Graduation 2009 (pics!)

Last weekend we had our department graduation reception. Awards were given, breakfast eaten, toasts made (always courtesy Professor Haltom), and students sent off into the wild. Pictures here:



And the titles of this year's senior theses:

Senior Seminar in Comparative Politics

* Kali Bechtold, “Amnesty: The Road to Justice No Matter How you Walk It? South Africa, Guatemala, and Argentina, and the Path to Transitional Justice.

* Josh Cole, From Political Benediction to Divine Resistance: The National Catholic Churches of Nazi Germany and Pinochet Chile.

* Sarah Glancy, The Effect of Culture on Attitudes Towards Immigration: A Comparative Study of Denmark and the United States.

* Paul Hughes, Empowering Bullies?: Power-Sharing and its Success in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kenya.

* Liz Kaster, “Who’s Pedaling This Thing? Bicycle Planning Process in the Twin Cities.

* Elliott Largent, “Submit or Defect, You Will Not Succeed: The Role of Foreign Actors in Land Reforms Past and Present.”

* Kagan Riedel, “Too Close to Home: Examining Race and Religion in Times of Crisis.

* Jared Sage, “Does Democracy Make a Difference? The Relationship Between Student Protest and Political Regimes.

* Stephen Souvall, “Dictator’s Dream or Despot’s Nightmare? Questioning the Olympic Movement’s Ability to Liberalize Authoritarian Host Governments.

* Peter Stanley, “The Greater of Two Evils: Choices of the Revolutionary Middle Class in Iran and Cuba.


Research Seminar in International Relations

Seminar Paper Titles

Lauren Bagby An African Curse: Resource Dependence and Civil War

Jordan Barber State Responses to International Terrorism: Is Cooperation Useful?

Tashi Chogyal Title unavailable

Alycia Corey Creating Cooperation: The Transformation of States’ Identities

Colin Cronin Navigating Conflict: Cooperation in the Structure of Hydropolitics

James Edwards Organizing Terror: How Successful Terrorist Groups are Structured

Max Harris Armed Conflict in a Post-Cold War World

Garrett Heilman Preserving U.S. Hegemony Through Financial Institutions

Torey Holderith Offense-Defense Theory and the Security Dilemma: Capabilities and Transformation as Indicators of State Preference in the 21st Century

Lindsey Janes Assent and Dissent: European Responses to U.S. Interventions

James Melton America’s Future: Primacy Through Checkbooks or Battlefields?

Ashley Reyes The Media’s Influence on Conflict Intervention: The U.S. Decision to Intervene in Foreign Conflicts

Kei Sato The Emergence of Stable Multipolarity

Nadia Soucek Moving Target: Transitioning Terrorist Organizations

Harry Stevens Under Uncle Sam’s Thumb: Regional Hegemony and U.S.-Latin American Relations

Nicholas Van Putten American Evangelicalism: National Identity and the Formation of National Interest

US Politics and Public Law
Judicial Hellholes California And Litigation Descending Into Hell Or Just A Political Ploy?
Ashley Guerriero

Paradox Of Liberal Pluralism: Equality And The Comprehensive Doctrines That Protect It
Josh Louie

City Governing: An Analysis Of Centralized And Decentralized Policy-Making And Administration At The Municipal Level.
Nick Cronenwett

Increase In Presidency Decline In Legislating: The Expansion Of The Presidential Role Through Control Of The Executive Branch Agencies’ Functions And Regulatory Processes FDR Through Reagan
Charles Davis-Aitken

Surfing The Toll-Road: How Surfers And Their Friends Stopped The Destruction Of The Largest Protected Wetland In Southern California
Sam Kussin-Shoptaw

The conundrum of the exclusionary rule the struggle to balance crime control and fourth amendment rights
Justine Shepherd

Small Is Not Always Beautiful: Why The Town Of Ruston Is Failing And What Can Be Done To Save It
Caitlin Boersma

Legal Rights And Rehabilitation: A (False?) Dichotomy
A Bridge Between Criminality And Community To Save At-Risk Youth
Jay Free

Fear And Consequence Along The US-Mexico Border: The Creation Of Operation Gatekeeper
Seth Tucker

Entering The Permanent Campaign Framework
Jeremy Ciarabellini

“In Common With”? A Fight Between The Traditional And The Contemporary: How The Boldt Decision Violated The United States Constitution And In Doing So Reestablished Rights Long Denied To Native American Tribes
Kip Carleton

Town and gown and dollars and sense

Hat tip to Megan Buscho '06 for this recent NYT piece on growing tensions between schools and cities; "as endowments everywhere sink with the economy, town-gown relationships, often carefully nurtured during the boom years as colleges and universities sought to expand, are fraying." Read the whole thing here.

How is Puget Sound doing? There was a university forum on our finances yesterday, and the short answer is: pretty good. Incoming class is strong (so far--there is always the question of who will actually show up), and ironically our smaller endowment has worked to our advantage. Since we rely less on it, we had less to lose in the market. The administration has been pretty conservative in planning and construction, and we can see the benefits of that.

Summer Internship on global health--deadline 5/22

Hat tip: Ned Culhane 06. Looks pretty interesting.

Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research
Full-time, stipend provided
Summer 2009

Research!America is the nation's largest non-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. We are located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, a 10 minute walk from the King Street Metro stop. For more information, visit www.researchamerica.org.

Internship Description

This full-time internship reports to the Vice President, Public Health Partnerships and will work closely with those responsible for specific advocacy outreach activities of a select group of prominent U.S. global health researchers ─ known as Ambassadors ─ in the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. Candidates must be available 40 hours per week between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and for a minimum of eight weeks starting as soon as possible.

This position was created to assist the organization in its mission to make research to improve health a higher national priority - through education, advocacy and public policy activities. Within this framework, this position focuses solely on strengthening advocacy for an increased investment in U.S. funded global health research.

Responsibilities include:

* Assist in scheduling and planning meetings between policymakers and leading U.S. global health researchers. Conduct, analyze and summarize succinct background meeting materials and information as requested.
* Track relevant policy issues, including budget and appropriations legislation and hearings related to U.S. investment in global health research.
* Complete and present a self-directed project on a global health research policy topic relevant to U.S. concerns.
* Provide administrative and project coordination support.

Eligibility

Graduate students, recent graduates (undergraduate or graduate school), and highly accomplished college seniors with a public health, global health, political science, public policy or related degree or degree goal are encouraged to apply.

Ideal candidates will have a strong academic background with excellent oral and written communication skills; a strong interest in connecting global health research to U.S. policy and be proficient with Microsoft Office Suite software.

Compensation
Research!America offers a competitive stipend and paid parking or a transportation subsidy (Metro).

To Apply

E-mail resume and cover letter (no phone calls please) indicating your academic status and interest in this internship. Please include three references (complete contact information) and one writing sample that relates to global health research, global health or public health by May 22, 2009 to:
Karen A. Goraleski
Vice President, Public Health Partnerships
kgoraleski@researchamerica.org

Congrats to Linz Heppe '07: New job at MENA

We've received word that Linz Heppe '07 has taken a job with the Middle East Policy Council as an assistant to the president, William L. Nash (Major General, U.S. Army, Retired). Sounds like a great job and a cool place. Congrats!

...oh, and Linz? Got any internship opportunities?

Graduation Reception! See you there!

Kindle for Kollege?

Hmm. From Business Week (hat tip, Shirley Skeel in Media Relations):

Kindle may start getting a warmer reception in colleges come May 6, when Amazon (AMZN) launches what is expected to be a larger version of its Kindle e-book reader that is more suited to academic publishers. Six universities including Case Western, Pace, and Princeton are partnering with Amazon and major publishers to supply students with the new device in the fall, The Wall Street Journal reports. Details of the name of the device, as well as specific features and price, have not been released. Amazon declined to comment on the report.

