Department of Political Science Bulletin
April, 2009

Political Science News

Grants and Awards

Kimi King received the SGA Honor Professor Award at Honors day.

Valerie Martinez was recognized by Hispanic Business magazine and Hispanic Business, Inc. as a “Woman of Vision for 2009.” Since 2003, the Hispanic Business conglomerate has annually identified 25 Latinas nationwide for their significant leadership achievements or contributions to the Hispanic community. To the best of our knowledge, Val is the first political scientist to receive the Women of Vision award.

Richard Ruderman received one of UNT's new Research and Creativity Enhancement (RCE) Awards to undertake a study of Judah Halevi's Kuzari.

Student Awards

• Clovis C. Morrisson Award for Best Pre-Law Student: Rebekah Kopsky
• E. C. Buell Award for Outstanding Student in Comparative Politics: Mark Shadden
• Fred Gantt Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Political Science Award: Ian Moore
• Yarborough Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in Political Science: Ian Moore and Sorrel McCarthy (co-winners)
• Pender Award for Best Graduate Student Paper in Political Science: Jason Quinn
• Sam B. McAlister Outstanding Graduate Student In Political Science Award: Natalie Elliot

Acceptances

Paul Collins’s “Environmental Enforcement in Dire Straits—‘There is no Protection for Nothing and No Data for Free’” (with Victor B. Flatt) was accepted at Notre Dame Law Review.

Philip Paolino received an acceptance from the journal Politica y Gobierno for the article, "The PRI's Position in Mexican Politics."

Appearances

Midwest Political Science Association Meeting

John A. Booth presented “Legitimacy and Political Participation in Latin America” (with Mitchell A. Seligson) and “The Gender Gap in Latin America Political Participation” (with Patricia Bayer Richard).  He also served as the discussant on a panel on “Political Culture in Latin America: Theoretical and Conceptual Crossroads.”

Bryan Calvin, Paul Collins, and Pamela C. Corley, “Lower Court Influence on U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Content.”

Emily Clough presented a paper entitled, “Strategic Behavior and Local Information: The 1992 U.S. Presidential Election.”

Natalie Elliot presented a paper entitled, “On the Liabilities of Descartes for Democracy: Tocqueville's Critique of the Democratic Mind and the Doctrines that Shape It.”

Steve Forde presented two papers and served as discussant on a panel. The papers were entitled: “John Locke and Modern Natural Science,” and “How Ciceronian is John Locke?”

John Ishiyama, Tom Miles and Christina Balarezo presented a paper entitled “Training the Next Generation of Teaching Professors: A Comparative Study of Ph.D. programs in Political Science.”

John Ishiyama, Angela Sortor, and Anna Batta presented a paper entitled “Political Parties and the Closing of  the Electoral Market in Sub Saharan Africa.” 

Valerie Martinez presented on a roundtable entitled, “The Influence of Race and Ethnicity in the 2008 Election.”

Philip Paolino presented a paper entitled, “Conflicting Stereotypes and Voters' Evaluations of African-American Republicans.”

Professional Leadership

John Ishiyama conducted a program review of the  Department of Political Science and International Relations at SUNY Geneseo, in March.

Our May 2009 Graduating Seniors