A member of the board since 2003, Mandle brings a wealth of experience, insight, and leadership to our efforts. Currently, Mandle serves as the executive director of Democracy Matters, a national organization that informs and engages college students and communities in efforts to strengthen democracy.

Prior to joining Democracy Matters, Mandle was Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University from 1990-2001, where she also directed the college’s successful Women’s Studies Program and founded and supervised Colgate’s Center for Women’s Studies. Mandle has taught sociology at Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, and Penn State and in Tianjin, China. While on leave from Colgate in 1997 and 1998 she was a Distinguished Visitor at both the Institute for Social Change at the University of California at Berkeley and the Women’s Leadership Institute at Mills College.

Her political experience includes serving as campaign manager for former Congressman Robert W. Edgar’s (D-PA) successful campaigns in 1984 and 1986 and in his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1985. In addition, she served as TK on Sen. Barbara Boxer’s campaign in 1988. She was awarded the League of Women Voters of Oakland’s “Civic Contribution Award” in April 2000 for her campaign finance reform work in the Bay Area. In June of that year, she also accepted the Sociologists for Women in Society’s “Feminist Activism Award” for a lifetime of service and activism.