Why not just wait for the Asus T91 tablet? That's what I'm waiting for:

International summer short courses, Montreal

Hat tip: Dean Ferrari. Looks very interesting. You go?

Centre for International Studies of the Université de Montréal

One of North America’s most ambitious international-affairs summer school programs is to be found in Montreal. Aimed at undergraduate students in their last years and at graduate students as well as members of NGOs and civil society, the courses are offered in English. Each of our schools is given by a dozen experts in the field. The schools last six days in early July -- and coincide with Montreal's famed jazz and comedy festivals.

Subjects in 2009:

From June 29 to July 4th:
The Obama Presidency: Year One
India: Surprising Modernity
Pluralism and Radicalization in the Arab-Muslim World
International and European Environmental Law/Climate Change

From July 6 to 11:
Biodiversity: current situation, challenges and management issues
China Risen: How it is Changing, and Changing Us
Understanding and Preventing Terrorism
Peace Operations: Manufacturing Peace

Registration and lodging fees for students (one week): about $1000

For further information and a short video: www.cerium.ca/summer

What are they saying about the schools ?

"The CERIUM runs a serious program that is at once educational and very enjoyable. The courses typically include regular instructors and invited participants of a very high quality. Even better, the student body is very international and very diverse (including working professionals, MA students, and undergrads mixed together). All of the students that I took profited enormously from it (and from their stay in Montreal - a beautiful, cosmopolitan city). The internationally-renowned jazz festival occurs during the first week of their summer session. The staff at UdeM is a delight and are very welcoming. And Montreal is a blast."
Charles Noble, Chair, Political Science Dept, USC Long Beach, Ca.

"Aside from the outstanding quality of the conferrences, I was impressed by the expertise of the participants and their involvement in the debates, which often drew on experiences in the field"
Celestin Monga, Senior Economist, World Bank

Centre for International Studies of the Université de Montréal

Another internship opporunity for the City Council race

Dear Prof. O'Neil,

My name is Olgy and I worked with Hart Edmonson last fall in the Tacoma democratic headquarters. I understand you have a very prominent blog at UPS and I would really appreciate your assistance in recruiting a intern by posting the below announcement. I'm running a Tacoma City Council race and this would be a great opportunity for students gain campaign experience by working in a tight knit local race directly with the candidate, myself (an Obama organizer here in Pierce County last fall), and our consultant (one of Obama's original Iowa Caucus organizers).

Thank you,
Olgy Diaz

Internship, Roxanne Murphy for Tacoma City Council Dist. 4

Tacoma City Council campaign is seeking energetic interns to help elect Roxanne Murphy, a local Eastside community leader. Learn more about Roxanne on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/d5zvbp Internship offers extensive experience in local politics and field work. This campaign is very grassroots in nature. It focuses heavily on community and voter contact as inspired by President Obama's successful field campaign and our management team of former Obama organizers. Duties will include:

* Voter outreach through canvassing and calling
* Event coordination and participation
* Database management
* Voter Registration
* Research, as needs arise
* Assisting with volunteer management

Qualifications:

* Ideal candidate is a self-starter, detail orientated, and hard working
* Interest or experience at any level in community advocacy, politics, or public service.
* Must have reliable transportation.
* Internship is unpaid but may count towards class credit

Scheduling is flexible however interns are required to work at least 1-2 days a week, with time off available for vacations and midterms/finals. Ideally students will be available this summer and into fall through Election Day on Nov. 3. If interested in solely this summer or postponing involvement until fall, please indicate that in your inquiry.

To set up an interview or find out more, contact:

Olgy S. Diaz
Campaign Manager
Roxanne Murphy for City Council Dist. 4
olgy.diaz@gmail.com
(253) 228-8567

More from the Weinbergers

Professor Weinberger is interviewed in the NY Metro newspaper on Obama and the use of torture: http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/NewYork/20090429/1/6/

Meanwhile, his father, Professor Jerry Weinberger, sends in another dispatch from Kurdistan:

On first entering my apartment here, I knew that my palate, tongue, and nose were under assault from petroleum molecules—but I didn’t know why, since there’s no oil drilling nearby. It turns out that every house, business, and hotel has an ample, and often leaky, supply of diesel fuel in the basement. That’s because there’s hardly a house or business in Suli that doesn’t have a diesel-powered generator just outside the door. And that’s because electricity is available from the main grid only six or eight hours per day...

Read the whole thing here:
http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon0422jw.html

Congrats to Kate Trinh '10, Matelich Scholar

The accolades keep coming in for Kate Trinh (and PG, of course). Last week it was the news that Kate had been granted a Trimble award so that she could continue research in Vietnam; this week we heard she was one of five students to be given the Matelich Scholarship for $12,000.

University guidelines state that "Matelich candidates...demonstrate exceptional drive, discipline, and determination to achieve a high measure of success after college and emerge as a leader in their chosen field. Candidates...exhibit strong moral character, leadership abilities, and be involved in campus activities and/ or are making a difference through community service."

Way to go, Kate!

5/4 Brown Bag Talk: The Torture Memos

Defining Torture: The Justice Department Memos and Coercive Interrogation
Monday, May 4, 2009
5-6pm
Wyatt Hall 109

When President Obama decided to release four memos written by the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice he created a political tempest that will not go away any time soon. These memos outline in graphic detail the procedures used to interrogate suspected members of al Qaeda and the legal justifications for those procedures.

Professor Seth Weinberger will lead a discussion of many of the issues raised by these memos: Are the techniques used by the CIA to interrogate suspected terrorists torture? Were they illegal under U.S. law? Under international law? Should members of the Bush administration involved in these practices be prosecuted, and if so, who should be? Does it matter if the techniques produced “actionable intelligence”?

Hosted by the Department of Politics & Government

Change education?

You may have seen this editorial in the NYT yesterday; a few excerpts below. Thoughts? One response can be found here.

April 27, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
End the University as We Know It
By MARK C. TAYLOR

...If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured. The long process to make higher learning more agile, adaptive and imaginative can begin with six major steps:

1. Restructure the curriculum, beginning with graduate programs and proceeding as quickly as possible to undergraduate programs. The division-of-labor model of separate departments is obsolete and must be replaced with a curriculum structured like a web or complex adaptive network. Responsible teaching and scholarship must become cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural.

Just a few weeks ago, I attended a meeting of political scientists who had gathered to discuss why international relations theory had never considered the role of religion in society. Given the state of the world today, this is a significant oversight. There can be no adequate understanding of the most important issues we face when disciplines are cloistered from one another and operate on their own premises.

It would be far more effective to bring together people working on questions of religion, politics, history, economics, anthropology, sociology, literature, art, religion and philosophy to engage in comparative analysis of common problems. As the curriculum is restructured, fields of inquiry and methods of investigation will be transformed.

2. Abolish permanent departments, even for undergraduate education, and create problem-focused programs. These constantly evolving programs would have sunset clauses, and every seven years each one should be evaluated and either abolished, continued or significantly changed. It is possible to imagine a broad range of topics around which such zones of inquiry could be organized: Mind, Body, Law, Information, Networks, Language, Space, Time, Media, Money, Life and Water.

3. Increase collaboration among institutions. All institutions do not need to do all things and technology makes it possible for schools to form partnerships to share students and faculty. Institutions will be able to expand while contracting. Let one college have a strong department in French, for example, and the other a strong department in German; through teleconferencing and the Internet both subjects can be taught at both places with half the staff. With these tools, I have already team-taught semester-long seminars in real time at the Universities of Helsinki and Melbourne.

4. Transform the traditional dissertation. ...For many years, I have taught undergraduate courses in which students do not write traditional papers but develop analytic treatments in formats from hypertext and Web sites to films and video games. Graduate students should likewise be encouraged to produce “theses” in alternative formats....

6. Impose mandatory retirement and abolish tenure.

Reminder: 4/28 Brown Bag: US-Cuba Relations

P&G Brown Bag Series: the Department of Politics & Government invites all interested students to join a casual conversation about current events led by department faculty and driven by student questions.

