Mary P. Nichols is Professor Emerita of Political Science at Baylor University. She is author of Thucydides and the Pursuit of Freedom, and Socrates on Friendship and Community: Reflections on Plato’s Symposium, Phaedrus, and Lysis. Her published works include a study of directors Woody Allen, John Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as investigations into the works of ancient political philosophers including Plato, Aristotle and Thucydides.

Professor Nichols has not only published articles in American Political Science Review, the Review of Politics, and Perspectives on Political Science, but she also serves on their editorial boards. She has delivered lectures on ancient political theory, Shakespeare, and film, and she is a senior fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute. She has also taught at Fordham University, the University of Delaware, and St. John’s College Annapolis. Professor Nichols received her Ph.D. from University of Chicago, her M.A. from Kansas University, and her  B.A. from Tulane University.