THIS MONTH'S HEADLINES:
- GRADUATING SENIORS
- ANNUAL POLSC DINNER AT THE OLIVE GARDEN
- NEW PENN STATE MINORS TO BE OFFERED AT BEHREND IN THE FALL
- POLSC GRADUATING SENIORS FEATURED ON BEHREND BLOG
- STUDENT AWARD WINNERS
- POLSC SCHREYER SCHOLAR TO DEFEND HONORS THESIS
- PENN STATE BEHREND POLSC ALUMNA INTERVIEWED FOR PSU PODCAST
- STUDENT GROUP NEWS
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
- FACEBOOK PAGE
- FINAL NEWSLETTER OF THE YEAR
1. GRADUATING SENIORS
If they complete all requirements, six Behrend Political Science majors will be graduating next month:
- Spencer Finley
- Spencer Hope
- Casey Mitolo
- Matthew Strupczewski
- Mallory Flesik
- Colin Bistarkey
In addition, five other Behrend Political Science majors plan to complete their degrees this Summer – most of them will be walking at next month's commencement ceremony:
- Marina Novotnak
- Joshua Heubel
- Faith Coole
- Ketara Hinman
- Loralei Kenyon
If they complete all requirements, three Behrend Politics and Government minors will be graduating next month:
- Grace Dill
- Morgan Harding
- John Siarkowski
Among the plans of our graduating seniors:
- Matthew Strupczewski will be enrolled in Penn State Behrend's MBA program this Fall. He also plans to continue working as a Realtor with Agresti in Erie and as a constituent adviser in the office of Pennsylvania State Representative Bob Merski. He will become a Second Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
- Mallory Flesik will continue her internship with the Jill Beck campaign for Superior Court and plans to go to graduate school to study forensic psychology.
- Colin Bistarkey has been accepted into the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and may also be pursuing a second joint master's degree at the University of Pittsburgh.
- Marina Novotnak is applying for jobs in the field of political campaign consulting.
- Joshua Heubel will be attending Lincoln Memorial University's Duncan School of Law in Tennessee.
Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors, and we wish them the best with future plans!
2. ANNUAL POLSC DINNER AT THE OLIVE GARDEN
After a few years of hiatus, the Annual Behrend Political Science Dinner will be returning to the Olive Garden at 5945 Peach Street in Erie on Monday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. The dinner is in honor of graduating POLSC majors, whose meals get covered. Anyone else is welcome to attend and buy their own dinners. To RSVP, email Robert Speel at [email protected] no later than Sunday, April 23, at 6:00 p.m.
3. NEW PENN STATE MINORS TO BE OFFERED AT BEHREND IN THE FALL
Two new minors of interest to Political Science students have been approved at Penn State and will be available to Behrend students in Fall 2023.
Course requirements for the Politics and Public Policy Minor will include the following:
- PLSC 1
- PLSC 202 (next offered at Behrend in Spring 2024)
- STAT 200
Choose three courses (9 credits) from the following list. At least two of the courses (6 credits) must be at the 400-level:
ECON 102, ECON 104, EDTHP 115, PLSC 177N, PLSC 223N, PLSC 419, PLSC 442, PLSC 473, PLSC 482, PLSC 489, SOC 451, SUST 150N
Certain Penn State courses offered at other Penn State campuses may also count toward the minor.
Note that PLSC 489, a supporting course in this new minor, is offered at Behrend in Fall 2023.
Course requirements for the Latin American Studies Minor include:
- PLSC 456
- HIST 178 or HIST 179
- SPAN 100
Choose 9 credits in supporting courses from an approved list, including at least 3 credits at the 400-level
An approved list of supporting courses will be available next academic year.
More information about both of these minors will also be available from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fall 2023.
4. POLSC GRADUATING SENIORS FEATURED ON BEHREND BLOG
Two of our graduating seniors in Political Science have been featured on the Behrend Blog's "Standout Seniors" in the past month: Matthew Strupczewski and Mallory Flesik. The Blog can be found here:
5. STUDENT AWARD WINNERS
Earlier this month, at the Penn State Behrend Honors and Awards Convocation, Mallory Flesik won both the Outstanding Political Science Major Award and the Zachary T. Irwin Humanitarian Award.
