authored for the Journal of Political Science Education. His co-authored article on the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the New England Journal of Political Science was featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Conversation.
In addition, Dr. McClellan is actively involved with the Political Science Education section of APSA. Starting in 2022, he is a member of the APSA Presidential Task Force on Rethinking Political Science Education, co-chairing efforts to reform the undergraduate political science major. A regular contributor to LNP/LancasterOnline, he offers commentary on current politics for area media outlets, including WITF-FM, the Pennsylvania Cable Network, and the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. In 2022, City & State Pennsylvania named him one of the “50 Over 50” most influential difference-makers in the state.