Happy New Year to our readers! As I write this in early January the lovely snow has melted and the rain has returned. COVID has also returned and with it remote instruction for at least the first week of classes. This will give those who have been traveling time to get tested and boosted before we return to the classroom. Last quarter went very well with the vaccine and masking. On a campus of nearly 50,000 students we were seeing just a few dozen positive cases every 10 days. Here’s hoping... Read more
Join us online for our Winter 2022 Faculty Panel on Thursday, February 17, 2022, 5:30-7:00PM PST to discuss the future of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan remains an important US foreign policy matter despite the US military withdrawal in 2021. There is a looming economic and humanitarian crisis, a potential refugee crisis, and the Taliban's accommodation of extremist groups. All of these issues impact the US directly and indirectly through our relations with other affected nations. Please join us for... Read more
The Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race at the University of Washington will be hosting a Webinar Series on Race and Contemporary Issues in the 2021-2022 academic year. These conversations focus on salient racial issues facing the country and will include University of Washington faculty as well as faculty from other institutions to offer reflections and varying perspectives on these important topics. See the calendar below:
January 21, 2021, 10:30-11:30 AM
April 29... Read more
Bruce Harrell, the department’s 2007 Distinguish Alumnus, is Seattle’s newly elected Mayor after winning 59 percent of the vote. He received his BA in Political Science in 1979. In 2012 he was distinguished with one of the UW’s “Timeless Awards.”
Bruce grew up in Seattle graduating from Garfield High as class valedictorian. He turned down scholarships at Harvard and Stanford to attend the UW. Bruce was a UW football linebacker and a member of the 1978 Rose... Read more
Assistant Teaching Professor Scott Lemieux joined our department in 2019. Scott earned his Ph.D. from our department, was hired for a tenure track position at a northeastern liberal arts college, and then returned to Seattle in 2017 where he started teaching for us as a temporary lecturer. In 2019 Scott was hired in a competitive national search for a full-time lecturer. The UW has since converted lecture positions to Teaching Professor position to signal the importance of the work they do.
As... Read more
Ellen Gregoire joined the Political Science staff in October of 2021. Ellen has been working at the University of Washington for over 6 years, most of which she spent across the quad as the Department of Economics’ Outreach & Communications Manager. The Graduate Program Assistant administers our Ph.D. program, from graduate admissions to dissertation defenses. Ellen is delighted to work with students to help them complete their PhDs in an advisory capacity – something she has been wanting... Read more
Our fall faculty panel featured Professors Jamie Mayerfeld, Jack Turner, and Noga Rotem with Professor Michael McCann moderating. More than 150 people attended this 90-minute live Zoom event, which can be viewed on the department’s Youtube page: https://youtu.be/w59cAjbC1ac.
Professor McCann introduced the topic by discussing the historical development of democracy in the United States, emphasizing that privledged groups have always contested efforts... Read more