With the start of another academic year, we are reminded of the remarkable talents of our faculty, graduate students, and staff that make for exceptional undergraduate and graduate programs. This newsletter highlights some of these with features about the department's Honors Program, innovative graduate student research, insights from a new faculty book about the Tea Party, and a profile of our newest faculty member.
Although the academic world is often portrayed as slow moving, this is far... Read more
What do the American dream in 1920s literature, the evolution of America’s policy of constructive engagement with South Africa, and India’s educational programming have in common? They are all topics of departmental honors theses authored this past year by participants in the Department of Political Science’s Honors Program. Created in 1979 by Professor Daniel S. Lev the program provides a unique educational opportunity for both faculty and students characterized by individual attention and in-... Read more
During one's time as a student in political science, he or she most likely encountered graduate students as the teaching assistants who offered quiz sections and answered questions during office hours. Yet there is much more to graduate students’ careers that few undergraduates think about. A critical concern of any graduate student is the research that will lead to their PhD. Our graduate students are conducting innovative research across the discipline and globe. Small research grants (... Read more
Is the Tea Party like the Ku Klux Klan? Tea Party sympathizers would reject the comparison out of hand. Tea Partiers claim they’re about core conservative issues such as small government and fiscal responsibility. Thus, they resist the policies of the current president and his administration on ideological grounds – the government is too big and spends too much money – not on racial ones. Critics of the Tea Party reject this claim and believe that Tea Partiers are, indeed, motivated by racism.... Read more
The UW Department of Political Science is excited to welcome James D. Long as a new Assistant Professor this fall. Long will teach courses in African politics, comparative politics, and field research methods. He joins the UW faculty from Harvard, where in 2012-13 he was an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. Long completed his PhD in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2012. Long’s research examines many aspects of... Read more
On June 13th some 1,200 students, guests, faculty, and staff attended the 2013 Departmental Convocation that recognized those with new BA, Masters, and PhD degrees and bestowed a number of awards for academic accomplishments. A highlight of the ceremony was the granting of the department's distinguished alumnus award to Honorable Norm Dicks. He joins a dozen distinguished alumni who had been recognized in previous years for their career accomplishments. Congressman Dicks provided an... Read more
The graduate teaching assistants and instructors in our department are exceptionally talented, hard-working, and successful. In our large enrollment courses, teaching assistants conduct discussion sections, grade papers and exams, and meet with students to help them navigate the challenges of higher education at UW. Graduate instructors, who have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation, teach independent courses. Teaching assistants and graduate instructors do all of... Read more
Our department is fortunate to have an exceptionally talented set of staff. Those in the department administration, academic programs, advising, fiscal support, computing, and the front-office provide the essential services day in and day out that contribute to our excellence. More than this, these individuals set the tone of the department through their numerous interactions with students, faculty, visitors, other units, and higher-level administrators. In this and future newsletters, we... Read more