UPDATES
Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, former postdoctoral research associate at the Boston Area Research Initiative, has joined Boston University as assistant professor of political science.
Roy Block Jr., formerly of the University of Kentucky, has joined the Pennsylvania State University as associate professor of political science and African American studies.
David Broockman, former associate professor of political economy at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, joined the University of California, Berkeley, as an associate professor of political science.
Ryan Brutger has joined the University of California, Berkeley as assistant professor of political science.
Nicholas T. Davis, formerly of Texas A&M University, joined the University of Alabama as assistant professor of political science.
Gamal Gasim, associate professor of Middle East studies and political science at Grand Valley State University, was awarded the Student Senate Faculty Excellence Award.
Scott Gehlbach, formerly professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has joined the University of Chicago as professor of political economy in the Harris School of Public Policy.
Jenn M. Jackson joined the Maxwell School at Syracuse University as assistant professor of political science following the completion of her doctoral work at the University of Chicago.
Desmond Jagmohan, former assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, has joined the University of California, Berkeley, as assistant professor of political science.
Jaclyn Johnson joined the faculty at Centre College as visiting assistant professor of politics following the the completion of her doctoral work at the University of Kentucky.
Gleason Judd joined the faculty at Princeton University as an assistant professor of politics following the completion of his doctoral work at the University of Rochester.
Amanda Kennard, former visiting assistant professor of politics at New York University is now assistant professor of politics at New York University.
Frances Lee, formerly of the University of Maryland, has joined Princeton University as professor of politics and public affairs.
Alexandra Middlewood joined the faculty at Wichita State University as assistant professor of political science following the completion of her doctoral work at the University of Kansas.
Daniel Moskowitz has joined the faculty of the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy as assistant professor of analytical politics.
Jon Taylor has joined the faculty of the University of Texas, San Antonio, as department chair and professor of political science and geography.
Carolyn Warner, former professor of political science at Arizona State University, has joined the University of Nevada, Reno, as department chair and Vail Pittman Professor of Political Science.
John Sides, formerly of George Washington University, joined Vanderbilt University as professor of political science.
Candis Watts Smith, former assistant professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has joined the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University as associate professor of political science and African American Studies.
Yamil Velez, formerly of George Washington University, joined Columbia University as assistant professor of political science.
Andreas Wiedemann joined the faculty of Princeton University as assistant professor of politics and international affairs following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford.
Adam Zelizer, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, is now assistant professor of analytical politics.
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Spotlight
Menlo College Faculty Win Democracy Fund Grant to Expand Women Also Know Stuff Project
The Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation created in 2011, has awarded Menlo College a $50,000 grant to expand the project Women Also Know Stuff, which promotes and publicizes the work of women in political science. Menlo professor of political science Melissa R. Michelson is among the group of women who founded the project in February 2016, and helps to curate content on the project website (womenalsoknowstuff.com) and maintain the group’s Twitter account (@womenalsoknow).
The Democracy Fund grant will help to support a series of on-site workshops held at institutions that are underrepresented at national and regional academic conferences, including historically-black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and community colleges. In doing so, the workshops seek to enable the professional development of women—particularly women of color—who miss out on professional development opportunities at political science conferences.
Gender bias in the discipline hurts women in political science but also the profession and society, because [others] are less likely to learn about and benefit from the expertise of the women whose voices and research are overlooked. Women Also Know Stuff is pushing back against this bias by raising the visibility of women’s expertise.
Of the grant, professor Michelson commented: “Gender bias in the discipline hurts women in political science but also the profession and society, because [others] are less likely to learn about and benefit from the expertise of the women whose voices and research are overlooked. Women Also Know Stuff is pushing back against this bias by raising the visibility of women’s expertise. This funding from the Democracy Fund will further our mission by bringing visibility to the project to more women and providing women participants with tools to empower themselves to raise the visibility of their work.”
Workshops will help attendees promote their work, frame their research to broader audiences, and push back against bias within departments, institutions, and the profession. The first two workshops will be exclusively attended by those who identify as women, but future workshops will include the participation of men to promote the visibility of Women Also Know Stuff.
Adapted from the Menlo College press release.
