Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stephen Maynard Caliendo grew up in a Western Pennsylvania exurb and later attended Clarion University to study English literature and political science. He earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Purdue University and has taught at the University of Missouri—St. Louis and Avila University (Kansas City, Missouri). He is currently Professor of political science at North Central College (Naperville, Illinois).

With Charlton D. McIlwain (New York University), Caliendo is co-director of The Project on Race in Political Communication (RaceProject.org), which seeks to provide information, through social science research and public commentary, about the way race and politics interact with language. The first book from the Race Project, Race Appeal, is forthcoming (Temple University Press). Caliendo and McIlwain are co-editors of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity and have co-authored articles in The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics and The Journal of Black Studies. They have also contributed entries to Polling in America (an encyclopedia of public opinion), The Encyclopedia of Black Studies and The Encyclopedia of Political Communication. They maintain RaceProject.org to provide resources for scholars, students, the media and the public, and, from 2006 to 2009 they published a weekly blog, THIS WEEK IN RACE, to provide expert commentary about current events involving race and politics.

On his own, Caliendo has written about media coverage of human rights and is the author of the forthcoming book Inequality in America: Race, Poverty and Fulfilling Democracy's Promise (Westview 2011) and Teachers Matter: The Trouble with Leaving Political Education to the Coaches (Praeger 2000), in which he examines the effects of political socialization on attitudes toward American political institutions. He has authored or co-authored dozens of papers presented at national and regional professional conferences and is often called upon to provide analysis for print media stories and to appear on radio and television programs to lend his expertise to national, state and local political issues.

Caliendo is a regular political analyst for WDCB public radio in Illinois and has served in a similar capacity for CBS2-TV Chicago. He has been quoted in such media outlets as The Washington Post, The Guardian UK, The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star and ABC News.com. Since the late 1990s, he has appeared on national and local radio (including NPR’s Weekend Edition, KMOX in St. Louis and WGN in Chicago) and on ABC and Fox network affiliates in St. Louis and Chicago, respectively. He has also been interviewed by public radio in Sweden, Television of Spain TVN (Poland), and Al Jazeera English, among others.

Caliendo has been honored with the Professor of the Year award at Avila University (2002), as well as the Clarence F. Dissinger Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Senior Faculty Member at North Central College (2007). Most recently, he was a recipient of the 2010 Emeriging Voice Award from Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Jillian, and is the proud father of a bright and spirited daughter, Amelia.

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Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stephen Maynard Caliendo grew up in a Western Pennsylvania exurb and later attended Clarion University to study English literature and political science. He earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Purdue University and has taught at the University of Missouri—St. Louis and Avila University (Kansas City, Missouri). He is currently Professor of political science at North Central College (Naperville, Illinois).

With Charlton D. McIlwain (New York University), Caliendo is co-director of The Project on Race in Political Communication, which seeks to provide information, through social science research and public commentary, about the way race and politics interact with language. The first book from the Race Project, Race Appeal, is forthcoming (Temple University Press).  Caliendo and McIlwain are co-editors of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity and have co-authored articles in The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics and The Journal of Black Studies. They have also contributed entries to Polling in America (an encyclopedia of public opinion), The Encyclopedia of Black Studies and The Encyclopedia of Political Communication. They maintain RaceProject.org, as well as the RaceProject Facebook Page and Twitter feed, to provide resources for scholars, students, the media and the public. From 2006 to 2009 they published a weekly blog, THIS WEEK IN RACE, to provide expert commentary about current events involving race and politics.

On his own, Caliendo has written about media coverage of human rights and is the author of the forthcoming book Inequality in America: Race, Poverty and Fulfilling Democracy's Promise (Westview 2011) and Teachers Matter: The Trouble with Leaving Political Education to the Coaches (Praeger 2000), in which he examines the effects of political socialization on attitudes toward American political institutions. He has authored or co-authored dozens of papers presented at national and regional professional conferences and is often called upon to provide analysis for print media stories and to appear on radio and television programs to lend his expertise to national, state and local political issues.

Caliendo is a regular political analyst for WDCB public radio in Illinois and has served in a similar capacity for CBS2-TV Chicago. He has been quoted in such media outlets as The Washington Post, The Guardian UK, The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star and ABC News.com. Since the late 1990s, he has appeared on national and local radio (including NPR’s Weekend Edition, KMOX in St. Louis and WGN in Chicago) and on ABC and Fox network affiliates in St. Louis and Chicago, respectively. He has also been interviewed by public radio in Sweden, Television of Spain TVN (Poland), and Al Jazeera English, among others.

Caliendo has been honored with the Professor of the Year award at Avila University (2002), as well as the Clarence F. Dissinger Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Senior Faculty Member at North Central College (2007). Most recently, he was a recipient of the 2010 Emeriging Voice Award from Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Jillian, and is the proud father of a bright and spirited daughter, Amelia.