Department of Political Science Bulletin
march, 2003

Congratulations

To Steve Poe and the International Relations and Comparative Politics faculty who were awarded editorship of International Studies Quarterly.  This is the flagship journal of the largest association of scholars studying international relations in the world and is a big, big feather in our cap.  Steve Poe will be the editor-in-chief and will be assisted by associate editors, John Booth, Steve Forde, Dave Mason and James Meernik, as well as Marianne Stewart at the University of Texas at Dallas.  The journal arrives at UNT in January 2004.

UNT Moot Court Team takes 2nd at Baylor Law School Tournament!

Congratulations go out to: Jackie Coley – First Place-Best Speaker & Quarter-finalist (PSCI); Guy Sereff-Second Place Speaker & Semi-finalist; Craig Mertens-Third Place Speaker & Semi-finalist (PSCI); Phil Stauffer-Seventh Place Speaker & Finalist (PSCI); Kristie Schumann- Eighth Place Speaker & Semi-finalist; Victoria White-Ninth Place Speaker & Quarter-finalist (PSCI); Laura Gilchrest-Tenth Place Speaker & Semi-finalist; Andy Lange – Quarter-finalist; Ryan Rollo – Quarter-finalist (PSCI); Cynthia Goodman-Second Place Team (PSCI).

Congratulations to Mohammad Al Momani for the successful defense of his dissertation, "Financial Intervention and Its Impact on the Level of Democracy: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Time Series Model".  Mohammad has been a wonderful student and friend and we all wish him the very best!

Getting Ink

Alex Tan's "Taiwan's Economy at T+1: Dilemmas, Opportunities and Challenges" has been published in the Journal of Contemporary China.

Appearances

Richard Ruderman gave a lecture and taught a class on, "William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass" at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio on February 7 & 8.

Milan Reban presented a paper on, "The Czech Republic's EU Accession" to the Southwest Slavic Studies Meeting at Texas A&M University on February 22nd.  Milan also gave presentations on the European Union to Plano area high schools.

John Booth spoke on "Civil Society and Social Capital: A Test of Putnam's Model" at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte on February 21.

International Studies Association Presentations.

The Political Science Department was well-represented at the recent ISA meeting in Portland, Oregon.

Seonjou Kang and James Meernik presented, "Nation Building in the Aftermath of Crises: Economic Assistance to Crisis Actors".

James Meernik presented, "Reaching Inside the State: International Law and the Responsibility of the Individual".

Peter Vondoepp presented, "Executive and Informal Dynamics of Ruling Parties: Understanding Varied Institutional Developments in New African Democracies".

Awards

Corey Ditslear, Mike Greig and Elizabeth Oldmixon were all winners of UNT Research Initiation Grants.  

Corey Ditslear, Elizabeth Oldmixon and Peter Vondoepp were all winners of the Junior Faculty Summer Research Fellowships.  

Fred Mecklenburg has been chosen as the political science department's outstanding alum of the year and will be recognized at the UNT Alumni Appreciation Day on April 11. Congratulations!

Sean Carey (MA, 1997) has been given a tenure-track position at Sheffield University in Great Britain.

Events

The Political Science Department is sponsoring the "Oil and Politics" conference on Saturday, April 12 at the Radisson Hotel in Denton.  Click here for more details

The Annual Pi Sigma Alpha Banquet will be held Friday, April 25 at Metropolitan Catering at 932 West University at 6:30 pm.

 Weird, Wide World

Bureaucrats are the same everywhere!

In the European Union (not clear if this is "old" or "new" Europe), pig farmers must assure that their porkers get plenty of stimulation.  EU law stipulates that all pigs be provided with toys, also known as "environmental enrichment" so they do not eat each other.  Those farmers who fail to comply with the law face three months in the pokey.  They also have to swap out toys occasionally and change the color of the toys so the pigs do not grow bored.  Here's to the EU Eurocrats!  Thanks to Richard Ruderman for this story.