2023 annual alumni newsletter for the University of Iowa Department of Political Science.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Fall 2023
1 Message from the Chair 1-3 Making Connections
4 Faculty Research 5 Department News 6 Alumni News
MAKING CONNECTIONS This year, our students and alumni have benefited from new ways to make connections and support student success. With support from alumni, the Political Science Department was able to launch the Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN), a licensed online system that allows current majors to connect with alumni directly. Prior to launching this system, students were connected with an alumnus through a faculty member. The ICAN system creates a better and easier process for students to connect with alumni. After a student joins the online platform, they can search through alumni that have joined, including finding those in career areas of interest. Students can then message alumni through the system. Alumni have been an important resource of career information and support for our students and the new system will increase student-alumni engagement. People Grove Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN) Through the Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN) on Peoplegrove, I was able to connect with many professionals from specifically my major and see what kind of career paths they have pursued. Usually with my major, I see only a couple of direct paths such as being a lawyer. By making connections on ICAN, I have seen that even if they also pursued a law degree, some ended up working as policy analysts, intelligence analysts, consultants, or other jobs. The ICAN network is a great resource to learn about future career possibilities from alumni professionals. – Ayah ElGaddal, international relations senior
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to this year’s Poligram. Our focus is on making connections. Connections are an important part of being a student, faculty, staff, and alumnus of the University of Iowa Department of Political Science. Students form lifelong connections with each other that last well beyond their time at Iowa. They also make connections with faculty, staff, and alumni who support their academic and personal development. The department has been working to foster more connections between students, alumni, and faculty including holding alumni events across the US, running a peer mentor program, creating research opportunities for students with faculty members, having alumni teach classes to current students, and launching an online system for students and alumni to connect and engage each other about careers. Connections are a vital part of the university experience. Please reach out if you would like to learn how you can be connected to the department and current students.
Brian Lai Department Chair
If you are interested in joining ICAN, visit: uiowa.peoplegrove.com
1
San Diego Alumni Event Our alumni gathered at Bread & Salt in San Diego on August 30, 2023. Attendees enjoyed meeting other political science alumni and learning about new initiatives at the University, including ways they can connect with current students. We were fortunate to have Mayor Todd Gloria stop by to say a few words. Many thanks to alum Darrell Netherton, Via International, and the University of Iowa Center for Advancement for helping us organize this special event. Chicago Alumni Happy Hour The Department of Political Science hosted an alumni happy hour at Theory in Chicago on October 11, 2023. It was another great opportunity for alumni to connect and learn about new department initiatives. Huge thanks to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias who spoke and answered questions during the evening.
2
Undergraduate Peer Mentor Program
The Department of Political Science Undergraduate Peer Mentor Program has been a wonderful resource for students searching for information and a student’s view about classes, campus activities, internships, and many other topics. This year’s six peer mentors (juniors and seniors) have been actively involved in the campus community and have a wealth of knowledge to share with new students in our program. To learn more, visit politicalscience.uiowa.edu/undergraduate/political-science-peer-mentors
PICTURED: (top) Jaden Bartlett, Maddie Cason, Yunseo Ki, (bottom) Maia Rivera Diaz, Marco Oceguera, Ryan Westhoff
Benjamin F. Shambaugh Conferences
Women and Political Parties: Building Theory and Knowledge TRACY OSBORN Eighteen participants gathered on October 13-14 for the Shambaugh Conference on Women and Parties The participants presented papers about how women in office interact with political parties - for example, whether and how parties recruit women candidates, Republican women’s leadership in Congress, and how different levels of parties work together to promote women’s issues. Two participants from the University of Edinburgh also encouraged us to think about how the UK and American party systems compare. Nine graduate students from the Department of Political Science also got the chance to participate. After the conference, the group plans to publish several articles on new research in women and parties - as political parties continue to change, we need to develop new ideas and data to understand how women in different parties govern.
The Risks and Opportunities of the 2024 Election CAROLINE TOLBERT & MICHAEL RITTER
Professor Caroline Tolbert and alum Michael Ritter (Washington State University) hosted a Shambaugh Conference November 2-4, 2023, focusing on 2024, an election with high stakes, opportunities, and potential risks. They brought together twenty out-of-state experts on election administration and election law. Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution also gave a keynote presentation on the 2024 Republican primary. The risks of 2024 include possible parallels between the upcoming presidential election and 2000, when 4-6 million ballots were not counted due to problems with election administration (Caltech MIT 2011). Topics discussed at the conference included poll worker retention, professionalization of election auditors, the varying cost of administering elections and measuring local govt election capacity; issues with mail-in voting; voter centers, third-party voter registration, legislative districts, election integrity, and voter confidence in elections.
