Professor Bob Bruhl Discusses Education Policy of Presidential Candidates

Robert Bruhl, UIC clinical assistant professor of political science, is interviewed in a Chicago Parent magazine (October issue) article that analyzes the economic, education, health care, and family values policies of Republican nominee John McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Professor Bruhl's comments occur particularly about education.

Department Head Dick Simpson Comments on Presidential Race

Dick Simpson, UIC professor and head of political science, is quoted in a Boston Globe article about Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama facing a competitive general election for the first time their careers.

Simpson discussed presidential campaign fundraising during a segment on the nationally syndicated financial news program "First Business".

Department Alumni Gary Andres Pens Interest Group Book

1982 Ph.D. graduate, Gary Andres has a new book out titled Lobbying Reconsidered:  Under the Influence that is part of the Pearson-Longman Real Politics in America series.  Andres brings an insiders view to the role lobbyists play in shaping public policy today focusing on what he refers to as the “the good, the bad, and the ugly”.  According to the publisher’s description: 

Lobbying Reconsidered: Politics Under the Influence, reveals how lobbying is a complex process that involves more than just relationships, friends, access, favors, and influence.  This book offers a broader perspective on this important dimension of American public policymaking. 

As a person who straddles the worlds of Washington insider and interest group scholar, author Gary Andres hopes to use his experience and insight in in the lobbying world to help students navigate beyond the conventional wisdom, and guide them to a deeper, broader understanding. 

It is worth noting that the author’s dissertation chair, Professor Barry Runquist is thanked in the book’s preface for reading and commenting on the manuscript.  Also, Mr. Andres was named "Top Lobbyist" by The Hill in April 2007.

To answer the question 'What do professors do when they aren't teaching their classes or advising their students?"

 Here's a rough sketch of recent Graber activities:
        (1) Write and present  papers -- at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in April, at the American Association for Public Opinion Research meeting in New Orleans in May, at the International Society of Political Psychology meeting in Paris in July, and at the American Political Science Association meeting in Boston in September.
        (2) Write and present a key note address (at ISPP in Paris on "Politics Acceptance Zones: Crossing the Barricades") or participate in Roundtable discussions on agenda-setting (Austin, TX, September), or
        (3) Cross hands across the oceans by presenting a paper at a scholar summit in Shanghai in December, sponsored by Duke University and Shanghai Jiaotong University.
        (4) Then there are miscellaneous activities like chairing two awards committees -- one for the best political psychology book published in 2007 (Alexander George Award) and the other for the Rakove student paper award at UIC. serving as book review editor for Political Psychology, a year round job, and trying to finish an overdue manuscript for a new book.
        5) In the fun department, the leader is a study trip that starts out in July in South Korea, and then moves to North Korea in August and returns home just before the Olympics open in China -- with a sports television feast available to all right here in Chicago.

Professor Emertius Frank Tachau has been appointed Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.  According to the M.E.I. website, the Institute is engaged in several educational missions:

Two UIC Political Science graduate students have won the department's 2008 Rakove Awards.  Matt Powers' paper is entitled "Post-Communism, Semi-Authoritarianism, and Civil Society: A Nuanced View".  Vitaliy Voznyak's paper is titled "Corruption in Ukraine: Explaining Variation Across Administrative Divisions".

The Rakove Award commemorates the memory of Professor Milton Rakove who served as a member of UIC's Political Science faculty from 1957-83.  His classic accounts of Chicago politics are still widely read in the department and beyond.

Altay Cengizer - Harvard Fellow / Turkish Ambassador delivers talk

On Tuesday, March 18th the Political Science Department hosted a talk by Ambassador Altay Cengizer titled "A Region in Flux: Changing Dynamics in Central Asia and Turkey's Role as a Regional Power".  Ambassador Cengizer was the Director General for Policy Planning, at the Turkish Ministry  of Foreign Affairs, before coming to Harvard as a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for Forgeign Affairs.  Throughout 2006 he was the Special Advisor to then Foreign Minister, now President Abdullah Gul.  Mr. Cengizer is a graduate of the Bosphorus University and has a M.A. degree in International History from LSE and a Preventive Diplomacy and Crisis Management certificate from Columbia University.

Politics 2008 Forum

On Saturday, February 16, 2008 UIC Political Science alumni, students, faculty, and friends came together for our annual Politics Forum.  Civil Liberties, Immigration, and Election Analysis were keynote topics.  To see the program, click here.

Professor Evan McKenzie Studies
Chinese Homeowner Associations With USC Group

UIC Hosts IPSA / ISA Conference

APSA & Political Communication Pre-Conference

Eleven Pols faculty and graduate students delivered papers at the APSA in Chicago, August 30 - September 2, 2007.  Professors Steve Engelmann and Brandon Valeriano served as panel discussants.  Our Political Communication Communication Pre-Conference opening remarks where delivered by Professor Doris Graber and Gadi Wolfsfeld from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and closing remarks by Professor Kevin Barnhurst.  Twelve presentations, tours of UIC's Electronic Visualization Lab and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) labs made for a fast paced afternoon.  The following UIC Political Scientists gave papers at the ASPA Conference:

