Jody Baumgartner

We made it – another semester of classes finished. All that’s left now are exams… GOOD LUCK!

Dr. Sharon Paynter, assistant vice chancellor for economic and community engagement, was one of 28 members named to the board during APLU’s 134th annual meeting. Paynter serves as the vice chairperson for community engagement on the APLU’s Commission of Economic and Community Engagement.

The APLU board of directors provides oversight and direction for the organization’s work. Board members work to foster student success and research and innovation at higher education institutions, while working hand in hand with local communities to solve societal needs.

Full story is here: https://news.ecu.edu/2021/11/26/paynter-named-to-2022-aplu-board-of-directors/.

Brad Lockerbie successfully completed the Quality Matters Applying the QM Rubric course.  This is the first of two courses that will qualify him to be a Quality Matters trainer. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized standard for online course quality assurance.

As the university increases online offerings and continues to expand our online offerings, this training will allow Lockerbie to support faculty in the development and improvement of our online offerings.

HERE ARE 4 OPTIONS – IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF PREFERENCE (in other words, please don’t see any bias in how they are presented!).

College Democrats

a) To promote the policies and candidates of the Democratic Party

b) To educate students on the issues facing our nation, state and city.

c) To promote student involvement in the political process.

d) To take an active role in the state and local Democratic Party.

Contact Information: ecucollegedemocrats@gmail.com

https://engage.ecu.edu/organization/college-democrats-at-ecu

College Republicans

East Carolina University College Republicans is committed to the following:

1) College Republicans is committed to representing the Republican Party on the campus of East Carolina University with decency, honesty, and respect to others. We are committed to furthering the Republican message on this campus.

2) College Republicans is committed to having a positive impact on the ECU campus. We will accomplish this by being well-rounded students devoted to excellence in both our academic and extracurricular activities. We will represent the Republican Party well in the classroom, our Greek organizations, athletic teams, and all other student organizations we are involved with.

3) College Republicans is committed to the personal excellence of our members. Our members are committed to the timeless Republican principles of citizenship, personal responsibility, traditional values, and the fair treatment of all. If you are interested, please request to join and send an email to one of the executive members or contact our social media pages.

Contact Information: Collegerepublicansecu@gmail.com

https://engage.ecu.edu/organization/college-republicans

Turning Point USA

Turning Point USA educates students about the importance of free markets, limited government, and fiscal responsibility. Through non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion, Turning Point USA believes that every young person can be enlightened to true free market values.

Contact Information: tpusa.ecu@gmail.com

https://engage.ecu.edu/organization/turningpointusaateastcarolinauniversity

Young Democratic Socialists of America
YDSA at ECU’s mission is to organize students and young people in order to play a helpful and principled role in the movement for social justice through education and direct action. We view this endeavor as one that requires grassroots organization and mutual aid. We strive as hard as we can to do these things in a manner which is both highly participatory and personally liberating, inviting members to bring forth their own ideas and viewpoints in order to adapt to the needs of our communities and the material conditions which they exist within.

Within and throughout this struggle, we will articulate and defend the idea that the full extent of viable, meaningful human liberation is impossible to achieve under capitalism, as such a degree of liberty seeks social change that extends democracy into all aspects of life: social, political, and economic; not just the ballot box. This expansion of human liberty and well-being is the struggle for democratic socialism. We view this outcome as not only desirable, but ultimately necessary. Our vision of socialism is profoundly democratic, feminist, and anti‐racist.

Contact Information: ecuyds@gmail.com

https://engage.ecu.edu/organization/ydsa

Recent reporting by The Onion and several lesser media outlets finds growing tensions between President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, continuing a historical trend of the nation’s leader often being at odds with their second-in-command. The Onion looks at the most contentious relationships between a president and vice president in U.S. history.

John F. Kennedy / Lyndon B. Johnson: Though publicly cordial, Johnson was humiliated by JFK’s frequent taunts that he didn’t have the guts to arrange the assassination of a president in his home state and be sworn into office by a family friend in a hurried transfer of power.

Ronald Reagan / George H.W. Bush: Frequently got into heated debates over who harbored more contempt for the nation’s poor.

Bill Clinton / Al Gore: A simple disagreement about the function of White House interns got between these once close friends.

Dick Cheney / George W. Bush: It was an open secret that President Cheney had little respect for his running mate.

Millard Fillmore: The thirteenth president didn’t have a VP but makes the list because he was racked with self-hatred.

James Polk / George Dallas: Polk was the messy one and Dallas was the neat freak.

George H.W. Bush / Dan Quayle: Disastrous wife-swapping experiment.

John Adams / Thomas Jefferson: One of them shot the other, or was that, maybe that was, no, yeah, one of them shot the other one.

From: https://www.theonion.com/the-most-contentious-president-vice-president-relations-1848070021

Earlier this month, Administrative/Presiding Judge Ron Cable swore-in new attorney Troy Nance, who also happens serve on Judge Cable’s team! Attorney Nance graduated from East Carolina University and The University of Akron School of Law and recently passed the Ohio Bar Exam. With this accomplishment, Nance was promoted from Law Clerk to Judicial Attorney!

Congratulations, Troy!

We hope you enjoy this day, taking the opportunity to gather with loved ones in the spirit of gratitude for life’s many blessings.

In addition, it’s nice to break for a few days in order to recharge for the end-of-semester push.

Finally, safe travels for those who are travelling.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving from the Department of Political Science.

Last week Dr. Baumgartner was one of the experts on the vice presidency interviewed for a lengthy piece in “USA Today” on the vice presidency of Kamala Harris. See the story (which was picked up by Yahoo News) at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/vice-presidents-just-dont-break-150004001.html.

ATTN ALL POLS MAJORS: ECU has a great new tool for finding scholarships and applying for them. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly encourage you to go to the ECU website link below and fill out the “General Scholarship Application”.  This allows you to fill out ONE scholarship application, and the software will alert you when there is an “auto-match” with an existing scholarship.  You can also search for special scholarship by your discipline or through key words, like “study abroad”.

If you have further scholarship related questions, please e-mail: scholarships@ecu.edu

More information can be found at: https://www.northcarolina.edu/current-students/presidential-scholars/