3
FACULTY RESEARCH
Disasters, Migration, and Violence (DMV) Lab
Disaster Policy Response in Peru, 1960-2020
Disasters like earthquakes, floods, and droughts are becoming more frequent and could displace more than a billion people by 2050. In the Disasters, Migration, and Violence (DMV) Lab, Sara Mitchell, Elise Pizzi, and a dozen students are collecting data on government responses to disasters, such as relocation of affected individuals, restrictions on movement, reconstruction of damaged areas, and regulations of third-party disaster relief. Our research connects these policy choices to migration and political violence within and between countries, some of which was presented in two recent papers on Peru. Our next project will compare disaster responses and violence near contested (Ecuador-Peru) and uncontested (Bolivia-Peru) borders.
Publications & Books
Reisinger, William M. , Marina Zaloznaya , and Byung-Deuk Woo. “Fear of Punishment as a Driver of Survey Misreporting and Item Non-Response in Russia and Its Neighbors.” Post-Soviet Affairs, vol. 39, no. 1–2, Mar. 2023, pp. 49–59. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/106058 6X.2022.2150490. Torres, Rachel, Jielu Yao, Elizabeth Maltby, Rene Rocha, and Adriano Udani. “Crossed Wires: Understanding Policy Feedback in Varying Policy Environments.” Journal of Public Policy . Cambridge University Press (CUP), November 17, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1017/ s0143814x23000351. Kuznetsova, Daria, and Caroline J. Tolbert. “Globalizing Information Networks, Social Media, and Participation.” Social Science Quarterly . Wiley, June 7, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13287. Ritter, Michael J., Joseph A. Coll, and Caroline J. Tolbert. “Can Election Administration Overcome the Effects of Restrictive State Voting Laws?” Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy . Mary Ann Liebert Inc, October 16, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1089/elj.2022.0034. Kuznetsova, Daria, and Caroline Tolbert. “Modelling Temporal Dynamics: Does Internet Use Fuel Anti-Government Protests?” Democratization . Informa UK Limited, November 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/1351034 7.2023.2268019. Donovan, Todd, and Caroline Tolbert. “Civility in Ranked-Choice Voting Elections: Does Evidence Fit the Normative Narrative?” Representation . Informa UK Limited, June 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.20 23.2219267. Donovan, Todd, Caroline Tolbert, and Samuel Harper. “Considerations of American Democracy, Feeling Like a Loser, and Support for Changing the Rules.” American Politics Research . SAGE Publications, April 25, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673x231172905.
Boehmke, Frederick J. , Bruce A. Desmarais, Abbie Eastman, Isabelle Grassel, Jeffrey J. Harden, Samuel Harper, Liam Kaboli, Hyein Ko, Elisabeth Oster, and Tracee M. Saunders. “SPRC19: A Database of State Policy Responses to COVID-19 in the United States.” Scientific Data . Springer Science and Business Media LLC, August 7, 2023. https://doi. org/10.1038/s41597-023-02343-4. Mitchell, Sara McLaughlin , and Cody J Schmidt. “Insecure Fisheries: How Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Affects Piracy.” Conflict Management and Peace Science . SAGE Publications, June 13, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/07388942231174174. Dion, Michelle L., Sara McLaughlin Mitchell , and Thomas R. Vargas. 2023. “Closing the Gender Gap? How Altmetrics Influence Citation Counts for Political Science Journal Articles.” International Studies Perspectives .” 24(2): 193-200. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekac009 . Hagle, Timothy . 2023. Supreme Court Agenda Setting: The Warren Court: 1953 to 1968 Terms . Mitchell, Sara McLaughlin 2023. “Introduction”, Roundtable Review of States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security . https:// issforum.org/ISSF/PDF/RJISSF-Roundtable-14-22.pdf . McLaughlin Mitchell, Sara , and Andrew P. Owsiak. 2023. “Judicialisation of the Sea: An Elaboration of Our Argument and Its Merits.” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law . Brill. https://doi. org/10.1163/15718085-bja10127. Mason, T. David and Sara McLaughlin Mitchell . 2023. What Do We Know About Civil Wars? (Second Edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Stanicki, Brooke, Madeline Grade, Julianna Pacheco , Laura Dugan, Alexandra Salerno, and Alister Martin. “Expanding Voter Regisstration to Clinical Settings to Improve Health Equity.” Health Services Research . Wiley, August 14, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.14218.
