About Michael Bitzer

I currently serve as the T.P. and J.C. Leonard Chair of Political Science and professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where I also serve as chair of the department of politics and pre-law advisor. 


I earned my Ph.D. from The University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs in the areas of American politics, U.S. public law, and public administration. I also hold a master's degree in history from Clemson University, where I focused on modern American political history, U.S. legal history, and the history of Nazi Germany. 

My primary areas of interest, both in the classroom and in research, is wide-ranging: American politics (in topics of both political institutions and political behavior), Southern U.S. politics, North Carolina history and politics, Nazi Germany & Holocaust, genocide in the 20th century, and U.S. voting, elections, and campaigning.

I've conducted research and published on administrative law, North Carolina voting methods, popular culture, public opinion, and satire in American politics, and book chapters on North Carolina politics and the 2016 election in North Carolina and two chapters on the 2020 election in North Carolina.

I've also authored the book Redistricting and Gerrymandering in North Carolina: Battlelines in the Tar Heel State

Copies of some of my research papers and presentations can be found here.

If you are interested in the courses I teach, along with the syllabi, please see this page.

For my media mentions, please see this page

My CV is here