Political Science - Faculty


Matthew Powers

Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Political Science

Matthew Powers

Location: Goodhue Academic Center - 303
Phone: 270-384-8119
E-mail: powersm@lindsey.edu

Ph.D., Political Science, University of Illinois

Dr. Powers serves as the Program Coordinator of Political Science at Lindsey Wilson College. He received the Kathleen L. Burkholder Award for Best Political Science Dissertation for his dissertation, The Impact of Yesterday’s Territorial Shortages on Today’s Adapted Mind. His research has been published in such journals as the Journal of Politics, Journal of Peace Research, International Studies Review, and Policy Studies Journal, among other outlets. Dr. Powers has been awarded several research grants both at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Lindsey Wilson College. Dr. Powers has presented his research at a number of major political science conferences, including the American Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, and the International Studies Association, to name a few.

Before coming to Lindsey Wilson College in 2019, Dr. Powers served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2018. Dr. Powers specializes in International Relations, with research interests in evolutionary psychology and human territoriality, delayed gratification, transnational terrorism, geo-spatial data analysis, and alliances and interstate conflict. His most recent research investigates the role of “delayed gratification” upon US citizens’ propensity to support or oppose a range of various foreign policy measures.

In terms of his teaching, Dr. Powers routinely holds courses in US Congress, The American Presidency, Constitutional Law, International Relations, US Foreign Policy, Terrorism & Political Violence, Comparative Politics, and Modern and Contemporary Political Thought, as well as the other courses in LWC’s political science curriculum. When neither teaching nor doing research, Dr. Powers enjoys a love/hate relationship with the game of chess, as well as indulging in science fiction movies and novels.


Mary Schwendau

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice

Dennis Souther

Onsite Educator
Phone: 270-384-8292
E-mail: southerd@lindsey.edu
Trudy Morlino

Associate Professor of Business and Economics

Trudy Dawkins Morlino

E-mail: morlinot@lindsey.edu

B.S., Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University
M.S., Agricultural Economics, Louisiana State University
Post graduate studies in Economics, University of Georgia
Ph.D., Management, Emphasis in Economics, Capella University

Active member of the college's Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board
The college's Quality Enhancement Program
Member of Lindsey Writes
Serves as the faculty adviser for Phi Beta Lambda

Dr. Morlino joined the Lindsey Wilson College faculty in August 2012.She has been an active participant in the world of business her entire life, starting with the family businesses in Mississippi. Having grown up in a small, farming community in the Delta of Mississippi, she learned early on that owning, operating, and managing businesses in various industries was something she wanted to be a part of.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. After graduation from Mississippi State University, Dr. Morlino continued her education at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she earned a Master of Science degree. After graduating from LSU, Dr. Morlino began her career in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the State Statistician for the United States Department of Agriculture. Her career path took her from Little Rock to Atlanta where she worked for many years as an Actuarial Analyst for a large, publicly held corporation in the financial services industry. A new baby changed her career path and Dr. Morlino was able to merge her analytical skills with a privately held corporation located in the Atlanta suburbs. As an adjunct professor of economics at a local college, she realized teaching was her passion so she decided to pursue her doctoral degree and entered the University of Georgia's graduate program in Economics. At the time, the University of Georgia did not offer classes in an online format so she completed her doctoral degree at Capella University with her dissertation, A Study of CEO Compensation and Firm Performance in the U.S. Airline Industry.

In her spare time, Dr. Morlino enjoys spending time with her friends and family.