Seung-Whan Choi, Veto Players, Democracy, and Militarized Interstate Disputes
John French, Making Society Work: Civil Society and Idenity in Weak States
Doris Graber, Wartime Torture Coverage: Problems and Solutions
Yoram Haftel, Action Speaks Louder than Words: Variation in Regional
  Integration Arrangements and Violent Conflict
Greg Holyk, Follow the Leader? Explaining the General Public-Leader Divide in
  Support for Multilateralism
Evan McKenzie, Private Cities, Parallel State, or Just More Government? An
  Assessment of Recent Developments in the Relationship Between Public and
  Private Local Government
Norma Moruzzi, Mutual Lessons of Destruction: Imperialism in Hannah Arendt's
  The Origins of Totalitarianism
Elizabeth O'Shaughnessy, Laboratories of Deliberation? State Bipartisanship in
  Dealing with Congress
Brandon Valeriano, Becoming Enduring Internal Rivalries in Africa: Territoriality and Warlord Politics

Ching-Jyuhn Luor, Ph.D Class of 1995 Visits UIC

Ching-Jyuhn Luor a.k.a. "Andy Luor" made a summer trip to visit his alma mater and catch up with his former professors.  Luor, now an Associate Professor at National Taipei University in Taiwan was accompanied by his wife Shu-Fen and son Austin.  Shu-Fen also has a UIC Ph.D. in Sociology.  They are pictured with UIC's Professor Barry Rundquist.

Graber Wins Nevitt Sanford Award

Professor Doris Graber has received the Nevitt Sanford Award for professional contributions to professional psychology.  This award is given yearly to someone deemed by the Lasswell/Sanford Committee to be 1. engaged in the practical application of political psychological principles, or 2. creating knowledge that is accessible and used by practitioners to make a positive difference in the way politics is carried out.  The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology on July 4-7, 2007 in Portland, Oregon.

Shannon Nelson Accepted to Summer Internship Program at NORC

"Urban and Suburban Landscapes in a Changing Global Society."
Illinois Political Science Association and Illinois Sociological Association
Fall 2007 Joint Annual Conference
University of Illinois at Chicago
October 26-27, 2007

This year's annual meetings of the state sociological and political science associations will be together at UIC in Chicago. The theme of the joint conference is "Urban and Suburban Landscapes in a Changing Global Society." In recent years it has become apparent that the urban/suburban dichotomy that once described metropolitan areas is becoming less appropriate. Demographic data now confirm that descriptions previously employed to define and distinguish urban and suburban communities are inaccurate. Past characterizations emphasized differences in social composition, political identity and economic function of cities and suburbs. Greater interdependence and similarities now exists between these previously isolated settings. Social problems which used to be exclusively attributed to urban communities have become key challenges facing suburban municipalities just as an increasing number of higher income people residing in central cities are challenging their governments. Housing, job retention, transportation, crime, pollution and other environmental concerns, education, and community and economic development have taken center stage in civic efforts across metropolitan areas.

What explains these changes in metropolitan areas? Are they primarily due to local social and political conditions? To what extent are metropolitan changes related to the changing global economy? The upcoming joint IPSA/ISA Conference on October 26-27, 2007 will bring Illinois political scientists and sociologists together to address these and other questions. Papers on other topics in both disciplines are welcome in addition to those for thematic panels. Panels appropriate for their presentation will be constructed once paper proposals are received.

Please submit presentation abstracts, panel proposals, and other suggestions to Professor Barry Rundquist (IPSA) or Professor Costas Spirou (ISA). As always, contributions in all academic areas of our professions are encouraged. The submission deadline is September 1, 2007.

Flurry of Spring Conferences

UIC Politics 2007 Forum, March 10, 2007

UIC Urban Scholars Symposium, April 10-11, 2007

Midwest Political Science Association, April 12-15, 2007

UIC Richard J. Daley Urban Forum, May 2, 2007

Graber Receives NCA Distinguished Scholar Award

Professor Doris Graber has received the National Communication Association Award for lifetime of scholarly achievement.  Supported by the Mark L. Knapp Distinguished Scholar Fund, the award was established in 1991 and honors those who have made at least 20 years of showcase scholarly contributions to the profession.  Awardees design the Distinguished Scholars Program for the upcoming NCA Convention that will be held in November 15-18, 2007 in Chicago.

Graber Keynote Panelist At Portuguese Media Conference

Professor Doris Graber joined Professors Kees Brants of the University of Amsterdam and João Pissarra Esteves of the New University of Lisbson to open the Second International Seminar on Media, Journal, and Democracy in Lisbon, Portugal on November 13th and 14th.  The conference explored the media's role in elections, party congresses, the final years of a governing coalition, and on public opinion. Graber kicked off the discussion with an overview of the challenges facing political communication scholars who are just beginning to explore new thematic areas, like blog messages and the unexpected payoffs of soft news and entertainment for learning about politics. She also surveyed the newest research tools for content analysis, interview production, and psycho-physiological scanning. Kees Brants followed with a critical look at the charge that political journalists are prophets of gloom and doom who make politics seem like a cesspool from which citizens recoil. He concluded that the charges are vastly overdrawn, especially as concerns European journalism. The English language portion of the session ended with João Pissarra Esteves'  very favorable comments in Portuguese about the thrust  of the opening papers.