4
DEPARTMENT NEWS
Ron McMullen visited Georgia and South Caucasus region as background for his fall class POLI:3426, Outliers: Comparing Odd Countries. He also traveled to Pristina, Kosovo, where he provided lectures and simulations at Kosovo International Summer Academy Sara Mitchell was awarded the FPA Distinguished Scholar Award at the ISA 2023 Annual Convention and is now a Collegiate Fellow. She also received a 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association.
Julie Pacheco was promoted to full Professor and received a Seeding Excellence Initiative Grant from the Iowa Office of the Vice President of Research. The grant will help fund a project exploring voter turnout and civic engagement for Latinos across Iowa’s 99 counties. Elise Pizzi was promoted to Associate Professor and recently worked on natural disaster relief research with support from the Public Policy Center Summer Scholars Series. Alex P. Smith joined the department as a lecturer this fall.
Fred Boehmke received a 2023 CLAS Collegiate Teaching Award for his outstanding contribution to research.
David Greenwood-Sanchez was promoted to Assistant Professor.
Martha Kirby received the 2023 Staff Award for Distinguished Leadership in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from UI Staff Council. In July, she began her role as Chair of the Pre-Law Advisors National Council (PLANC). She left the department in September for an opportunity in Iowa Law Admissions.
PhD & Placements
SAERA LEE
HYEIN KO
Dissertation: “How Shared Culture Influences Alliance Termination” Placement: Northwestern University
Dissertation: “A Picture’s Worth: Visual Framing, Social Media, and Protest Perceptions” Placement: University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign
WILLOW KREUTZER
HOSHIK NAM
Dissertation: “The Role of Internal Actors’ Interests in UN Arms Embargo and the US Arms Sales Policies” Placement: Jacksonville State University
Dissertation, “Patriarchal Problems, Feminist Solutions: Incorporating Feminist Design Into Rationalist International Interventions“ Placement: U.S. State Department: Conflict, Stabilization, and Operations Bureau
ERICO YU
DARIA KUZNETSOVA
Dissertation: “Individual and Beyond Individual: Mechanisms of Compliance with Injustice” Placement: Data Analytics and Computational Social Science Program (DACSS), University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dissertation: “The Weaponization of Digital Communication Spaces: How Authoritarian Regimes Use Information Control to Suppress Contention” Placement: University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand
5
ALUMNI NEWS
2023-24 ALUMNI INSTRUCTOR COURSES Thanks to our alumni, the deparmtent offers two one-week courses every semester that provide students a unique opportunity to explore careers and learn from alumni working in specific professions.
Welcome! Newest members of the Political Science Alumni Advisory Board.
Building and Managing Winning Political Campaigns JOE GAYLORD Joe Gaylord’s spring course taught the key elements and strategies of managing successful political campaigns. Special attention was given to using campaign information systems in developing the strategy, message, and plan for the campaign as well as managing it to a successful conclusion.
Populism, Pluralism, and the Urban-Rural Divide MICHAEL MICHENER Michael Michener’s spring course explored both historical and contemporary populist movements in the U.S. and their role in the current urban-rural schism in American politics. Students engaged in discussions and wrote a short essay on a topic.
Andrew Bohn
Lindsay Crittendon
David Conn
Grassroots, Grasstops, Lawyers, and Money: Influencing Public Policy in the Age of Technology DAVID CONN David Conn’s fall course used interactive discussion and small- group exercises to teach effective advocacy techniques and the ways in which public policy advocates influence decision-making at the local, state, and national levels.
Civil Rights and the Constitution MARIA MAKAR
Maria Marka’s fall course covered the history and current landscape of civil rights in America and concluded with a Supreme Court simulation at the Boyd Law Building, where students assumed the roles of attorneys and justices to argue and defend pivotal civil rights cases.
Maria Makar
6
Fall 2023
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Department of Political Science 341 Schaeffer Hall Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1409
Give a gift…
Join the ongoing effort to support our program. Your generosity helps fund student opportunities, research, and our continued growth in educational excellence.
Make your gift online: www.givetoiowa.org/polisci
For more information about giving options, please contact Travis Foss, Director of Development, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at travis.foss@foriowa.org.
VIEW THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT: politicalscience.uiowa.edu/alumni/poligram
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online