THIS MONTH'S HEADLINES:
1. DEADLINE OF DECEMBER 1 FOR WASHINGTON, D.C., COURSE AND TRIP
2. CAMPUS ELECTION FORUM ON TUESDAY EVENING
3. MIKE PENCE VISIT TO PENN STATE BEHREND
4. FACULTY IN THE NEWS
5. EDUCATION CAREERS AND GRADUATE SCHOOLS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ALUMNI
6. FACEBOOK PAGE
1. SPRING 2017 COURSE AND TRIP TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
The political science program will be sponsoring a student trip to Washington, D.C., over Spring Break 2017 (March 4-12). The trip is a required portion of the course POLSC 177 (GS). The class is taught by Dr. Robert Speel, associate professor of political science at Penn State Behrend.
The exact itinerary will not be determined until February next year, but on past such trips, the group has met with all of our local members of Congress, with officials at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Organization of American States, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the embassies of Australia, Romania, Botswana, India, Ireland, Canada, Jamaica, Estonia. Bulgaria, Latvia, and Indonesia. We have toured the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the C-SPAN studios. We have participated in seminars held in the Supreme Court chambers, Ford's Theatre, and the Federal Reserve Board room. Among the highlights of the trip will be meetings or tours with Penn State Behrend alumni who work on Capitol Hill, for federal government agencies, as policy analysts, or as political consultants in Washington.
We always visit Arlington National Cemetery and all the most famous monuments and memorials. Free time is provided to visit museums such as the Newseum, the International Spy Museum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the various Smithsonian Museums, as well as the National Zoo. Students also have attended major sports and entertainment events in Washington, D.C., during the evening. Students should be aware that most of the places we visit during the week are only available to student groups in Washington and not to individual tourists. Some of the places we visit may provide the only opportunity some will have in their lives to tour certain government buildings or meet with certain officials in Washington.
The trip is associated with the political science course POLSC 177 (GS), and students will be required to sign up for either a three credit or one credit version of the course in order to take the trip. The three-credit version of the course will involve weekly class meetings before and after the trip, to be held on Tuesdays or Thursdays at 4:35 p.m. We will meet twice a week in February and then end early in April. Also, most of the time in Washington is considered class time. In addition, the three-credit version of the class will involve assigned readings, quizzes, some research, and short papers appropriate for a three-credit course.
The one-credit version of the course will include participation in the trip and a 10-page paper to be written after the trip. It is intended for students who would like to participate in the trip to Washington, but who don't necessarily need a three-credit political science course.
The three credits or one credit can be used for both the political science major and minor in the subfields of American government or international politics. The course also can be used to fulfill the "Crime and Public Policy" area requirement for the Crime, Psychology, and Public Policy certificate. And students in all majors can use the course to fulfill GS general education requirements. Some majors will allow the course to fulfill other specific requirements. The course and trip are open to students in all majors. There is no prerequisite.
In Washington our group will stay at the Virginian Suites hotel. The hotel is located in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, and is a brief walk from a Washington Metro (subway) stop. Each room in the hotel contains two queen-sized beds, a pull-out sofa bed, a full kitchen, television, furniture, private bathroom, and closet space. A chartered bus will transport students between campus and Washington.
Dr. Nicole Shoenberger, assistant professor of sociology, will be joining us on the trip.
More details, costs, deadlines, and photos from previous trips can be found on our website.
Brochures with a full explanation of the trip are available at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences office (170 Kochel). To register for the trip and course, students must submit a non-refundable deposit in the form of cash, check, money order, or credit card in the amount of $150 to Penn State University, along with a completed course registration form, course fee form, emergency contact form, and background information form, to Jackie May in the School of H&SS office, 170 Kochel, by December 1, 2016. The forms are available from Dr. Speel or the H&SS school office.
2. CAMPUS ELECTION FORUM ON TUESDAY EVENING
On Tuesday, November 29, at 8 p.m, in Burke 001, the SGA Diversity Committee, College Democrats, College Republicans, Political Science Society, MCC, and MUN are hosting a campus Post-Election Forum about this year's national election results. Students are invited to attend, speak up, make comments, and ask questions.
3. MIKE PENCE VISIT TO BEHREND
On Monday, November 7, the day before the election, Mike Pence held a campaign rally in the Junker Center. The event was covered in the Erie Times-News.
Dr. Kilic Kanat, Assistant Professor of Political Science, continues to publish columns for Daily Sabah, an English-language newspaper in Turkey. Those columns, of which the most recent is titled "Japanese Foreign Policy in the New Era" are archived online. On November 21, Dr. Kanat was a panelist at the SETA Foundation in Washington, D.C., for a forum on "U.S.-Turkey Relations under the Trump Administration."
Dr. Robert Roecklein, Senior Lecturer in English Composition and Political Science, presented a paper titled "Kantian Atomism and Epicurean Aspects of the Categorical Imperative," for a panel on Ethics, Politics and Ontology at this month's Northeast Political Science Association annual meeting in Boston.
Dr. Robert Speel, Associate Professor of Political Science, wrote two online articles about this year's American election. On November 1, he published "A 'Rigged' Vote: Four U.S. Presidential Elections with Contested Results," which appeared on the websites for Fast Company magazine, the Smithsonian magazine, The Daily Beast, U.S. News & World Report, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and on November 14, he published "Three Common Arguments for Preserving the Electoral College — And Why They're Wrong," that appeared on the websites for Time and Newsweek magazines, Salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, and in the printed version of the Arizona Republic newspaper. On November 17, Dr. Speel was a guest on a live radio call-in show on WITF public broadcasting in Harrisburg. He also was interviewed about the election results for articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Erie Times-News.
5. EDUCATION CAREERS AND GRADUATE SCHOOLS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ALUMNI
Fifteen percent of Penn State Behrend political science alumni hold jobs in education.
Among the 53 alumni who work in education are:
- 11 social studies teachers
- 8 who work as teachers in other fields in elementary or high schools
- 2 school administrators
- 4 university professors
- 7 who are pursing graduate degrees in order to teach
- 21 college or university administrators
Positions held by our alumni in education include:
- Social Studies teacher, Millcreek School District
- Social Studies teacher, Iroquois School District
- Social Studies teacher, Erie School District
- Professor of Public Administration, Florida State University
- Social Studies teacher in suburban Rochester, NY
- Social Studies teacher in suburban Philadelphia
- Social Studies teacher in suburban Orlando
- Social Studies teacher in suburban Pittsburgh
- Social Studies teacher in Baltimore, MD
- Director of Risk Management and Safety, University of Notre Dame
- Student Affairs Officer, UCLA
- Associate Director of Student Affairs, Penn State Behrend
- Academic Adviser, Penn State Behrend
- International Services Adviser, Clemson University
- Reference Librarian, University of Connecticut Law Library
Among the graduate schools attended by our alumni since 2000 are:
- University of Pennsylvania
- Cambridge University (England)
- The Johns Hopkins University
- University of Virginia
- University of Buffalo
- The George Washington University
- Georgetown University
- Louisiana State University
- Fudan University (Shanghai, China)
- University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada)
- Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland)
- University of Delaware
- Cleveland State University
- University of Akron
- Mercyhurst University
- Penn State Harrisburg
- University of South Carolina
- Edinboro University
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Oregon State University
- University of Connecticut
- University of Pittsburgh
- Pepperdine University
- University of Leeds (England)
- Cornell University
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.