Political Science and International Affairs Newsletter
Spring 2009
http://www.umw.edu/polisci/
New Faculty
Chad Murphy has been hired as an Assistant Professor of Political Science and will join the Department in the 2009-10 academic year. Chad received his doctorate from the University of California at Riverside in 2009. His dissertation, entitled "Audience Design in Elite Rhetoric," examines how politicians speak to their constituents. Chad's research has been published in Political Science Quarterly and American Politics Research. In 2005-6 Chad won the Outstanding TA of the Year Award. His teaching interests are focused in American Politics and include American Government, Political Parties, Congress, and Campaigns and Elections. We are delighted Chad is joining us and hope you will welcome him to the Department.
Pi Sigma Alpha Induction
Induction to the Political Science and International Affairs scholastic honorary society will take place at 5 pm on Wednesday, April 22 in the Red Room at the Campus Center. A reception will follow the ceremony. Juniors and seniors are eligible for induction if they have a grade point average of at least 3.0 overall, and a 3.2 in upper level courses (with at least 12 credit hours in upper level political science courses).
Additional Related Field Courses in International Relations, Fall 2008
- ANTH 371 Nationalism/State-Making
- BUAD 415 International Marketing
- GEOG 332 Migration Politics in a Globalizing World
- HIST 200 Socialism Theory and Practice
- HIST 383 Islamic Civilization
- HIST 386 Modern Iraq
- HIST 471 Stalin and Stalinism
- HIST 471 European Immigration
- PHIL 331 Islamic Law
- PSCI 471 International Political Economy
- PSCI 471 The New Central Asia
- PSCI 471 Politics of War
- SOCG 335 Global Perspectives on Health and Illness
Undergraduate Research Funds
Thinking of completing an independent study project next year? The University has undergraduate research funds available for this purpose. These funds can be utilized for any research related activities associated with the independent study project, including travel, materials acquisition, and photo-copying.
Departmental majors have effectively utilized these funds in recent years in exciting and academically challenging ways.
- Justin Simeone used an undergraduate research grant to conduct interviews with experts and policymakers in Israel for his senior honors thesis comparing judicial responses to the legal challenges posed by terrorism.
- Megan Vaughan-Albert received an undergraduate research grant to aide in research for her senior honors thesis on the U.S. Government’s response to perceived excesses of private military firms.
Study Abroad
Professor Kramer and Professor Porter Blakemore, Associate Professor of History, will again conduct in summer 2008 their hugely popular course, IDIS 350: European Capitals. This year's course will take the 25 students enrolled therein to London, Paris, Vienna, Venice, and Rome. Among the many highlights of this year's trip, the group will meet for a briefing with a member of the British Parliament followed by a private tour of the Palace of Westminster which houses Parliament, visit the just opened and restored Petite Trianon at Versailles built specially for Marie Antoinette, attend a concert of classical music provided by the Imperial Orchestra in Vienna, and in Rome attend a briefing by Italian legislative staffers on US-EU relations.
Please see Professor Kramer if you are interested in taking next year's course: interested students are advised to contact Professor Kramer very early in the fall semester because space on the trip is limited to 25 students with demand for these spots routinely far exceeding their supply.
Lingnan University
UMW has an academic exchange with Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Information about Lingnan University can be found at its home page: www.LN.edu.hk. Information about the exchange program can be found at www.LN.edu.hk./oip/siep/exchange_index.html. For more information, see Christopher Musick, Director of International Academic Services in the Academic Affairs Office in GW 203, or email him at cmusick@umw.edu. or Sandy Kwok (skwok@ln.edu.hk) at Lingnan University’s Student International Exchange Program.
Alumni Book Group
Lindsay Bennett and Kory Jessen will be running the book group while Professor Davidson is on sabbatical. The alumni book group marked its fourth anniversary and is going strong. Seniors who are interested in joining the group should look for an up-coming email with details on how to join or they can contact Professor Davidson at jdavidso@umw.edu.
Faculty Activities
Professor Jack Kramer
Jack Kramer will be on sabbatical in fall 2009 working on a book entitled "The Politics of Energy Security in Central and Eastern Europe."
