Professor
Department of Political Science
Allegheny College
Meadville, PA  16335

     Daniel M. Shea grew up in Oneonta, a small city in central New York State. His father, Dennis M. Shea, is a retired Political Science Professor from the State University of New York at Oneonta. His Mother, Rosemary B. Shea, has been a political activist in Central New York, including the Otsego County Democratic Chair. She is currently a real estate broker. He has six siblings, all living in the Northeast.
      Shea received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and American Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego in 1984. Soon after he attended the University of West Florida, where he earned a Masters of Arts in Campaign Management/Applied Politics. Upon leaving Pensacola in 1986, Shea was hired by the New York State Assembly and served three years as District Coordinator of the Majority Member Services. His principal task were to create and implement public relations programs for members of the Majority Caucus. He also served as Campaign Coordinator for the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, the electoral strong-arm of the Speaker.
      In 1989 Shea returned to graduate school at the State University of New York at Albany, earning a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science by the summer of 1993. While at SUNY Albany he was the recipient of several awards and research grants, including two fellowships from the Rockefeller Institute of Governmental Affairs.
     Shea joined the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Akron and was also appointed to Research Fellow at the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics in the Fall of 1993. While in Akron, Shea taught an array of course in American politics, campaign management, and research methods. He also penned two books there; Transforming Democracy (State University of New York Press,1995) and Campaign Craft (Praeger Books, 1996). Along with John C. Green, he edited three editions of The State of the Parties, and published numerous scholarly chapters and articles, including works in the American Review of Politics, Campaigns and Elections, and the Southeastern Political Review. Click here for a complete list of Shea's books.
      In 1997, Shea moved back East to become a member of the Government and Law Department at Lafayette College. Two years later, in the Fall of 1999, he joined the faculty at Allegheny College.  He currently teaches several different courses in American politics, Parties and Elections, Congress, The Presidency, Research Methods, Politics of the Media, Pop Culture and Politics, and seminars in Civic Engagement and the Contemporary Election Process. His research interests include campaigns and elections, the dynamics of the party system, the changing nature of the presidency, scandal and the politics of the media, and grassroots political activism.
     In the spring of 2002, Shea presented an initiative to Allegheny College that called for the creation of a center to promote political participation, especially among high school and college students.  Once the plan was accepted, work began to open such a center, and the Center for Political Participation was officially opened in October of 2002.  Shea now also acts as the director of the organization in addition to his duties as a professor of political science. He was also awarded the Social Science Teacher Divisional Chair Award.
     Professor Shea lives in Meadville with his wife Christine Gatto-Shea and his three children, Abigail, Daniel, and Brian.