The next P&G Brown Bag will be held on April 28, 2009, from 12-1 in WYATT 226.

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION: U.S.-Cuba relations in the Obama Administration

The recent Summit of the Americas presented President Obama with an opportunity to meet with leaders from 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations and to articulate his approach to diplomacy. The administration has also begun to liberalize relations with Cuba, and just announced some important changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba, including easing travel restrictions for Americans with family members in Cuba and expanding telecommunications services in Cuba. Professor Share will lead a discussion about these changes, the Summit of the Americas, and their implications for U.S.-Cuba relations in the Obama administration.

P&G will provide beverages and dessert; just bring your lunch and your interest!

For questions about this event, or to recommend a discussion topic for the future, email Professor Kessel, akessel@ups.edu.

Congrats to our research award winners!

PG has a bumper crop of research award winners this year:

Katrina Bloemsma has been awarded a Bangs-Collier Research Award for her summer project, "Understanding History and Sovereignty in Native American Environmental Conservation".

Geoff LeGrand has been awarded a Summer Research Award for his summer project "The Sandinistas since the Sandinismo Experiment: Perseverance and Change".

Kyla Roberts in Foreign Languages and International Affairs will be working under PG professor Don Share on her Summer Research Award project, "Socialism or Death: The Trajectory of Socialism in Venezuela".

Kate Trinh has been awarded a Charles Garnet Trimble Award for research in Vietnam during the summer of 2009 in preparation for her senior thesis project in the Politics and Government department.

Congrats, all!

PG alum needs interns in Tacoma

From T'wina Franklin '06 who is campaign manager for Victoria Woodards:


Victoria Woodards for Tacoma City Council!

Public Service That Puts People First

Tacoma is at a critical juncture in its history, a city rich in tradition, history and culture. Proud to call the “City of Destiny” home for nearly her entire life, Victoria has seen this city grow and become the amazing community we all know it as today, but Victoria also knows….we’re not done yet.


We haven’t yet achieved all that we know this city is capable of achieving.
Through hard work, collaboration, and strong leadership we can make Tacoma the city we know it can be, but to get us there we need a committed public servant who knows Tacoma and its people.

Victoria Woodards is that leader.

Please join us as we build our community block by block on this campaign, we would be honored to have your support.
Please contact T’wina Franklin to volunteer!
253.882.7810
tfranklin@ups.edu

4/30 talk: Armstrong Williams

On April 30 ASUPS Lectures presents an evening with Armstrong Williams, called “one of the most recognizable conservative voices in America” by The Washington Post. Mr. Williams, a third generation Republican, is a political commentator, syndicated columnist, and TV and radio host. His column appears weekly in the Washington Times and his radio program, “The Armstrong Williams Show,” can be heard across the nation throughout the week.

Armstrong will present a lecture titled, “Has America Lost Its Moral Economic and Military Might in the World?” at Kilworth Chapel (N. 18th and Warner) at the University of Puget Sound at 8:00PM. Williams is a pugnacious, provocative and principled voice for conservatives and Christian values in America’s public debates. Admission is free for UPS students and $5 public. Tickets are available at the UPS Info Center.

From 2002 to 2005 Williams hosted “On Point” with Armstrong Williams, a monthly primetime television special whose guests included Vice President Richard Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Williams has served as confidential assistant to the Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as well as legislative aide and advisor to U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. In addition, Williams served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and legislative assistant to the U.S. Representative Carrol Campbell, former governor of South Carolina.

Williams is a board member of The Carson Scholars Fund, Inc and the Youth Leadership Foundation and a member of Independence Federal Bank Board of Directors. He is also the CEO of the Graham Williams Group, an international public relations consulting firm.

http://www.armstrongw.com/
http://washingtontimes.com/staff/armstrong-williams/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Armstrong_Williams

Jonathan Roberts '10 updates from Ecuador

The email with everything in it--travel, alums, internships, and paramilitaries...

Hi Professor O´Neil,

This e-mail has been long in coming. First, let me say that UPS Politics people do indeed flock together! We had a lecture from two U.S. State Department representatives from the US Embassy here in Quito and the Political Officer was Mark Pannell, UPS Politics and Government Class of `89! Small world.


Times down here have been pretty fascinating with elections coming up on April 26 and doing work on the politics of alternative development with a group called Defense of the Community of Intag (DECOIN) which is a region in Imbabura, the province directly above Pinchincha (where Quito is located). This group has been resisting copper mining by Canadian companies since the late 90s. My advisor is Carlos Zorilla, the president of DECOIN and, interestingly enough, was targeted for assasination by paramilitaries hired by two companies and had to live in hiding and change his appearance on two separate occasions. He has recently brought charges against a number of Canadian companies for violations of the Ecuadorian constatution, so while he´s a busy guy, he´s an amazing resource. I´m excited to have the opportunity to work with him.

At the same time I´m working as a consultant for Earth Economics (I think I mentioned this) on a project doing a cost-benefit analysis of ecosystem services provided by the Intag It is actual, factual, on the ground development work and I´m happy as a clam building alliances, conducting interviews, and talking with stake-holders. Today I had took two kids from the street out to lunch after I spoke with them for a bit about their work. It´s crazy to see how prevelant the informal economy is here and how sistemic it actually is. David(10) and Efran(11) came in and offered to shine my shoes (which I didn´t need). But in the process I asked them what they made, if they made enough, and (because they looked like hell, but dirtier and more thin) when the last time they had eaten. I suppose it was for my own selfish reasons, but I asked them if I could buy them lunch, proceeding to glean some insight into the effect of poverty on these kids. After asking if they went to school, Efran said he did, likes math and wants to be a doctor, but David responded that he couldn´t becasue he didn´t have good shoes. He proceeded to show me the gaping hole in his shoes that went from the middle toe around to nearly his arch. That was the only thing that (he said) was keeping him from going to school. Shoes are cheap (to we comparatively rich americans) so I sprung for a $15 pair, and he said I was a gift from God. I can´t believe that something as seemingly trivial as a pair of shoes can stand between a ten year old kid and his education...like we have reasons to complain.

Any way, I´m learning a great deal and am looking forward to hearing back from the enrichment comittee about a research grant proposal I submitted. If it goes through I´ll be continuing looking at Intag´s development model through the political lens of the Correa administration´s populist rhetoric concerning mining revenue. He has pointed to mineral wealth as a source of funding for social programs, but he´s quoting a ridiculous figure ($220 bn revenue), when less than 7% of the reserves are ¨proven,¨ the rest are possible reserves (which are least certain). Furthermore, only 5-7% of the actual $220bn quoted would stay in the country. If we´re critical (which numerous economists here are), we find only a meager amount that would be gained, only for 10-15 years and at the cost of some of the richest areas of environmental importance to both the carbon and water cycles. All that said, I really hope to have the opportunity to continue on this.

Intern for Tacoma City Council race

My name is Zach Shelton and I am the campaign manager for Keven Rojecki who is running for Tacoma City Council, at-large. I was wondering if you and your department at UPS would [let your students know of] opportunity to intern with our campaign. We would be able to provide a firsthand experience of municipal elections and on the ground campaigning at the local level. Feel free to call me at 360.259.0202 or via e-mail.


Thank you,
Zach Shelton
Keven Rojecki for Tacoma City Council
360.259.0202

Recap: Pacific Northwest National Security Forum

From Kammi Sheeler '10


On April 17, Elly, Zak and I attended the 2009 Pacific Northwest National Security Forum. This year the topic was the complex relationship between the United States and China. Presentations included short speeches by Washington State Representatives Adam Smith and Dave Reichert, and a great keynote speech and question/answer period with Ambassador Darryl Johnson, whom the three of us got to meet and speak with afterward (and we got a picture!). He was an incredibly interesting and friendly person, and all three of us were amazed by his career which included government placements at crucial moments in the recent histories of various countries, including China.

