Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew 1972–

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Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew 1972–

PERSONAL:

Born September 9, 1972. Education: Miami University, B.A., 1994; University of Missouri at Columbia, M.A., 1998; Texas A&M University, Ph.D., 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of North Texas, 125 Wooten Hall, P.O. Box 305340, Denton, TX 76203-5340. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Texas A&M University, College Station, graduate assistant, 1998-2001, graduate assistant lecturer, 2001-02, visiting assistant professor, 2002-03; George Washington University, Washington, DC, visiting assistant professor, 2003-04; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, visiting assistant professor, 2004-05; University of North Texas, Denton, Political Science Department, assistant professor, 2005—.

MEMBER:

Phi Kappa Phi.

WRITINGS:

The President's Speeches: Beyond "Going Public," Rienner (Boulder, CO), 2006.

Contributor to various journals, including Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, American Journal of Political Science, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha was educated at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1994. From there he continued on to the University of Missouri at Columbia for his master's degree, and then received his doctorate at Texas A&M University. A writer and educator, he served on the faculties of several universities prior to taking a position at the University of North Texas, where he is an assistant professor in the department of political science. His primary areas of research and academic interest focus on the various American political institutions, such as Congress, the presidency, media in the new age, and the legislative branch. Beyond his academic duties, he has contributed articles to a number of academic journals, including Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, American Journal of Political Science, and Presidential Studies Quarterly. His first book, The President's Speeches: Beyond "Going Public," was published in 2006.

The President's Speeches takes a look at the role of the numerous speeches made by the president over the course of each year. Eshbaugh-Soha begins by taking note of the way that speech making has altered since the early years of the nation's history. Presidents today make far more speeches per year than their predecessors did a century ago, and due to both the nature of the media and a political urgency to share the presidential agenda, those speeches reach far more of the nation's citizens than they used to, as well, and far more quickly than in the days prior to mass media. However, it also appears that fewer Americans than ever are actually tuning in to hear these speeches, despite the ease of access, so there is a question as to the efficacy of the speech-making process in terms of educating the public about current political issues, or swaying them when it is necessary to garner public opinion. Eshbaugh-Soha examines these questions, and ultimately suggests a type of signaling theory—that the speeches themselves are made more for the purpose of having an effect on the other governmental branches than for any amount of influence on the public at large. Brandon Rottinghaus, in a review for the Presidential Studies Quarterly, remarked that The President's Speeches "opens a new approach to understanding how presidents use the bully pulpit and furthers that important inquiry." Writing for the Political Science Quarterly, Philip Abbott commented: "A comprehensive signaling approach to the presidency would … have to take into account a myriad of signals such as mixed ones, unclear ones, deceptive ones, and tentative ones … and incorporate how each is received and under what conditions."