Department of Political Science professors have been busy discussing the fall presidential election in the media. Prof. Julia Azari, who was quoted in a Washington Post discussion of the impact of party platforms on the 2012 election; was a guest on the nationally syndicated public radio show "To the Point" with Warren Olney; and weighed in on which U.S. presidents have been the "coolest," in an article on NPR.org. Prof. Amber Wichowsky was interviewed by WUWM's Bob Bach about Paul Ryan's speech at the GOP convention in Tampa. Dr. Wichowsky shared her thoughts on Ryan's comments. For other examples, see the "Marquette Political Science Professors In the News" page here.
McGee Young, associate professor of political science and founder of H2O Score, was named the first Faculty Fellow within the Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship at Marquette University's College of Business Administration. He and Tina Quealy, the associate director of the Entrepreneurship Center, joined Mitch Teich in the studio to talk about the development of faculty entrepreneurs and what working faculty stand to gain.
On June 6th, five members of the Department of Political Science -- Prof. Julia Azari, Prof. Amber Wichowsky, Prof. Paul Nolette, Prof. John McAdams, and Prof. Lowell Barrington -- met with Mr. Kotaro Matsuzawa, Consul of Political Affairs at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. The faculty members and Mr. Matsuzawa met on the Marquette University campus to discuss current issues in American politics, the impact of and lessons from the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, and factors most likely to influence the outcome of the November presidential election.
Three students in Marquette's master's program in International Affairs presented papers at the Midwest Political Science Association conference. The conference, widely considered the best regional political science conference in the country, took place April 11-14 at the historic Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. The three students were Mujtabi Isani, who presented the paper "How Globalized is the Muslim World?"; John Porten, whose paper was titled "Management, Membership and Incentives: An Exchange Theory of Violent Group Behavior"; and Matt Surey, who presented a paper titled "China and the International Human Rights Regime."
In addition, Nathan Conroy, a graduate student in the Political Science master's program presented a paper at the 2012 American Political Science Association Teaching and Learning Conference, held February 17-19th in Washington, D.C. This annual conference brings together political science professors from around the country and is designed to promote greater understanding of cutting-edge approaches, techniques, and methodologies for the political science classroom. The theme for the 2012 conference was "Teaching Political Science: Relevance in a Changing World." Nathan's paper, "Civic Engagement through an Entrepreneurial-Experiential Learning Model Applied in the Political Science Classroom," was co-authored with Prof. McGee Young.
Mujtaba Isani and Benjamin Stewart were co-winners of the 2012 Pi Sigma Alpha award for best paper presented by a graduate student, for their papers presented at the Illinois State Conference for Students of Political Science. The conference attracted students from across the country. Isani and Stewart were two of three winners of the award. Their papers will be published in the journal Critique: A Worldwide Student Journal of Politics.
A number of professors and graduate students from the Department of Political Science are participating in the Law School's 2012 polling project. Marquette Political Science Professors have assisted in the development of the polls and the analysis of polling data. Prof. Amber Wichowsky, for example, posted an analysis of the February 2012 data on the blog site for the project. Her analysis piece is available here. Graduate students from the Political Science and International Affairs program are taking a political polling graduate seminar taught by the head of the polling project, Prof. Charles Franklin, a professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and visiting professor of law and public policy at the Marquette Law School.
Six Marquette University students, five of whom are Political Science majors, spoke about leadership and the future of Wisconsin politics as part of "Commitment 2012 Special Report — Divided We Stand." This story aired on WISN-TV (ABC 12), Feb. 9th, 2012. Video of the interview is also available at WISN.com here.
Prof. Duane Swank has been elected Vice-President/President-Elect of the American Political Science Association's Organized Section in Comparative Politics. The Comparative Politics Section, with nearly 2,000 members, is the largest organized division within APSA. Professor Swank will work with other officers of the CP Section to appoint and oversee standing and awards committees, monitor the production of the CP Section's newsletter/journal APSA-CP, and develop and implement initiatives that benefit section members. Prof. Swank will serve as Vice President from Fall 2011 to Fall 2013; he will serve as Section President from 2013 to 2015.
Prof. Amber Wichowsky was interviewed for a National Public Radio story on how contentious experiences during a presidential primary process can affect the nominee in the general election. The resulting article from NPR.org, "Why A Fight To The Finish May Not Be A Bad Thing," is available at the NPR.com website. Prof. Wichowsky received her Ph.D. from UW-Madison in 2010. She spent last academic year at the Center for the Study of American Politics at Yale University on a postdoctoral fellowship. She joined the Marquette Political Science Department in the fall of 2011.
Prof. Jeff Drope's new edited volume, Tobacco Control in Africa: People, Politics and Policies (Anthem Press, 2011), is the subject of a feature in the 2011 edition of Marquette's Discover, which highlights important research work by Marquette faculty. The book provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of tobacco control policies across Africa. It is based on research that Prof. Drope has conducted for the last three years, supported by a grant from the Canadian government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Department of Political Science is pleased to announce that three new professors joined its faculty in the fall of 2011.
Dr. Amber Wichowsky received her Ph.D. from UW-Madison in 2010. She spent the past academic year at the Center for the Study of American Politics at Yale University on a postdoctoral fellowship. Her research interests include urban politics, state and local government use of federal funds, competition and electoral accountability in the United States, and American mass attitudes and ideology.
Dr. Dongwook Kim received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. He served as the Hewlett Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also taught in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago before coming to Marquette. His research and teaching interests include international law and organizations, human rights, and transnational activism.
Dr. Paul Nolette received his Ph.D. from Boston College in 2011. He also has a law degree from Georgetown University and subsequently served as the legal counsel for the Labor and Workforce Development Committee in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. His research and teaching interests include public and constitutional law, American federalism, and the role of courts and litigation in American political development.
