C-SPAN, the public affairs network that in 2003 televised 15 weeks of UALR’s class on President Bill Clinton, plans to air Dr. Margaret Scranton’s fall semester class on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in November.

The lecture and discussion will be part of Scranton’s fall seminar on American first ladies. The class, with a focus on Hillary’s time in the White House, will be from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30.

Luke A. Nichter, executive producer for history at C-SPAN, said he is developing a series of programs featuring classroom lectures about 20th century figures by American history and political science professors.

“Part of the reason I contacted (Scranton) was because of how well I thought (her) 15-week class went on C-SPAN,” Nichter said. “The seminar on Hillary Clinton could be a very good fit.”

C-SPAN crews will begin taping selected lectures this fall. Scranton’s lecture on Clinton will be a part of C-SPAN’s American History TV programming, which will airs each weekend on C-SPAN 3 beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. The series also would be available “on demand” via the online C-SPAN Video Library.

Scranton’s junior-level seminar on first ladies examines U.S. first ladies as actors in the context of their times and in terms of the evolution of the office of the first lady as an entity within the executive branch.

“The class is about the first ladies as individuals as well as the office they occupy and, by extension, about the presidency,” Scranton said. “We take a multidisciplinary perspective on these first ladies and the First Ladyship, including political science, history, mass communications and rhetoric, and gender studies perspectives.”

Scranton, who traditionally teaches UALR’s course on the American presidency and continues to teach the Clinton class each spring, received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to coming to UALR, Scranton was a foreign policy studies research fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Her fields of specialization include American government and politics, including public policy and U.S. foreign policy, and the presidency. Her previous research focused on U.S.-Panamanian relations and democratization in Panama.

Currently, Scranton is writing a book on Hillary Clinton’s public philosophy and political rhetoric centered on her years at Wellesley College. She is analyzing HiIlary Rodham’s 1969 honors thesis and the commencement address she gave as the first student to speak on behalf of a graduating class. The book also compares her remarks and the address given by Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.), the invited speaker.

Beyond exploring the “debate” between the speakers and the controversy that arose over Hillary’s commentary on Brooke’s speech, Scranton also assesses audience and media reactions, which marked the beginning of the love/hate dichotomy that later typified coverage of Hillary as first lady and presidential candidate.