Later in the day there were two panel sessions, with experts speaking on issues of how the U.S. both partners and competes with China. Overall the event was very interesting and informative, and most of the people there were excited to see students participating in the event. The three of us are definitely planning on attending next year's forum, and we would strongly recommend that other students take advantage of this opportunity as well. For those who need an added incentive, the refreshments included the biggest cookies any of us have ever seen...just putting that out there. As one last note, we'd like to thank the PG department for funding our attendance of the event. It was a great experience.

--Kammi Sheeler

Dexter Van Zile '87 on CAMERA

Dexter Van Zile '87 has been working for the organiation CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). He's given a couple of presentations of late; below, a talk at Boston College:


You can also hear excerpts from a recent radio interview here. Thanks for the update!

Congrats to Giorgio Cafiero '08--on to grad school

Congrats to Giorgio Cafiero who has been accepted to the University of San Diego's International Relations Master's program and will be studying Middle Eastern politics there. Way to go!

See Tacoma through the eyes of a Lincoln (pic)

Hat tip: Derek Young '96 at Exit133:


I had heard that the recent campaign for the 2009 Lincoln included some promo stuff shot in Tacoma. What I didn't know is that if you go to the main webpage, not only is the car on top of the Glass Museum, but that you can do a 360 view that shows the Tacoma skyline. Pretty cool.
http://www.lincoln.com/mks/home.asp

Death and the Maiden and CHE

Film and theater:

CHE begins at run at the Grand Cinema http://www.grandcinema.com/movie.php?id=282

and...

Hello,

I'm directing a play for the Senior Theatre Festival that might be of interest to your students and I was wondering if you would forward this on to your Latin American Studies Listserve. It's called Death and the Maiden and was written by Ariel Dorfman, a Chilean who lived in exile during the Pinochet dictatorship. Dorfman's notes at the beginning of the play state that it is set in "a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship." One does not need to know anything about Chilean or Latin American history to get a lot from this play, but
as a Spanish minor who has studied abroad in Chile, I know how much more meaningful this play is when one has studied or cares about the issues that shaped it.

Death and the Maiden is Friday, April 24 at 7:30 and Saturday, April 25 at 2:00 and 7:30, Norton Clapp Theatre in Jones Hall, $6 for UPS community, with a free preview on Thursday, April 23 at 7:30 as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at mknottingham@ups.edu

Thanks!

Megan Knottingham

Asia Wright '04 on Cruise Ships and Antarctica

Interesting piece from Asia Wright '04 in the California Journal of International Law, "Southern Exposure: Managing Sustainable Cruise Ship Tourism in Antarctica". Check it out--

4/23: Afghan Dean of Law to talk on Sharia

see you there--

Afghan Law School Dean to Speak on New Islamic Law and Women’s Rights

TACOMA, Wash. – Dean Gran, dean of the Kabul Shari'a Faculty (Kabul School of Islamic Law), will give a talk addressing a new law passed in Afghanistan that expands Shi'ite men’s rights over women. The controversial new law has been condemned by many in Afghanistan and internationally for severely restricting the rights of Shi'ite women and for turning the country toward a renewed totalitarianism of religious extremists. The talk, “Islamic Law and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,” will start at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, April 23, in Wyatt Hall, Room 109. The public is welcome to attend. Admission is complimentary.

Gran, who heads the oldest and most prestigious Faculty of Islamic Law in Afghanistan, will follow his talk with an extensive discussion and question-and-answer session. Details of the new law came to light this month and set off an extraordinary public debate on the once-taboo topic of religion and sex in the conservative Muslim nation. Critics say the law enables men to imprison and rape their wives. It requires women to seek their husband’s permission to leave home, except for purposes such as work or weddings, and to submit to their sexual demands unless they are ill.

The law was initially intended as a conciliatory gesture to the Shi'ites, who make up just 20 percent of the country’s population, and who have complained about being subjected to Sunni laws. But it has stirred up a political storm, including a formal protest by more than 200 Afghan leaders. It is also straining relations with Western nations which have been a major source of economic and military aid.

The talk is sponsored by the Department of Religion; Office of Spirituality, Service, and Social Justice; Department of Politics and Government; and the Gender Studies program.

Four Day Workweek and Social Capital

Hat tip: Carly Kneppers '05:

Last August, Utah instituted a four-day workweek for 17,000 government employees. They started working four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days. They all get every Friday off and their pay is unaffected. The hope was that, with many agencies closed on Friday, the state could save money on utilities...

And what are people doing with their time off? They invest in their children and build social capital. Robert Putnam would be proud:

“Every Friday morning now, [Sonia] Smith volunteers at her son’s school. She helps students with their spelling tests and relishes the extra time with her son. Smith’s family and baby sitter adjusted their schedules to enable her to work the adjusted hours.”

Read the whole thing here.

Must-take course: Writing Beyond the Academy

From our friends in the English Department. Invaluable:

Business and Social Science Majors:
Wondering what you’ll do after graduation? Enroll in Fall 2009’s
Writing Beyond the Academy
(English 300A)
to help you figure it out.

In this one-night-a-week course you will . . .

• apply your communication skills to the sorts of tasks you’ll encounter in the working world

• learn about careers in fields you’re interested in and make professional contacts in those fields

English 300 will give you practice in business writing and will introduce you to new publishing technologies that professionals in more and more fields are expected to be familiar with. You’ll write and polish targeted resumes and cover letters, critique websites of potential employers, and publish articles on a commercial blog space internet (that is, worldwide) exposure. You’ll come way from the course with confidence in your communications skills--and a portfolio of written work to share with prospective employers.

English 300A Fall 2008 Wednesday eves., 7-9:30 p.m. Enroll now!

Wednesday! Brown bag talk on nuclear proliferation

I'll be there--join us!

Sand mandala recap (pics and video)

Last week Tibetan monks were on campus to create a sand mandala as part of broader range of events about Tibet that was spearheaded by PG major Tashi Chogyal '09. Saturday I took a few pictures just as they were finishing up, after which they dismantled it and distributed the sand (and put some in the Sound). Here is some information on the sand mandala: http://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org/




If you look over on the left you'll see Professor Fields, who was there with a Boy Scout troop


my kids didn't understand why they couldn't play with these bowls of sand.

UPDATE: Pacific Northwest National Security Forum

PG majors--I have inquired about a student discount, and just heard back that they will reduce the price the $25. Let me know if you're going, get a receipt, and PG will cover it. It's this friday---


Pacific Northwest
National Security Forum
Chair: Lt. Gen. William H. Harrison, USA (Ret)


Please accept our invitation for you and your students to attend the 2009 Pacific
Northwest National Security Forum: "Competitors and Partners: China and the U.S."
Military and regional experts will delve into the complexities of the United States’
relationship with China during a day-long forum. The event is expected to draw an
audience of active duty and reserve military, retired military, and civilians including local
and regional civic leaders. We would like to specifically invite you and your students, as
they will be our future leaders in our relations with China later this century.
The forum will be held on April 17 at the Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood,
Washington. The forum is from 11:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., and includes a luncheon and
keynote speaker U.S. Ambassador Darryl Johnson, followed by expert panel discussions
and a reception. Registration cost is $45 prior to April 1 ($50 after April 1), and parking is free. Participants can find additional information and register online at
www.pnwnsf.org or www.tacomachamber.org.

Please contact Mr. Dan Wasserstrom at djstrom@comcast.net or 253-584-9300 with any
questions. Thank you for joining us in a stimulating day with the opportunity to learn more about our relationship with China: Competitors or Partners.

Sincerely,

William H. Harrison
LTG USA (Ret.)
President
Pacific Northwest National Security Forum

Politics and Government: A steady major in rough times?

From the New York Times:

...It’s early, but based on graduate school applications this spring, enrollment in undergraduate courses, preliminary job-placement results at schools, and the anecdotal accounts of students and professors, a new pattern of occupational choice seems to be emerging. Public service, government, the sciences and even teaching look to be winners, while fewer shiny, young minds are embarking on careers in finance and business consulting.

