Homecoming Recap

I haven't had a chance to thank all the alums who turned out for our first PG homecoming at The Swiss. We had alums attend going back to the early sixties, and who had traveled from as far away as Ottawa and Georgia. It was great to see students I had taught upwards of a decade ago and meet folks from long before my time. Good stories from the distant past and from interesting lives lived since graduation. Here are a few pics; you'll find a few more here.


Mark Smith '61 and Professor "Wild Bill" Haltom


Joel Hefty '86, who works advising central banks around the world, with Political Science Association students Chris Pohlad and Jenni Swift. That's Ryan Mello '01 at the far left.


Elaine Bolton '64 and Katheryn (Tolfree) Farmer '98

Tags:

• Alums

PG Alum Talk: Mike Lantz '68

Thursday, October 5 at 5 pm in Wyatt 313

What Creates Political Science in the Real World?

A discussion about Political Science from the perspective of someone who has lived it, done it, traveled it, experienced it and continues to be involved in international business.

Come experience Political Science from a real world view which is not covered in textbooks. Get involved in the discussion, ask questions and get a feel for the non-standard approach. See how different aspects of politics, business, sociology, and religion all impact Political Science and our perspective of how we live.

Presented by Mike Lantz, UPS '68, BA Political Science/Business, UPS Law School-JD 77, Boston University Law School-LLM 78. Retired practicing attorney and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 900 hours combat flying time in Vietnam. He currently is the President and CEO of Capstone Manufacturing LLC in Seattle. He has traveled 4 million miles to over 50 countries.

This is another great opportunity to interact with an alum and learn from their experiences. I hope to see you there.

DC Alums--We've Got a Location

DC Alum Gathering Update

Thursday, October 19th.
6:30 p.m.
Washington, DC
Location: Capitol City Brewing Company
2 Massachusetts Ave NW. (this is the Capitol Hill as opposed to the Downtown location)

Andrea Tull writes: "This is just across the street from the Union Station Metro Stop on the red line. Unfortunately, they charge quite a pricey fee to set aside some tables, so I will just get there a little early to try to stake claim to some tables. So, please RSVP to me via email (andrea.tull@mail.house.gov) so I can have an idea of how many people to expect."

Still Growing

Traffic on the blog just keeps growing. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading!

Andrew Milton Takes on Florida

Recently "creative class" guru Richard Florida was in Tacoma to give his assessment of what our town was doing right in becoming the kind of metropolis that will thrive in the future. Read Florida's most recent Atlantic Monthly piece on the subject here. As we've blogged before, however, not everyone buys Florida's arguments. Andrew Milton, who has taught in our department in past, had a good piece in today's News Tribune where he takes down some of Florida's arguments. Read his take on Florida here.

Tags:

• Tacoma

Visiting Professor Hendrik Hansen on What Makes Europe and America Different

Professor Hendrik Hansen, Berlin, November 2005. Photo: Patrick O'Neil

For a number of years UPS has had an academic exchange program with the University of Passau, whereby faculty travel between each university during the summer. Some years ago our guest was Professor Hendrik Hansen, who specializes in political philosophy. We enjoyed his visit so much that a number of us subsequently visited him in Germany, and we also arranged for him to return on two occasions as a visiting faculty member. Professor Hansen will join us again Spring Semester 2007, offering introductory courses in political philosophy and an upper division course on the European Union.

His experiences at UPS prompted Professor Hansen to write on what he saw as some of the main differences between political cultures in the States and Europe, which was published in the German journal Merkur. This attracted the attention of the Goethe Institute, a cultural organization funded by the German government. The Goethe Institute in Chicago has invited Professor Hansen to come to the US this fall to speak on "Human Dignity and Individualism: Western Values in Europe and the USA" If you're in the Chicago, here are the details:

Thursday, October 12, 2006, 6pm
Goethe-Institut Chicago
150 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60601

For the rest of us, there's an overview of the upcoming panel here, and an English translation of his article here. I'd encourage you to read his piece, as it is provocative and an interesting take on the differences between the US and Europe from the perspective of a European.