Barack Obama Foundation Secures Mellon Funding for Presidential Center
The Barack Obama Foundation is among the recipients of this year’s Mellon Foundation grants. The foundation secured a grant of $2.5 million to support the development and curation of the Obama Presidential Center Museum, set to open in Chicago, IL. Unlike previous presidential libraries, the Obama Center will not house a research library, instead digitizing the president’s unclassified documents and making them available on an online platform administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The Mellon grant will specifically help the foundation, a private non-profit, develop its collection for the forthcoming center and museum. It will also support plans for the museum’s inaugural art installations. The center will be built in Jackson Park, an historic area on the south side of Chicago. The museum will house exhibitions detailing the life and service of the Obamas in the context of civil rights, African American history, Chicago, and the broader United States.
Since 1969, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has supported the arts and humanities with more than 16,000 grants totalling $6.85 billion. As part of its mission, the Mellon Foundation recognizes the importance of the humanities, arts, and social sciences in deepening our understanding of the human condition and experience. The Obama Foundation grant is administered by the subprogram for presidential initiatives.
Adapted from the Mellon Foundation grants database and the Obama Center website.
Andrew Martin Named Washington University Chancellor
On October 3, 2019, Andrew D. Martin was inaugurated as the 15th chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. Martin was elected unanimously last year by the university’s Board of Trustees to succeed previous chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.
Martin, who was previously dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan, earned his doctorate in political science from Washington University in 1998. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Washington University Barbara Schaal described Martin as an "eminent political scientist" and welcomed him warmly back to the university.
Adapted from the Washington University press release.
Lee Wins Inaugural Emerging Scholars Global Policy Prize from Perry World House
Melissa M. Lee, assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, was among three scholars to receive the first-ever Emerging Scholars Global Policy Prize from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. Lee joins the University of Southern California’s Stephanie Schwartz and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine’s Lisa Ruth Rand in accepting the $10,000 prize, which is awarded to outstanding essays from emerging scholars made accessible to policy makers.
Lee’s winning essay, “Subversive Statecraft: The New Face of Great Power Conflict,” examines why United States policy makers have been slow to tackle foreign subversion and analyzes how they can respond effectively in the future. Perry World House is working with Lee, Schwartz, and Rand to secure publication in a policy-relevant outlet. This is the first year the Emerging Scholars Global Policy Prize has been given. Perry World House is the University of Pennsylvania’s center for research and scholarship on international exchange, policy engagement, and global outreach.
Adapted from the Perry World House press release.
Russett Receives Marquis Who’s Who Humanitarian Award
Bruce Russett, Dean Acheson Research Professor of International Politics and professor of international and area studies at Yale University, received the Marquis Who’s Who Humanitarian Award, which is conferred upon scholars and researchers whose lifetime work has made a significant global impact on others.
Professor Russett’s impact on the discipline of political science is well-documented. He is the author of 250 published articles and 27 books, the recipient of more than 40 awards, fellowships, and honors, and his scholarship has been ranked as some of the most-cited in political science and the sub-field of international relations.
Before joining the faculty at Yale, professor Russett held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Institut d’Etudes Europeennes, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Richardson Institute for Peace and Conflict Research, and Harvard University, among others.
Since 1899, Marquis Who’s Who has published volumes of reliable and comprehensive biographical data. The humanitarian award recognizes individuals who strive to make a positive impact on their communities and the world through service, scholarship, and research.
Adapted from the Yale University news release.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society Announces Pilot "Key into Public Service" Scholars Program
The Phi Beta Kappa society, a prestigious honor society for students of the liberal arts and sciences, has announced a new undergraduate scholarship program connecting students with opportunities in public service. The society will award scholarships of $5,000 to a cohort of 15–20 rising sophomore, junior, and senior undergraduates with a “demonstrated interest in public sector work.”
Following a Key into Public Service panel and reception on Capitol Hill in June 2019, PBK secretary Frederick M. Lawrence announced that the pilot program would launch in 2020. The scholarship joins a number of prestigious fellowships awarded by the society that recognize achievements in the liberal arts and sciences—although it is the first of these honors to foreground public service.
The selected cohort of scholars will attend a three-day orientation in Washington, DC, in summer 2020, which will provide opportunities for in-person training and mentorship in the domains of active citizenship and public service. The society hopes that the new program will promote young scholars’ participation in civil service.
Applications for the program opened on October 28, 2019, and winners will be announced in spring 2020. Eligible students must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors attending one of Phi Beta Kappa’s 290 chapter campuses, but need not be a member of the society to apply.
Adapted from the Phi Beta Kappa press release