...Graduate schools of government and public policy are seeing a surge of applications. In a survey of its members released last week, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration found that 82 percent reported an increase in applications this year, and many saw the largest percentage jumps in several years, or ever. The most-cited reason was the expectation by students that government will be hiring.

Still, the appeal of public sector careers extends beyond job openings, say school officials. The laissez-faire presumption that government is not the solution but the problem, dating back to the Reagan era, has been cast aside, they say.

The government’s need to step in with financial bailouts and recovery programs to steady the economy is seen as the immediate proof, they say, but not the only one. The environment, energy and health care also pose huge, complex challenges. “Young people today understand that government has a powerful role to play in solving these problems,” said Sandra Archibald, dean of the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, where applications this year are up 26 percent.

Read the whole piece here.

Tweet the Revolution

Hat tips: Professor Weinberger and Sousa:

Cellphones and text messaging are widely believed to have played a crucial role in fostering the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (or at least, making the protests as widespread and successful as they were); the Berkman Center at Harvard published probably the most comprehensive study of the role that social media played in the Orange Revolution (even though I criticized some of its cyber-utopian assumptions in a recent essay for Boston Review).

Could it be that five years after the famous protests in Kiev's Maidan Square another technology - Twitter - will usher in another revolution in neighbouring Moldova? Will we remember the events that are now unfolding in Chisinau not by the color of the flags but by the social-networking technology used?

Read the whole thing, from Foreign Policy, here.

Abi Dvorak '10: Images from Namibia and South Africa

Abi Dvorak '10 sends along some pictures from Namibia where she is on study abroad:

The first photo is of our group climbing Dune 7 in Swakopmund, Namibia. The second is of the main method of transportation in the rural areas of Namibia- donkey cart. We had the pleasure of riding them during the rural homestay when we stayed on Damara farms outside of Khorixas. The third is part of the informal settlements of Windhoek. The population in the informal settlements is incredibly high and most cannot afford enough water, food, or school fees for their children. The fourth is of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa. This monument is a source of pride for Afrikaner history- it commemorates when the Dutch traveled from Cape Town to Pretoria and conquered the Zulu people.

Hope you enjoy!

Abi

Monday talk: Working in presidential campaigns

From Professor Fairman:

It’s about as last-minute as can be, but if you have any students who are interested in what it’s like to work in a campaign they are welcome to come visit PG101B Monday, April 13. That day we’ll have a speaker, Nathan Williams, who will be discussing his experience working in the 2008 election, most recently as the regional field director in NC. Mr. Williams has worked in the past three presidential elections, and will be able to compare/contrast 2008 with previous elections, particularly in terms of mobilization strategies and participation.

So, if you have any students who might be vaguely interested in this discussion, we meet from 2-3:20pm in Howarth 005.

Tibet on campus

Spearheaded by PG major Tashi Chogyal '09 (see earlier posts), if you're in the area do attend or at least come by to see the sand mandala--

Tibetan Monks to Perform Sacred Healing Dance
April 3, 2009

The famed Tibetan monks who sold out Carnegie Hall with a show including multiphonic singing, 10-foot horns, and masked dancing, will appear at Kilworth Memorial Chapel for a single performance on Saturday, April 11, at 8 p.m. The monks from Tibet's Drepung Loseling Monastery will also spend three days creating a mandala (circular and cosmic) painting of colored sand, which will then be destroyed in a ceremony symbolizing the impermanence of life. The events coincide with the 50th anniversary of the takeover of Tibet by China's former chairman Mao Tse-Tung. Tickets are $11 for the public, $6 for campus members.

The Dance for World Healing features multiphonic singing, wherein the 10 monks simultaneously intone three notes of a chord, and traditional instruments such as the long dung-chen horns, drums, bells, cymbals, and gyaling trumpets. Rich brocade costumes and masked dances create an exotic atmosphere. The performance is part of an international tour endorsed by the Dalai Lama. The aim is to raise awareness of threats to Tibetan civilization and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee community in India.

The Drepung Loseling monks have won world renown. They are featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of the film Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, and have shared the stage with Philip Glass, Paul Simon, Sheryl Crow, Patti Smith, the Beastie Boys, and other artists.

During their Tacoma stay, the monks will construct a 10-foot wide mandala sand painting in the Reading Room of Collins Memorial Library. This will begin with a ceremony including chanting and mantras starting at noon on Thursday, April 9, and finish with a ceremony starting at noon on Saturday, April 11. The painting requires that millions of grains of sand are painstakingly poured into place on a flat platform over many hours. Each monk holds a traditional metal funnel called a chakkpur while running a metal rod on its grated surface. The vibration causes the colored sand to flow like liquid onto the platform. At the end the sand is swept up and placed in an urn. To fulfill the function of traditional healing, half of the sand will be distributed to the audience in small sacks or vials, while the remainder will be ceremonially poured out on the Ruston waterfront to disperse the healing energies of the mandala throughout the region.

Sponsors of the event are University of Puget Sound's Cultural Events and the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound, with support from the Chism Endowment, Department of Asian Studies, and Students for a Free Tibet. Tickets for the performance are available at the information desk in Wheelock Student Center.

Great job opportunity

Mr. Perry is a PG alum; contact him if you have any questions--

Job Description: Office Assistant (full-time), Tacoma District Office of U.S. Congressman Adam Smith

Letters of interest & resumes with references must be received by April 20th Attn: Linda Danforth

* faxed to 253.593.6776
* mailed to: U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, 2209 Pacific Avenue, Suite B, Tacoma, WA 98402
* emailed to: Linda.Danforth@mail.house.gov

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

Answer calls and greet visitors; open, code, and route incoming mail and email correspondence; clip newspapers; answer constituent requests for general information; draft letters to constituents; assist with intern supervision; monitor deliveries to/from the office; and assist with other various duties and office projects including coordinating the Bringing Congress to Your Door program.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Professional manner; excellent communication and organization skills; ability to use computer, photocopier, facsimile and other office equipment; ability to work cooperatively and courteously with others; knowledge of the political process; and compassion and commitment to public service and customer service.

Salary range

$26,000+ depending on qualifications and experience, with Federal employee benefits.

U.S. Rep Smith's Office is an equal opportunity employer.

Matt Perry
Field Representative
Office of Congressman Adam Smith
2209 Pacific Ave, Suite B, Tacoma, WA 98402
Main: 253.593.6600

Tashi Chogyal '09: Principia Student Conference Recap

Last week I attended the 60th annual Public Affairs Conference at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. The them of this year's gathering was "China Rising." The three-day conference was packed full of an all-star team of china scholars including David Lampton, Daniel Wright, Minxin Pei, Melvyn Golstein and Jonathan Spence. The issues at the conference ranged from the chinese economy, political future, human rights and security perspectives.





Lectures were given in all of the issues while on the last day we broke up into policy groups to further discuss our areas of interest. The hosts of the conference was Principia College, a small 500-student christian science college. The conference was entirely student run and the organizers run an extremely professional, well-run conference. The Principia campus was amazing as well, located right on the Mississippi River in the forests of Illinois.


During my short time on campus, I also ran into the local goats on campus, that are used on campus as lawn-mowers. The Principia campus takes sustainability much more seriously than we do, purchasing enough carbon offsets to make the conference a carbon-neutral event. A big thank you to the PG and Asian Studies Department for sponsoring my trip. Next year's topic is "The End of Oil."

I encourage everyone to take advantage of this amazing conference and if your interested in the future in attending PG conferences, just ask Professor O'Neil.

Conference on World Affairs--Streaming

Hat tip: Drew Levin

The Sixty-First Conference on World Affairs is getting underway, and they are streaming a number of presentations. Check it out here: http://colorado.edu/cwa/webcast.html. A lot of interesting presentations on just about everything international.