Professor Hansen was also recently in the West Bank, and has sent along photos I'll blog soon.

Watch TV on your PC

I've seen several attempts to create TV viewers for your computer, but most have been pretty poor. So far this is the best one to date, I think--TVU, out of China, steams a number of television channels, including CNN, CNBC, USA, and a number of foreign channels. You can download their player here.

The Internationalist in the Media

The Internationalist, a Seattle-based and student-oriented magazine run by several UPS alums, has a nice write-up in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, even though I was interviewed for the article but not quoted. Bah. Read the piece here.

The Internationalist is a good place to submit an article, or do a summer internship in Seattle.

Tags:

• Alums
• StudentPublications
  

Grad School Rankings

There's many different ways to rank graduate programs, each leading to somewhat different conclusions. One recent study of political science programs sought to modify the common approach (where faculty publish), in part to include more European scholarly journals. The result is a list of what they term the "Global Top 200 Political Science Departments"as well as the "Rolling Global Top 50". It's worth a read if you are considering going on to further study in political science, here or abroad. You can find the article here.

Tags:

• Gradschool

Alums Gather in DC-- Save the Date!

Thursday, October 19th.
6:30 p.m.
Washington, DC
Location TBA

Politics and Government alums (and any current majors) in the DC area!

The department is planning an alum get-together by remote control--we won't be there, but we hope our DC-area alums can carve out some time on the date above to meet their fellow grads from across the ideological, vocational, and generational spectrum.

If you can make that date, would you please RSVP our DC potentate, Andrea Tull '02 at andrea.tull[at]mail.house.gov or at (253) 228-1583. Even if you can't, would you drop her a note so we can start building an informal list of our DC alums for future events? Also, if you've got a suggestion for where best to hold such a gathering feel free to pass that along to her.

I'm hoping this can become a regular event--if we can get a good turnout, we will try to send out someone from the department next year to officially preside over the festivities and share all the campus gossip.

Michael Allen '06

Some days back I got an email from Michael Allen '06 who is currently in the PhD program in Political Science at SUNY Binghamton. He writes:

"My concentrations are in international relations and comparative politics, with one paper on hegemonic stability theory and another (co-authored with another member of my cohort) on rational choice decision making by groups in choosing tactics of violence against the state (in various contexts). The program here is heavily concentrated in quantitative studies and, consequently, my papers are focused on testing various theories using collected or available data.

Your prediction/experience with funding was accurate. I was able to secure a TA [teaching assistantship] position my first semester, received another TA position in the fall, worked as a RA during the summer, and now have a secure line of funding in the department. My grades here have continued to stay among the top of my cohort, and I am the President of the Political Science Graduate Student Organization for the year. It's somewhat amazing how focused one can be on academia when the snow covers the ground from October to late Spring.

Anyways, I wanted to communicate with you and let you know that I am attempting to maintain a decent name for UPS graduates of the politics and government department in academia."

By my count, we've got a good half-dozen gradutes in Political Science PhD programs right now. Either we should be proud of their following in our footsteps or ashamed that we so led them astray.

Tags:

• Alums
• Gradschool
  

Round Table Recap

Last night Professors Ferrari, Weinberger and I led a roundtable discussion on the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. I tried to focus on the domestic issues inside Lebanon, Professor Ferrari on issues of just war and proportionality, and Professor Weinberger on the broader international context. Good turnout and good student questions. This was sponsored by the Political Science Student Assocation, who are doing great things in getting more student and faculty events going. Thanks, PSA!


Looking pensive and professorial


Asking difficult questions and generating good discussion

Unwired: Pierce Countywide Wi-Fi?

Will we soon get county-wide wi-fi with limited free access to boot? Sounds too good to be true--then I can sit on my computer all day long no matter where I am in town, effectively neglecting everyone around me, including my children. Count me in!

