With party unity and control of the White House at stake in the face of controversies inflamed by leaked Democratic National Committee emails, researchers are available to discuss the Democratic National Convention this week in Philadelphia.

Note: Contact information for the professors from Georgia State University is located in the box above, visible to reporters and writers registered with the Newswise service and logged on to the system. For additional experts or further information, contact Jeremy Craig at [email protected].

Daniel P. Franklin is an associate professor of political science and is an expert on executive power, political culture, presidential legacies, and the relationships between the presidency and Congress. This month Rowman & Littlefield published a revised edition of his 2006 book, Politics and Film: Political Culture and Film in the United States. It explores popular movies and TV shows as indicators of social and political trends to explore the political culture of the U.S., including American Sniper, House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, and Twelve Years a Slave. He is also the author of Pitiful Giants: Presidents in their Final Term (Palgrave MacMillian, 2014), looking at the final terms of recent presidents and their legacies.

More information is available at http://politicalscience.gsu.edu/profile/daniel-p-franklin/.

Sean Richey is an associate professor of political science and specializes in voting and elections, political communication, and political behavior. He is the author of The Social Basis of the Rational Citizen: How Political Communication in Social Networks Improves Civic Competence (Lexington Press, 2014), and has also authored articles on political discussion and persuasion.

More information is available at http://politicalscience.gsu.edu/profile/sean-richey-2/.

Maurice J. Hobson is an assistant professor of African-American studies. His research interests include urban and rural history, political economy, oral history and ethnography, 20th century U.S. and African American history, and an emerging field called Black New South Studies, looking at geopolitical, social and cultural developments among African-Americans into the 21st century. A native of Selma, Ala., Hobson is currently working on “The Legend of the Black Mecca and the Making of an Olympic City: Intersections of Race, Class, Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Black Atlanta, Georgia.”

More information is available at http://aas.gsu.edu/profile/maurice-j-hobson/.

Mary Stuckey is a professor of communication and is an expert on political and presidential rhetoric as well as media and politics. She has authored numerous articles on the subject and is the author of The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power (Michigan State University Press, 2013), Jimmy Carter, Human Rights, and the National Agenda (Texas A&M University Press, 2008), and Slipping the Surly Bonds: Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Address (Texas A&M University Press, 2006), among other publications.

More information is available at http://communication.gsu.edu/profile/stuckey/.

For other experts or for further assistance, please contact Jeremy Craig at Georgia State University, [email protected].

For more about Georgia State University, visit http://www.gsu.edu.