Congrats to Professor Sousa, new department chair

My three-year stint at department chair is drawing to a close. By unanimous acclimation and over his strenuous objections, Professor Sousa will take the reins starting in the fall. I will continue to blog out to our community as the instrument of Our New Leader's will, and we can expect to see more from from Professor Sousa on these pixels as well. Stay tuned--

Professor Weinberger in Kurdistan

No, not Seth Weinberger, his father, Professor Jerry Weinberger, who is currently teaching at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani (AUIS). An excerpt from his first dispatch:

AUIS was closed the day before, too, which by contrast was filled with raucous festivities commemorating the 18th anniversary of the Kurdish uprising against Saddam—the Kurdish Fourth of July: beautiful girls decked out in colorful Kurdish garb, loudspeakers blaring, big crowds in social halls. As I walked in the swirl, I couldn’t go far without young men coming up to ask where I was from and shake my hand. “U.S./Washington D.C.” elicited replies such as: “America and Kurdistan good friends,” or “White House.” One young man even said: “Jack Bauer.” But invariably, they would ask: “How you like Suli?” while simply bursting with pride in their freedom and their city.

Read the whole thing here.

How to deal with cheating, China-style

Hat tip: Professor Weinberger--

BEIJING (Reuters) – Eight Chinese who used high-tech communications equipment, including mobile phones and wireless earpieces, to help their children cheat at university entrance exams have been jailed on state secret charges, local media said.

The eight, from the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, got together in 2007 to plot how to help their children as "they knew their achievements were not ideal," the official Legal Daily said.

One of the parents hired university students to provide answers which were sent to the children via wireless earphones while they were in the exam room, the report said.

But their ruse was discovered after police detected "abnormal radio signals" near the school, the newspaper said.

The parents were given jail terms ranging from six months to three years after being found guilty of illegally obtaining state secrets, it added, without saying what happened to their children.

China's college entrance exams, or "gaokao," are fiercely competitive tests.

Stories of cheating surface every year, despite stiff penalties. Students reportedly pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Upcoming talk: NAFTA turns 15

NAFTA Turns 15
Free Trade, Food Security and Migration in Mexico

Monday, April 6th, 4 pm, Trimble Forum

Baldemar Mendoza Jiménez, agro-ecologist with the Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez, Oaxaca, has participated in the informational campaign regarding the contamination of native corn by genetically modified corn. He is a promoter of sustainable agriculture using the farmer to farmer method to attain food sovereignty in the working groups that UNOSJO assists, as well as in communities where their organization has a presence.

Take a deeper look at the effects of NAFTA, including resistance to genetically modified (GMO) corn, the impact of migration on sending communities, and the struggle for food security in Oaxaca's indigenous communities. This event is open to the public. Professional interpretation
(Spanish-English) provided.

PG Alum Bill Bockman '06 wins Miki Award

From Bill Bockman '06. Congrats!

I am grateful and excited to have been selected to be the University of Puget Sound's Miki Scholar for 2009-2010. Former Prime Minister Takeo Miki (PM from 1974-1976) spent time in Seattle in his early years and I believe his daughter and grandchild attended UPS. As part of my fellowship I intend to study government efforts to promote light emitting diode (LED) manufacturing on the Island of Shikoku. I expect this to be an extremely interesting project because of (1) depopulation and migration out of Shikoku causing workforce challenges, (2) intense competition from firms in Taiwan, Korea and China, and (3) the LED industry's status as an emerging field in energy saving technology. A recent collaborative effort between the Tokushima prefectural government, leading LED firms and academia has been called "LED Valley."

Since graduating UPS in 2006 I have been at the University of Washington's Jackson School in the Japan Studies Program. When I first started taking Japanese class in middle school I wanted to go the UW, study electrical engineering and take the university's Technical Japanese program. Although I ended up changing course on the engineering front, since being at UW I have had succeeded in taking Technical Japanese courses. I highly recommend TJP to anyone considering taking advanced Japanese language courses. The curriculum is very well developed and focuses heavily on cultural and business practices as opposed to being solely focused on technology related topics.

The high brightness blue LED was invented in Shikoku by Shuji Nakamura of Nichia corporation in 1993. Despite having only modest research and personell budgets, Nakamura succeeded where leading firms such as 3M, Hewlett Packard, Matsushita and the like had been trying for decades. Nakamura and his invention would become infamous in Japan because of lawsuits between him and his employer during subsequent years. Nichia paid Nakamura a mere $300 bonus for creating an invention that would open up a new multi-billion dollar industry! Instead of being promoted and given expanded resources to pursue further research, he was forced into the dreaded madogiwa zoku to stamp papers all day. Currently Shuji Nakamura is a professor of Materials Science at the University of California Santa Barbra. A Tokyo court awarded him approximately $800 million dollars in a counter suit against Nichia, after an appeal the award was reduced to $8 million, still an improvement over $300 dollars. Nakamura and other developments in the LED world are profiled in a recent book by technology journalist Bob Johnston.

PG alum speaking at Puget Sound Business Breakfast--go!

This just came through the transom from Alum Relations. PG majors, want to go? It's $25, but PG can cover a few of you. If you are interested in going, contact me.

Puget Sound Business Breakfast

Life as a Venture Capitalist: A Career Decoded
Lucinda Stewart '92
Managing Director, OVP Venture Partners

Lucinda Stewart, named one of Seattle’s "40 Under 40" by Puget Sound Business Journal in 2007, Lucinda has more than 15 years of operations and investment experience in emerging-growth companies. At OVP, her investments are focused primarily in infrastructure software, and wireless and digital media. Lucinda serves on the board of directors for numerous companies, including Seattle-based Lucid Commerce, AdmitOneSecurity, and Vantos.


Wednesday, April 15, 2009
7 - 9 a.m.
Bell Harbor’s Maritime Event Center, 1st Floor
2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66

$25 Puget Sound affiliates, $30 General

For more information: http://www.ups.edu/x16120.xml

oops

Hat tip: Shirley Skeel in Media Relations

The University of California San Diego accidentally sent a welcoming e-mail to about 29,000 applicants who had been rejected by the university.

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_12039122?source=rss

Puget Sound goes to space...!

From the website collectSPACE, a list of items that went up with the most recent shuttle flight to the International Space Station included "Small Maroon and White Pennant, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA" I have no idea who was behind this, or where the pennant will go now. hmm!

Read the whole piece on the flight here.

Intern for the State Legislature in 2010

It's a ways off, but a heads-up that the Washington State Legislature runs a paid full time internship during the legislative session (January-April). It means having to take a semester off, hence the need to think ahead. But it also pays $1300 a month, and students who have done it is past have spoken highly of it.

Keep it in mind; the details are here:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/internships/

Cool blog on...everything!

Hat tip: Kevin Billings '77: http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/

You'll find an interesting debate on the future of globalization, articles biotech, healthcare, climate change and other fascinating stuff. Definitely regular-read worthy!

Talk: Correction

The CFR conference call on Latin American Policy under Obama is actually on THURSDAY, April 2 from 9-10 a.m., Wyatt 226.

Paid internship with Congressman Smith (Updated)

Internship Opportunities with Congressman Adam Smith’s

Tacoma, Washington District Office

Congressman Smith currently seeking applicants for a paid internship position in his Tacoma, Washington office.

The intern duties are mostly administrative (answering phones, data entry, copying, etc.). However, interns will have an opportunity to participate in some community relations and casework activities, depending on their interests and ability. This is a part-time position requiring approximately 15 scheduled hours per week during posted business hours (8:00am to 5:00pm). The stipend is $600 per month.

To be eligible for this opportunity, candidates should be college students in their sophomore to senior year of college, at least one term prior to graduation.

