Samuel C. Rhodes, Ph.D. Political Scientist

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I teach courses on American politics, government and quantitative political analysis.

My research centers on political communication and political behavior in the United States. I am especially interested in the role that political misinformation (i.e., “fake news”) plays in the American political system. I also examine the effects of unlimited and undisclosed donations (i.e., "dark money") in American elections.

View my CV

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Rhodes, Samuel. 2024. “Narrow Margins and Misinformation: The Impact of Sharing Fake News in Close Contests.” Social Sciences 13(11): 571. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13110571

Rhodes, Samuel C. 2022. "Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Fake News: How Social Media Conditions Individuals to be Less Critical of Political Misinformation." Political Communication 39(1): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2021.1910887

Rhodes, Samuel C., Michael M. Franz, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2019. "The Role of Dark Money Disclosure on Candidate Evaluations and Viability." Election Law Journal 18(2): 175-190. https://doi.org/10.1089/elj.2018.0499

Lorenzano, Kyle J., Miles J. P. Sari, Colin H. Storm, Samuel C. Rhodes and Porismita Borah. 2018. "Challenges for an SNS-based Public Sphere in 2016." Online Information Review 42(7): 1106-1123. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-12-2017-0352

View My Google Scholar Profile

In 2024, I was honored to receive the Golden Apple Award for Professor of the Year and the Provost Teaching Innovation Award. These were awarded in recognition of my creative use of video games to teach collective action theory in my special topics course on political parties.

To learn more about me and my work, please read the following article from Moravian University News:

Assistant Professor Samuel C. Rhodes Mines Misinformation

I obtained my Ph.D. in political science from Washington State University in 2019 and my B.A. in political science from Shippensburg University in 2010. I am also a proud member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society, and currently serve as the faculty advisor for the Alpha Gamma Delta chapter.

For more information on my semester-long experiment using computer simulations in the classroom, please see this article from The Comenian:

Moravian’s Hands-On Political Party Learning Experience… in Minecraft (?)

“One of the reasons I use video games as teaching tools is that they also teach me how students operate and think beyond the scope of the assignment.”

Prior to beginning my graduate studies, I worked for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the Maine State Legislature.

I am a national park enthusiast and love to travel to new states and countries. As a devotee of government, I am attempting to visit every state capitol building in the United States.

Email Me @ Moravian.edu