Month: September 2018

Dr. Samantha Mosier at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting

In August, Dr. Samantha Mosier presented a co-authored paper at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting in Boston Massachusetts. The paper, “A Moving Target Concept: Citizens, Partisanship, and Defining Sustainability”, examines how the American public defines the term ‘sustainability’ and compares the results against existing theoretical conceptualizations for the term. This research extends Dr. Mosier’s work on the politics and policy of sustainability.

Notes from Dr. Magda Giurcanu’s Summer 2018 Study Abroad in Prague program (Part III)

Dr. Magda Giurcanu’s Summer 2018 Study Abroad in Prague included a visit to the Prague Castle, a complex composition of palaces and ecclesiastical buildings dating back to 10th century. Today, the Prague Castle is also the seat of the Czech President. A distinct week was dedicated to life under communism. To match up with the course theme, they visited the Museum of Communism and the Yalta Bunker, which allowed students to visit diverse scenes and scenarios from everyday life in the 1950s and later decades of communist rule. The two sites showcased the realities of day to day life behind the Iron Curtain, the role of party propaganda, censorship, the role of surveillance, show trials, lack of consumer goods, restricted travel options.

Dr. Brad Lockerbie Joins the Religious Studies Executive Committee at ECU

Dr. Brad Lockerbie has been appointed as an affiliate member of the Religious Studies Executive Committee at ECU. Among other things the Religious Studies program serves to instruct students in the academic study of religion and to show the relationships between religion and public policy. Lockerbie teaches the political science department’s Religion and American Politics class, as well as having published “Race and Religion: Voting Behavior and Political Attitudes” in Social Science Quarterly and having presented several papers on the topic at various academic conferences.

Study Abroad in Prague, 2018 with Dr. Magda Giurcanu: Further Reflections

One of the highlights of the 2018 Study Abroad program in Prague this summer, led by Dr. was the visit to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the American Center of the US Embassy in Prague. The opportunity of interacting with foreign journalists at Radio Free Europe and Foreign Service officers (at the embassy) allowed them to think of possible future career opportunities that they may engage in upon graduation.  At Radio Free Europe they visited the News Room and were able to observe several country teams at work. They were also provided with a brief overview of the role of Radio Free Europe during the Cold War and the role played by this American news agency in providing uncensored information to citizens behind the Iron Curtain. Finally, they spent about one hour discussing the media realities in Russia with a senior Russian journalist, Irina Langunina.