Professor Elizabeth F. Larus
Elizabeth F. Larus, Associate Professor, published her book chapter “Soft-power versus hard cash: Retaining diplomatic allies,” in Taiwan and the International Community, Steven Tsang, ed., (Peter Lang 2008), and published an article, “Taiwan Republic of China” in the Encylopedia of Modern China, (Gayle: 2008). She has completed several chapters of her textbook entitled China’s Politics and Society (Lynne Reinner, forthcoming summer 2009). She presented her comments, “Prospects and Pitfalls for Taiwan-China Business Relations in the Ma Administration,” at the Roundtable “Winds of Change in Taiwan: an Early Assessment of the Ma Government’s Policy Directions,” at George Washington University in June 2008. In summer 2008, Professor Larus offered comments on the Beijing Olympics in op-eds in the Free Lance-Star and Richmond Times Dispatch.
Professor Jason Davidson
Jason Davidson, Associate Professor, is on sabbatical in Rome, Italy for the 2008-09 academic year where he is affiliated with Aspen Institute Italia. He is conducting research for a book on British, French, and Italian decisions to provide military support for the U.S. from Vietnam to the 2003 Iraq war. Professor Davidson published an article titled “Whatever It Takes? Party Image, Probability, and Bluffing Resolve in Kosovo and Iraq” in the December 2008 issue of Contemporary Security Policy. He published an article titled “Power, weakness, and the importance of allies” in the January 2009 issue of Aspenia. Professor Davidson presented papers titled “From Harmony to Hard Times: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation of Transatlantic Burden-sharing in Afghanistan and Iraq” and “When Machiavelli Met Milosevic: A Realist Explanation of the Italian Contribution to the 1999 Kosovo War” at the International Studies Association annual conference in New York in February. Professor Davidson published (with Roberto Menotti) an article titled “American Primacy by Default: Down but Not Out” in the March 2009 issue of The International Spectator.
Professor Rosalyn Cooperman
Rosalyn Cooperman, Assistant Professor, is finishing work on her book manuscript, Running with EMILY: How Abortion Shapes Women’s Candidacies to Congress. Professor Cooperman also served as one of four principal investigators for the 2004 Convention Delegate Study, a survey of Democratic and Republican party activities.
Professor Robert Barr
Robert Barr, Associate Professor, was on leave from the University in the fall of 2008 to conduct field research in Latin America. He received a $60,000 grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation to support a book project, tentatively entitled “Understanding Populism.” Professor Barr published an article, "Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics" in the journal Party Politics.
Professor Ranjit Singh
Professor Singh currently directs UMW’s interdisciplinary Middle East Studies Certificate program. In June, he delivered an invited talk, “Avoiding ‘Them’: Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict as World Politics,” as part of Georgetown University’s “Approaches to Teaching the Middle East” workshop. In the fall, Dr. Singh’s article “The Arab Opposition Molehill” was accepted for publication by the peer-review journal Digest of Middle East Studies, and will appear later this year. He also attended the Middle East Studies Association annual conference in Washington DC, and coauthored an op-ed for the Washington Times, “Failure of the Iron Fist,” that appeared in January. He is currently finishing a chapter on dictatorship and democracy in the Middle East for an edited volume titled Incorporating the Middle East into the Classroom.
Professor Emile Lester
Emile Lester is currently putting the finishing touches on his book about religion and public education entitled The Center May Hold: Religion and Democratic Education. His research on this subject was recently featured on both National Public Radio, and Voice of America radio. He received a special invitation last August to lecture on his research to a conference of 150 college professors, high school teachers and religious leaders at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also submitted an article on the research to the journal Politics and Religion.