Applicants must submit an internship application packet, including a letter of interest, resume, and 2 letters of recommendation to the following address:

Congressman Adam Smith

Attn: Diane Brazell

2209 Pacific Ave, Suite B

Tacoma, WA 98402

Publish less, teach more--

From Inside Higher Ed:

Scholarly output rises; undergraduates are disengaged. “This is the real calamity of the research mandate -- 10,000 harried professors forced to labor on disregarded print, and 100,000 unwitting students missing out on rigorous face-to-face learning,” Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, writes in a new paper on relieving research expectations in the humanities.

“I think these two trends -- to do more and more research and less academic engagement on the freshman level -- are not unrelated,” Bauerlein said in an interview about “Professors on the Production Line, Students on their Own." The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research released the paper Tuesday.

Read the whole piece here.

Upcoming Talk: Latin America Policy in the Obama Administration

NOTE: There is an error in the poster--April 2 is a Thursday.

Waiting for Obama--our alums included

From the Washington Times (Hat tip: Ryan Dumm '07), an article about young Obamites cooling their heels in DC hoping to get a job around the new administration. Among those mentioned in Chris Pohlad '07:

Yet trying to find work in the Obama administration has been a difficult way for his loyalists to follow that dream. Many Obama enthusiasts have come to the capital hoping to help the president and, after months of trying, have wound up frustrated.

Chris Pohlad, 24, was the director of campaign operations in Minnesota for the Obama campaign for five months last year. He now spends most days writing e-mails and having lunches with former colleagues. He's hoping to find a gig in the Obama administration with either the State or Energy Department.

"It's been a little bit of a grind trying to find a job," Mr. Pohlad said. "It's really just a waiting game, and everybody's doing the same thing."

Here's a bit of video from their interview--Chris is about 45 seconds in.


Hang tight, Chris--

The Celtic Cross

This sounds interesting--

The World premier of The Celtic Cross
A New Play written and performed by Matt Jackson & Bryan Sullivan

One Weekend Only
March 26th, 27th, & 28th at 6:00pm

In Northern Ireland there are two communities at odds with each other. Their conflict is not only political, but ideological. The Protestant loyalist side believes that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom. The Catholic nationalist side believes that Northern Ireland should become part of the Republic of Ireland. "The troubles" refer to the thirty years of violence and terrorism between these two groups. Peace resolutions in the late nineties brought an end to the sectarian violence. But the peace achieved is a shaky one.

The Celtic Cross is the story two young men in Belfast, Northern Ireland. One is from the Protestant Loyalist side and the other from the Catholic nationalist side. Set in the 1990's these two men have lived their entire life during "the troubles." Although they are conditioned to hate each other an unlikely friendship unfolds. Their circumstances force them to choose between their friendship and their beliefs.

Performances:

Thursday March 26th, Friday March 27th, and Saturday March 28th
Thursday by donation, Friday and Saturday $3 pay at the door
There will be a talkback with Matt and Bryan after the show Friday
Rausch Auditorium, University of Puget Sound
1500 N Warner Tacoma, WA 98416

Intern with Senator Cantwell in Tacoma

This just in--

Please see the attached information on our internship program here in the state. We are working to update our website to reflect this information. We’ve had UPS students in our Tacoma office in the past and they have been terrific.

Best regards,

Christian Chiles
Staff Assistant
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
206.220.6400 office
206.220.6404 fax

An internship in the office of Senator Cantwell offers individuals an opportunity to serve the public through the federal government. Throughout the year, the internship programs in offices throughout Washington State allow students to work directly with congressional aides and get an inside view of the way a Congressional office operates. Internships develop professional skills and offer students the opportunity to explore future careers in public service.

In the State offices, interns have the opportunity to work directly with the public and staff members and will learn firsthand about the constituent advocacy process. Responsibilities include fielding constituent requests, communication with federal government agencies, extensive research and interaction with the public and local groups. Interns may attend briefings with concerned citizens and organizations.

QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must be motivated, organized, and able to work in a team setting. Internships are open to students of any degree program. Responsibility and flexibility are key qualifications as well as an interest in writing, research and interfacing with the public.

PROGRAM OUTLINE: Internships are available throughout the year and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Commitments based on school schedules, either semester or quarter, can be accommodated. Internships are unpaid, but available for school credit, if approved by the college/university. Hours and schedule are negotiable, but a regular weekly schedule must be arranged.

REQUIREMENTS: For consideration, please contact the intern supervisor. The application requires a cover letter, resume, a one-page writing sample detailing why you are interested in working with Senator Cantwell and two letters of recommendation. Acceptable letters might come from professors, former teachers, employers or community members who know the applicant.

Happy Spring (break)

This week's snow has melted, flowers are popping up, which can only mean that--


students are deserting campus for spring break.

The blog, too, will go to sleep for a week. We hope that wherever you are you see signs of spring.

New faculty, new offerings for fall 2009

This morning the department was happy to host Professor Robin Jacobson and her family, who were visiting from Bucknell where she is currently a professor of political science. Professor Jacobson will join us in the fall, and bring new courses to the department. Among them will be PG 304, Race and US Politics.

In addition, the department will also be joined by Professor Rachel DeMotts, who will serve as the Mellon Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Politics, part of the university's burgeoning program in Environmental Policy and Decisionmaking. Among her course offerings in fall will be PG 325 African Politics and a course on global environmental politics in spring 2010.

Exciting offerings and additions to the PG fold.

Professor Sousa gets a handle on the economic crisis

Congratulations to Professor Sousa, who has been awarded a Burlington Northern grant for summer 2009. The grant will allow him to "tool up" on the intricacies of the current financial crisis and its implications for US politics, and then more effectively bring this material into his courses.

The department fully expects that by summer he will be able to both dissect and provide solutions to our domestic economic woes, as well as provide hot stock tips.

March 23 Talk: "Power Relations Inside Israel"

David Wesley, PhD
"Jews, Arabs, and Israeli Government Officials: Power Relations Inside Israel"
Monday March 23 Wyatt 101

Sponsored by
Politics and Government
International Political Economy
Comparative Sociology

David Wesley is an anthropologist who lived on an Israeli kibbutz for more than thirty years. He continued his studies and received his PhD in 2002 from Tel Aviv University; his book, an expanded version of his thesis, is State Practices and Zionist Images: Shaping Economic Development in Arab Towns in Israel, published in 2006 by Berghahn Books.

Matt Bai thinks political science is rubbish

Via the Monkey Cage, NYT's Matt Bai speaks the "disconnect" between political journalism and political science:

Generally speaking, political writers don’t think so much of political scientists, either, mostly because anyone who has ever actually worked in or covered politics can tell you that, whatever else it may be, a science isn’t one of them. Politics is, after all, the business of humans attempting to triumph over their own disorder, insecurity, competitiveness, arrogance, and infidelity; make all the equations you want, but a lot of politics is simply tactile and visual, rather than empirical.

Curious for me is that he uses the word empirical, which at its core is simply an emphasis on evidence. Isn't what journalists do also empirical? At least I would hope so...read the whole discussion here.

A young alum passes away

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A climbing instructor from Colorado died and two American students were injured when the ice bridge they were crossing on mountain peak broke, plunging them into a crevasse, officials of the sponsoring organization said Monday.

Aspen native Travis Matthew Lizotte, 25, died Sunday while scaling 11,411-foot Mount Tronador in Argentina's Nahuel Huapi National Park, said Whitney Montgomery, executive director of North Carolina Outward Bound School.

The whole article can be found here.

Bad times makes good pickins for Puget Sound

From Chronicle of Higher Education (hat tip: Jordan Barber '09)

The number of colleges freezing faculty hiring seems to grow each week. Yet some institutions are going against the grain of the poor economy and appointing new professors. This decision has given those campuses an edge, yielding top-quality candidates who might not have been within reach in a more-competitive job market...

The history department at the University of Puget Sound also saw some startlingly qualified candidates among the 270 applicants for its job in modern European history. The sheer number of applications was so impressive that David F. Smith, the department's chairman, called the university's academic vice president into his office one day to take a look at them.

