Political Rewind: Get to know our panelists

Caption

Today on Political Rewind, we speak to four of our regular panelists about their lives and their work.

The panel

Amy Steigerwalt, @DrSteigerwalt, professor of political science, Georgia State University

Chuck Williams, @chuckwilliams, reporter, WRBL-TV Columbus

Jim Galloway, @JimJournalist, former political columnist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tammy Greer, professor of political science, Clark Atlanta University

The breakdown

Today on Political Rewind, host Bill Nigut spoke to four of our regular panelists about their lives, what inspired them, and their work— from political science to journalism. 

Dr. Amy Steigerwalt is a professor of political science at Georgia State University. She's also the current director of the Georgia Legislative Internship Program and a published author. She was born at Northside Hospital and grew up in Gwinnett County, an area which grew rapidly through her childhood. As one of four Jewish children at her school, she experienced antisemitism from some of her peers. She said she was "always a social studies person," and an undergraduate professor steered her to political science research. 

Chuck Williams has covered Columbus news and sports for over three decades. After spending 35 years in print journalism, he's worked for the last five years as a reporter with WRBL-TV. He was born in Alabama, and he recalled attending a segregated private school in Eufaula, Alabama. He interned at Troy University in 1982, where he worked for a comms director for George Wallace's election campaign. In 2015, he covered the gender integration of the U.S. Army Rangers, a story he says shaped the way he worked.

Jim Galloway worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for 41 years. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and at age 8, he moved to Georgia on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination. In 1963, his 3rd grade classroom was segregated. As a young journalist, he covered the Ku Klux Klan and described it as "an experience not unlike covering modern right-wing extremists."

Dr. Tammy Greer is an assistant professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University. She grew up on Galveston Island off the coast of Texas. Her father was in the last graduating class of a segregated high school. Her grandmother was white-passing but firmly maintained she was Black, and she grappled with colorism on the island. She listened to family members who weren't able to participate in civics until much later in their lives, inspiring her to pursue her studies. 

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