Details on these and other vertical mounting assets on Exit133 and Thrice All American.

Tags:

• Tacoma
• Technology
  

Mark Hejinian Says Hello From Guyana

My recent post about violence in Thailand and Hungary has drawn out some alums. I mentioned Melissa Duits '90, and now we got a post from Mark Hejinian '05, who is doing a stint with the Peace Corps in Guyana. Last I had heard he was at the World Bank, a job that then was taken by another of our department alums, Carly Kneppers '05. Mark's observations on politics in Guyana are interesting and, moreover, he's got a blog:
http://guyanesemark.blogspot.com

Great to hear from you, Mark! Send a picture if you get a chance.

Tags:

• Alums
• Peace Corps
  

Moving Pictures

I brought my little digital camera onto campus this morning and took some short digital video of the cafe in the student union and the fountain at Jones Circle. Nothing special, just a taste of campus for those of you who are far away.



Tags:

• Campus

Flashback: Professor Share's Central America Tours

During the 1990s Professor Share led several study tours of students and UPS faculty to Central America. I was not fortunate enough to attend, but many of our alums were. I asked him for a few pictures from that time and he obliged. You might see yourself in the pictures below; leave a comment if you do or if you have any memories you want to share from your trip.


Meeting with a Contra, Matagalpa, Nicaragua 1992


Professor Share and Sousa in Chicastenango, 1993


El Salvador, 1994

Midwest Political Science Association Conference

Another opportunity for undergraduates to present their work. If you're not interested in going to Normal, Chicago might be more attractive. And the Palmer House is a wonderful old hotel that is a nice place to stay. This is a standard academic conference, but they are accepting a limited number of undergrad papers "for a special section of research conducted by undergraduate students. The idea is to give them exposure to the professional life of an academic so they can make better informed decisions about graduate school. Please encourage your best students to submit a proposal (the deadline for this group only is 12/1/2006)." Come see me if you are interested and we can talk about submitting a proposal and funding your trip.

Call for Proposals. MPSA Conference.

Proposal Deadline: 10/2/2006.

Conference: 4/12-4/15/07. Downtown Chicago

www.mwpsa.org www.indiana.edu/~mpsa

*****MPSA CONFERENCE*****

With the school year starting, now is the time to consider submitting a proposal to present at the MPSA National Political Science conference, held April 12-15, 2007, at the Palmer House Hilton (the oldest continuously operating hotel in America) in Downtown Chicago near Millennium Park and the Art Institute. This conference is one of the largest in the discipline, with around 4,000 presenters and 700 panels. There are currently 65 different "sections" (subfields or related organizations) that accept papers, panels, posters, chairs/discussants or roundtables - several are new for 2006. For a full list of the different sections, see the link below. We have included a link to the 2006 conference program so you can see what is typically presented at the conference.

Conference registration is modest; faculty members pay as little as $100 and graduate students $31. Registration is more if you register late or do not stay in the conference hotel.

Hotel rates range from $99 for a Studio Single (they are small) to $174 for a regular single room, to $215 for a Towers single (which includes continental breakfast, snacks, etc.).

We will continue our experiment from 2006, and accept a limited number of proposals for a special section of research conducted by undergraduate students. The idea is to give them exposure to the professional life of an academic so they can make better informed decisions about graduate school. Please encourage your best students to submit a proposal (the deadline for this group only is 12/1/2006).

* Submit a Conference Proposalhttp://www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/proposal/papermenu.html

* Program Committee ww.indiana.edu/~mpsa/conferences/2007ProgramCommittee.html

* 2006 Conf. Program www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/conferences/2006ProgramPage.html

* Hotel & Travel Info.: www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/conferences/travel.html

* Undergrad Proposal: www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/proposal/undergradproposal2007.html

*****ABOUT THE MPSA*****

The MPSA is a national organization with a membership of almost four thousand political science professors, students, and public administrators. Founded in 1939, the MPSA is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship in all areas of political science. The Current President of the MPSA Council is Gregory Caldeira, The Ohio State University. A complete listing of the Council is available on the website.

