Month: June 2022

Casey Fleming is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at East Carolina University. He earned a Ph.D. in public administration from North Carolina State University (2016) following ten years of professional service in state and local government. His current research focuses on workplace rules and rule breaking; the effects of bureaucratization on public employee behavior and attitudes; and local government partnerships. His research has been published in public administration journals such as Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, and Public Integrity.

Dr. Fleming teaches classes in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, including Politics and Management in Public Agencies, Human Resource Management in Public Agencies, Management of Nonprofit Organizations, and Productivity in the Public Sector. Outside of researching and teaching, Fleming spends any free time he gets completing home improvement projects, watching college sports, and wrangling his Jack Russell Terriers.

Here is a map of the red state-blue state divide in the US from the 1948 presidential election. Big difference from today, no? (thanks to “Sabato’s Crystal Ball”)

If, for some odd reason, you don’t want to MAJOR in political science, you can always do a political science MINOR. For this you’ll need a total of 18 Credit Hours. It looks like this:

CORE: TWO (2) COURSES. The first is POLS 1010, “National Government.” All students take this. Then. you select one (1) of the following: Either POLS 2010, “Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics,” OR POLS 2020, “Introduction to International Relations.” 

AFTER THIS, you need four (4) POLS electives, at least three (3) of which must be above 2999.

In addition, we have minors in Public Administration, Security Studies, Leadership Studies, International Studies, and Comparative Government & International Relations.

In a cartoon that first appeared in Harper’s Weekly in 1874, Thomas Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion’s skin, intimidating the rest of the animals at the zoo. One of those animals was the elephant that some labeled “The Republican Vote.” That’s all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party. During the 1870s, Nast used the elephant to represent Republicans in additional cartoons, and by 1880 other artists were using the same symbol for the party.

This 1874 Nast cartoon was the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant (cartoon is in the public domain).

(From https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-science-space/were-you-born-democrat-or-republican-historical-and-biological-factors-could-lead-021061)

Ever wonder? “The Democratic Party’s donkey started as an insult during Andrew Jackson’s 1828 presidential campaign, when his political opponents labeled him as a “jackass.”  Known for being stubborn and obstinate, Jackson decided to use the insult in his favor and began putting the strong-willed animal on his election posters. As it turned out, Jackson defeated incumbent John Quincy Adams and became America’s first Democratic president. In the 1870s, influential political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who’s widely considered the father of the modern political cartoon, helped popularize the donkey as a symbol for the entire Democratic Party.”

Cartoon originally published in “Harper’s Weekly”, January 19th 1870 [public domain].

From https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-science-space/were-you-born-democrat-or-republican-historical-and-biological-factors-could-lead-021061.

Dr. H. Daniel Xu is Assistant Professor of Political Science and teaches mostly for the Master of Public Administration Program at ECU. He received his doctorate from Rutgers University and his MPA from Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. As a practitioner, he worked in national/federal and state government in areas of rural development and poverty policy, financial regulation, and public health.

Areas of his research include health policy and rural health services, fiscal policy and revenue systems, intersectoral collaboration, and e-government. His scholarly work has appeared in over a dozen journals and books, such as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Government Financial Management, and Journal of Health and Human Service Administration, Comparative Health Systems, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, and Handbook of Research on Leadership and Advocacy for Children and Families in Rural Poverty.

He enjoys sharing his experiences and perspectives with his students in class. He is married with three daughters and likes cooking, fishing and outdoors.

Dr. Marie Olson Lounsbery (Ph.D. Wayne State University) is a Professor of Political Science and the Undergraduate Director of International Studies. Her research examines the dynamic nature of civil wars, non-violent protest movements, peace processes, and foreign military intervention. Her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Civil Wars, Journal of Global Security Studies, and Terrorism and Political Violence. Olson Lounsbery’s most recent book is entitled Conflict Dynamics: Civil Wars, Armed Actors, and Their Tactics (University of Georgia Press, 2017, with co-author Alethia Cook). She enjoys running, hiking, spending time with family, and watching her son play hockey.

Dr. Brad Lockerbie is a Professor of political science at East Carolina University. His research focuses on voting behavior, religion and American politics, and political forecasting. Aside from publishing his research in many academic outlets, he has been called upon to testify in several state and federal courts on elections. He teaches classes on voting behavior, public opinion, and research methods. Lockerbie received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS!). Dr. Lockerbie is blessed with a wife and son, as well as a 17-year-old wonder dog.

Professor Peter L. Francia is director of the Center for Survey Research and professor of political science at East Carolina University. He earned his Ph.D. (Government and Politics) from the University of Maryland in 2000. His research focuses on campaign finance, interest groups, and public opinion. Francia is author or co-author of two Columbia University Press books, The Financiers of Congressional Elections: Investors, Ideologues, and Intimates and The Future of Organized Labor in American Politics, as well as multiple editions of Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions, published by Rowman & Littlefield. His work extends into polling as well. Along with Jonathan S. Morris, he helped found the ECU Poll, which conducts polls of elections for president, senate, and governor in multiple states across the nation. Outside of work, Francia is a die-hard fan of the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and New York Knicks.

(From History.com): “On June 6, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northern France, commonly known as D-Day.

“By daybreak, 18,000 British and American parachutists were already on the ground. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion. At 6:30 a.m., American troops came ashore at Utah and Omaha beaches.

“But by day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops–Americans, British and Canadians–had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches and were then able to push inland. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.

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