On April 18, Faith Coole, Loralei Kenyon, Spencer Finley, Matthew Strupczewski, Jenna Alberti, Colin Bistarkey, and Kaylee Harrison were inducted into the Penn State Behrend chapter of the Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society.
6. POLSC SCHREYER SCHOLAR TO DEFEND HONORS THESIS
On Monday, April 24, at 3:00 p.m. in 41 Kochel, POLSC Major Mason Milliard will be defending his Schreyer Honors Thesis titled "The Future Legal Status of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act." You are invited to come watch Mason's thesis defense and to ask him any questions that you want about it at the end of his presentation.
7. PENN STATE BEHREND POLSC ALUMNA INTERVIEWED FOR PSU PODCAST
Penn State Behrend POLSC Alumna Lauren Piera Jowell has been interviewed for a podcast produced by Penn State's Schreyer Honors College for a series titled Following the Gong: Life & Career Advice from Scholar Alumni. Jowell is the Chief of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Her podcast interview can be found on Spotify, Amazon, Goodpods, and Apple.
8. STUDENT GROUP NEWS
Some of the Penn State Behrend student political groups have elected new officers for the 2023-2024 academic year. They include:
Behrend Political Society
- President – Madison Kwiecinski
- Vice President – Bella Eibl
- Secretary and Treasurer – Justin Lopez-Beltran and Nick Richar
College Democrats
- Mars McAninch and Bailey Brooks plan to be officers.
College Democrats, College Republicans, and Model United Nations are all looking for new officers next year.
If you would like to get involved, either contact current club officers or contact Dr. Robert Speel at [email protected] for College Democrats and College Republicans, or Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned-Harned at [email protected] for Model United Nations.
This month, Behrend's Model United Nations team hosted a High School Model United Nations Conference on campus. In that competition, Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy from Erie finished first, and McDowell High School from Millcreek finished second.
In addition, Behrend History Major Cole Troutner is in the process of organizing a Mock Trial Team on campus. To get involved, contact Cole at [email protected].
9. FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Dr. Molly Monahan Lang, assistant teaching professor of sociology, will be departing Behrend at the end of this semester for a new position. We will miss her and wish her the best.
Dr. Maggie Shum, assistant professor of political science, participated in the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) conference on April 13-16 in Chicago. She presented her work "Resistance from Afar: Evolution of Contentious Repertoires in Hong Kong Diaspora's Transnational Mobilization during the Anti-ELAB Movement," in which she examines how the Hong Kong diaspora's transnational ties with the homeland shape their mobilization in the U.S., and how protest repertoires are translated and innovated when movements take on a transnational dimension. Along with her co-author Jacob Turner (University of Notre Dame), they presented their work "How Citizens Meet the State: Contact with the State and Political Attitude in South Bend, Indiana." They introduce a holistic approach to conceptualize police-citizens contact – quotidian contact, contact through service provision, and coercive contact – and examine how they impact citizens' trust in state institutions as well as their political behavior and engagement with the case of South Bend, Indiana.
Dr. Robert Speel, associate professor of political science, will be on sabbatical during the Fall 2023 semester to collaborate with Dr. Greg Inwood from Toronto Metropolitan University on a book that will compare Canadian and American politics and policies for Irwin Law publishers. Dr. Speel will return to the Behrend campus to teach for the Spring 2024 semester.
Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned, associate teaching professor of political science, was also involved with two presentations at the Midwest Political Science Association conference this month. She co-authored a paper titled "The role of Kosovo precedent in Russia's misinterpretation of R2P" with Jiří Nykodým, a visiting scholar at Penn State Behrend last semester and a student at Masaryk University in the International Relations and European Politics Master's program in the Czech Republic. In addition, Dr. Surzhko-Harned chaired a panel titled "Populism and Political Communication in Post-Communist Countries."
10. FACEBOOK PAGE
All students and alumni are invited to like the Penn State Behrend Political Science Facebook page and get updated news and find out about events.
11. FINAL NEWSLETTER OF THE YEAR
This will be the final newsletter of the 2022-2023 academic year. Good luck with final papers and final exams.