* Renew/Start Membership www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/cgi-bin/directionsold.html

*****OUR JOURNAL*****

The MPSA also publishes the American Journal of Political Science, a premier journal for research in all major areas of political science. The current editor of the AJPS is Marianne Stewart, University of Texas-Dallas. www.ajps.org

*****Contact Us*****

MPSA, 320 W. Eighth St, Ste 218, Bloomington, IN 47404

* Conference Info., Advertising/Exhibitors, Receptions/Meetings: speelmon@indiana.edu

* Proposal Submittal Forms, Web Site, Membership & Registration: gddeckar@indiana.edu

Tags:

• Conferences

Melissa Duits '90

Melissa Duits '90 has an interesting comment about politics in Latvia in response to one of my recent posts. It sounds like she's had an interesting set of experiences since graduation, so I hope to have her provide a profile (and maybe a picture or two) for the blog in the near future. Thanks for the comment, Melissa.

IRV

This came to me from Tacoma City Council Member Julie Anderson. I was told that students are welcome to this event, and in working on the Yes on 3 Campaign as well. I know that some of our majors are interested in Instant Runoff Voting, so here's your chance to learn more about it from the inside. We've also had students intern with Julie Anderson in past, and she'll be certain to put you to work on real issues related to city politics. So if you are interested in that opportunity do let me know.

I am teaming up with Citizens for a Better Ballot to bring former Congressman and presidential candidate John Anderson to Tacoma to discuss Pierce County Charter Amendment 3, which would implement Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for county elections. IRV is a real – but controversial – alternative to our new “Pick-a-Party Primary.” Mr. Anderson is a strong supporter of IRV and a longtime advocate for improving American democracy.

When: Saturday October 7th, 3-5pm
Where: Home of Julie Anderson (Whitworth Literary Society Hall)
4604 North 38th Street
Tacoma WA 98407
(At the corner of North Cheyenne and North 38th, behind Sherman Elementary)

For more information, contact Ryan Griffin at (253) 228-1991 or ryan@yesonthree.com

John Anderson was one of the most successful independent presidential candidates in U.S. history, receiving over six million votes in 1980. Prior to his presidential run, Mr. Anderson served ten terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 16th District in Illinois. Mr. Anderson is currently a professor of constitutional law at Nova Southeastern University and Chairman of FairVote -- The Center for Voting and Democracy. He is a frequent lecturer and expert commentator on issues of electoral reform, United Nations reform, foreign affairs, American politics, and independent candidacies. He also writes regularly on the role of Congress in both domestic and international affairs.

For information about Instant Runoff Voting, visit Citizens for a Better Ballot - 1119 Pacific Ave. #1103, Tacoma, WA 98402 or www.yesonthree.com

Julie Anderson
253-761-3602 (home office)
Julie@Womens-Leadership.org new e-mail!
4604 North 38th Street new address!
Tacoma WA 98407

Council Member Julie Anderson
253-591-5108 (City Hall)
Julie.Anderson@CityofTacoma.org
747 Market Street, Room 1200
Tacoma WA 98402-3766
www.CityofDestiny.com
www.CityofTacoma.org

Social Bookmarking

I like del.icio.us a lot as a way to manage and tag websites--we have one for the department, and I keep a separate one for my teaching and research. One of the limitations has been finding the sites of other people in your same profession so that you can peruse what they are interested in. So far I've not been too successful stumbling across many political science sites, but educators, primary and secondary, are further along in this regard--if you're a teacher, interested in technology and/or education, check out the overview of these sites at Teaching Hacks.com

If you've got a del.icio.us site, send it along and I'll add it to our network.

Tags:

• education
• technology