Professor Surupa Gupta
Surupa Gupta, Assistant Professor, presented her work on the politics of agricultural subsidies in India at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association in Boston in August 2008. She also presented her work on the impact of on-going multilateral trade negotiations on Indian agricultural policy at the annual conference of the International Studies Association in New York in February 2009. Her research report titled "The Political Economy of Agricultural Policy Reform in India: The Case of Fertilizer Supply and Electricity Supply for Groundwater Irrigation" (Regina Birner, Surupa Gupta, and Neeru Sharma) was accepted for publication in December 2008. She also published a short piece on India's position in the Doha Development Round titled "The Geneva Mini-Ministerial: An Indian Perspective" in Pontes, a joint publication of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva and Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Sao Paolo.
Student Internships
Fall 2008
Elizabeth Jennings, US Department of Commerce
Andrea Khreibel, Obama campaign
Christina Moses, Office of US Representative Ander Crenshaw
Kaya Singleton, Ways & Means Committee, US House of Representatives
Spring 2009
Giuseppe (Joe) Buonannata is interning with the U.S. Consulate in Florence, Italy.
Eric Halsey, Genocide Watch
Andrea Khreibel, Office of US Representative Mark Schauer
Julie Longpre, Office of US Senator John Kerry
Laura McCarthy, Office of US Representative J. Randy Forbes
Kaya Singleton, Ways & Means Committee, US House of Representatives
Christina Ford: Interning for The Atlantic's 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival.
Student News
Christina Ford won the best paper award in Political Science for the 2009 Writing Intensive Program's 2009 student writing contest. She wrote her paper “An Analysis of the Political, Economic, and Social Challenges in Georgia” for John Kramer's course Political Science 302: Politics of Soviet Successor States.
Lorraine Jablonsky will present a paper on US-Iranian relations at the VSSA this spring. This is the second year in row, that a departmental major is presenting a student at the conference.
Alumni Notes
Brian Dempsey is earning a Masters in International Relations at the University of Chicago.
Justin Simeone is enrolled in the London School of Economics’ Masters of Science Program in Politics and Government in the European Union. Justin’s senior honors thesis "Crisis or Constitution? Rethinking Judicial Deference on Administrative Detention in the US, the UK, and Israel" is forthcoming in the Spring 2009 issue of Occidental College’s journal Global Perspectives. Justin was also recently admitted (with full funding) to Ph.D. programs in political science at the University of California at Berkeley, Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington.
Connor Hannigan recently returned to the area after spending two years in Togo with the Peace Corps.
Lindsay Briggs: U of MD law school (matriculated fall 2008)
Celeste Le Roux: Development Coordinator, America Abroad Media, Washington, DC
Christopher Williams recently completed his Master's degree in Political Science at the University of North Texas and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the same institution.
Carin Curtis is enrolled in the Catholic University School of Law.
Kristin Howe is a Legal Documentation Analyst at UBS Investment Bank in London.
Erin Moffett is Senior International Account Executive at Kate Spade in New York, NY.
Mary Warder is earning a Masters in Defence Studies from King’s College, London.
Andrew Lamar works for a lobbying firm in Richmond
Laura Zamperini and Meghann Green work for the FBI's Directorate of Counterrorism.
Heidi Meredith and Megan Linn also work with the FBI's Directorate of Counterterrorism.
Sarah Winan is completing an MA in International Development at Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Rose Likens, International Affairs 1980, and former Ambassador to El Salvador, is Director of the US Foreign Service Institute.
Gale Mattox is former Chairman and Professor, department of political science, United States Naval Academy.
Jessica Wells is enrolled in graduate studies in the International Development Studies program of the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University.
Iulian Langa is an analyst at the Pentagon.
Alison Baker works at Stateside Associates, an issue research/legislative tracking firm, Arlington, VA.
Scott Berry works for the Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, VA.
Wendy Brayer is Post Management Assistant in the Executive Office for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and theBureauof South and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State.
Carrie Ingalls is a Technical Writer / Editor with Northrop Grumman.
Sara Rose Cavalli is Political Director for Congressman Eric Cantor
Elizabeth Kaknes is pursuing a graduate degree in political science at the University of Virginia.
Vanessa Macoy is a recruiter with GrassrootsCampaigns, Inc.