The job's three finalists were a tenure-track professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a tenure-track professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. The department ended up hiring the postdoc, but if none of the three finalists had accepted, says Mr. Smith, "we had another three who were just terrific."

Read the whole piece here

I got my virtual degree right here..

From NPR (hat tip: former Visiting Professor Eric Williams, now of Sonoma State):

Michael Demers is a geography professor at New Mexico State University. He not only uses a standard classroom to teach his students, but also uses the online virtual world, Second Life.

Host Scott Simon speaks with Demers about how this virtual terrain helps his students learn more effectively.

Listen here.

Spring is here!

Looking south toward the Fieldhouse this morning.

Kate Trinh '10 emails from Vietnam--with a job opportunity

Kate Trinh (center, in pink) is currently on SIT's program in Vietnam and sends the following pictures and job opportunity:

Could you please add to the blog that An Giang University is looking for English Teachers. I'm in the process of working out the details with them for short term teaching contracts. Currently, they have year long programs for any interested students. Housing, local transportation (bicycle), small stipend (200USD), and language classes are provided. I haven't confirmed this with them yet, but I think that the University also has research opportunities and classes in interested topics available for their English teachers. Anyway, bottom line if anyone is interested in teaching English in VietNam and learning more about agricultural development this summer please send them my way.

The President has a busy schedule

Financial aid holds as colleges waiver--

From the New York Times:

With the economy forcing budget cuts and layoffs in higher education, colleges and universities might be expected to be cutting financial aid. But no.

Students considering a wide range of private schools, as well as those who are already enrolled, can expect to get more aid this year, not less.

The increases highlight the hand-to-mouth existence of many of the nation’s smaller and less well-known institutions. With only tiny endowments, they need full enrollment to survive,and they are anxious to prevent top students from going elsewhere.

Falling even a few students short of expectations can mean laying off faculty, eliminating courses or shelving planned expansions...

Ithaca College, in upstate New York, is laying off faculty and cutting its 401(k) contributions as part of $4.2 million in budget cuts, but it is also offering increased tuition discounts that will make up the largest financial aid budget in its history. The college, which relies on tuition for more than 90 percent of its budget, saw the dangers of losing students last fall, when it had 240 fewer than anticipated, resulting in a $5 million decline in revenue.

Read the whole thing here.

Congrats to Professor Haltom, 2009 Passau Faculty Exchange

Congratulations to Professor Haltom, who will be spending part of his summer in lovely Passau, Germany as part of Puget Sound's long-standing academic exchange program with the University of Passau. While there he'll get the change to meet German faculty, give a talk or two, and no doubt sample the local brews (faculty from Passau similarly come over here). Several of our department members have done this exchange in past and really enjoyed it, and the university has benefited from the connection. Thanks to David Tinsley in German for creating this opportunity. Have fun, Professor Haltom--

Who's doing our new website?

Fastspot.

They just redid Bucknell's. Pretty flashy (no pun intended there). What do you think?

Internship with Project VoteSmart

Check out this interesting opportunity:

Project Vote Smart is a national, non-partisan, non-profit political research library located in the Montana Rockies. The Project was founded by former US Presidents Carter and Ford, as well as 40 other prominent national leaders of both major political parties and funded by the Carnegie and Ford Foundations. The New York Times said that “Project Vote Smart is so good that even the Federal Government recommends it.”

We are currently accepting applications for our National Internship Program. This year we are excited to announce our new online application system where students can now submit their applications completely electronically, expediting the review and acceptance process! To apply online or to get more information about Project Vote Smart, please visit www.votesmart.org. I hope you will look over our website and forward our information to any interested students. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to the generous support of our members across the country, we are once again able to offer the Barry Goldwater scholarship to all accepted students. This scholarship provides room and board for the duration of the student’s 10 week internship at our headquarters, the Great Divide Ranch in Montana.

Through our internships, your students will have a unique opportunity to be involved with the political process, while enjoying one of the most spectacular places on earth. Our internship will give your students the chance to provide millions of people with factual, unbiased information, as well as the opportunity to stroll around pristine lakes and rivers, hike throughout the Rocky Mountains, or ski some of the best slopes in the country. During an internship with Project Vote Smart, students will work hard and learn a great deal, all in an environment defined by its beautiful scenery and the commitment of its staff and interns.

Our internships, as with all the other areas of the organization, focus on the end product: providing voters with pertinent, factual information on presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, and state legislative candidates and elected officials. For students, this means a hands-on internship with significant opportunities for learning and growth. In fact, more than 90 percent of the information that Project Vote Smart provides is researched, entered, and checked by interns and volunteers. This system has been developed and cultivated specifically to ensure that interns are primarily responsible for the research; the few staff members are here simply to train and guide interns in what needs to be accomplished.

Please ask your students to consider this opportunity and contact me with any questions at 1-888-VOTESMART (1-888-868-3762) or via email at intern@votesmart.org. I look forward to working together to provide your students with an unforgettable learning experience.


Sincerely,


Tallie Spiller
Project Vote Smart
Internship Coordinator

Microlectures?

Hat tip: Professor Weinberger via Chronicle of Higher Education:

Take a 60-minute lecture. Cut the excess verbiage, do away with most of the details, and pare it down to key concepts and themes.

What's left? A "microlecture" over in as few as 60 seconds. A course designer for San Juan College, a community college in Farmington, N.M., says that in online education, such tiny bursts can teach just as well as traditional lectures when paired with assignments and discussions.

Here's one on writing. Great idea? Silly fad?

NSA Virtual Job Fair

This is pretty cool:

https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/InXpo.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowKey=1400
The National Security Agency (NSA) is hosting a virtual career fair! At this online fair you can view current job openings at each of our virtual booths, learn more about NSA in the resource center, and watch an informative video about NSA in the auditorium.

The event is live now until May 22, 2009. You can drop in at any time and it is absolutely free to attend. All you have to do is register below. You will receive a registration confirmation e-mail automatically which contains a link to enter the show.

And don't forget to prepare your resume! You can apply online at www.NSA.gov/Careers. Please apply to the job posting titled "Virtual Career Fair Feb. 24." Job #1003950.

Professor Sousa speaks--Alum talk archived online

As many of you know, Professor Sousa has been making the rounds of alum talks around the country. And if you missed him, the university has archived a recording of one of his recent talks in San Francisco, which I've linked to here. Check it out: "Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying... What?" Lessons from the 2008 Presidential Election.

And more pictures from the event are here!

ps: Professor Sousa's voice isn't really that high.

Do SAIS in summer

SAIS Summer Programs | Overview of Summer Courses

June 1 – July 23, 2009

Click here to apply

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies is one of the world's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Join us this summer and experience international affairs.

Summer Courses
Summer courses provide students with the opportunity to explore the world of international relations and enhance their topical, theoretical and practical knowledge of global issues. Courses are offered in international relations, economics, policy studies, development, conflict management, strategic and regional studies, and more. Structured for the working professional, classes are scheduled two evenings each week. Students can earn four graduate-level credits per course.

Summer Certificates
Summer certificates are designed to help students and professionals gain academic credentials without pursuing a full degree as they advance their careers. The Certificate in International Studies and the Certificate in International Development are offered to candidates who successfully complete a series of four Summer Courses. Students can earn a certificate in as few as two summers by working at a rigorous pace or over an extended period of time.

Summer Language Institute
The Summer Language Institute at SAIS is unique for emphasizing political, economic and international topics. Students may enroll in one intensive evening course in Arabic, Hindi-Urdu, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese or Political Russian at the beginning, intermediate and advanced level.

Tacoma: #2 in best medium sized cities

From Newgeography's best cities ranking, Tacoma comes in #2 for medium sized cities in terms of economic growth, and #14 among all cities in the US, way ahead of Seattle or Portland. See all the details here: http://www.newgeography.com/content/0031-all-cities-ranking

Redgrass

Hat tip: Mark Scott '74. Fun--