Catherine Stewart is an Analyst, specializing in international economics, with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Brady DeRemer working with the international consulting firm Booz Allen specializing in war gaming
Peter Kelley works as a legislative asst in the office of senator Tom Harkins
Doreen Ciavarelli is working at General Dynamics.
Shawn Gremminger is a Federal Legislative Affairs Associate for the National Association of Children’s Hospitals.
Anne Kringen is an assistant to the Director of Security and External Relations at the Air Transport Association.
Ken Scheiber teaches Spanish and coaches cross-country at Christ School, Arden, North Carolina.
Desiree Morris is a teacher working with special education students in the Stafford County schools system.
Jackie Rose is a program developer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Fredericksburg.
Cris Clapp is Communications Director for Enough is Enough, an internet safety group.
Erik Johnston is Associate Legislative Director for the National Association of Counties.
Luke Wolkenhauer is a writer for gdansk-life.com in Poland.
Sarah Smith is working for the Department of Defense Technical Analysis Center as a Correspondence Coordinator.
Alden Fahy is attending George Washington’s Elliot School of International Affairs.
Katerina Karakehagia is the officer responsible for European Union issues at the Embassy of Cyprus.
Christine Faivor-Ryon works for Representative Connie Mack.
Sydney McClure works for the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition in Washington, D.C.
Dan Bettis is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University.
Michael Casey is a research assistant with the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.
Emily Lynch is studying public health at Emory University and is currently doing field research in Malawi.
Ryan Balis is working at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington and recently completed a master's degree in political science at the London School of Economics.
Kirsten Barnum is a Business Consulting Analyst at the Corporate Executive Board
Bonnie Dye works is in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to working on an HIV/AIDS public health project.
Kacy Zuchowski is Human Resources Coordinator for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Jenn Golladay is a law student at the University of Richmond.
Brian Jones is pursuing a master’s degree in political science at George Mason University.
Laura Henderson is working in the public relations office of Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
Chris Winslow graduated from law school and is pursuing a law career in Richmond. He completed tour of duty in Djibouti as an officer in the US Naval Reserve.
Rebecca Morrison is pursing a master’s degree in international politics at American University.
Carrie Wallinger is in the Peace Corps, serving in Mongolia.
Megan Yuenger is a Program Officer for American Councils for International Education. She recently served as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Turkmenistan.
David Blackmore is a Hindi linguist in GCHQ, a British intelligence organization.
Andy Wright is staff assistant to Va. Sen. Edd Houck.
Katie Leesman is working for the District of Columbia's Office of Administrative Hearings.
Gabriela Castañeda is now Sister Maria de la Revalcion with the religious order Servants of the Lord and Virgin of Matara in Bowie, MD.
Amy Shioji is working for The Performance Institute in Washington, D.C.
Keith Wright is Director of Food Security for Food for the Hungry.
Constantin Langa is employed at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Budget Analyst.
Kate Ehrle is Director of Business Development for L-3 Communications.
Richard Ehrle is a senior counter-intelligence specialist with the US Navy.
Paul Premo is working for Chemonics International, USAID.
Trish Daugherty graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Law.
Colin Dwyer is currently attending the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School.
Lauren Legard is a defense contractor for Technical Analysis Center.
Mandy Ransone is Community Organizer for Sierra Club in St. Petersburg, FL.
Art Speyer is Section Head for Central Eurasia, Marine Corps Intelligence Activity.
Lindsay Bennett is working for IBM Global Services.
Kathy White is the legislative clerk for the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Katie Godburn is working in Congressman Wayne Gilchrest’s office and plans to attend George Washington University in the fall.
Nicole Hale is working for The Analysis Corporation.
Mandy Francis is an Assistant for the Military Personnel and Construction Directorate in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Comptroller.
Molly Murphy is a full-time employee at the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.
Sarah Campbell is working as a Public Policy Analyst for Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
Kate Paris is a Special Assistant to the Counselor to the Governor.
Jennifer Meixell (Harris) is a Program Analyst for the City of Savannah.
Andrew S. Koelz attends University of Virginia School of Law in the fall.
Editor: Elizabeth F. Larus
Assistants: Nicole Kappatos
Blythe McLean