Jody Baumgartner

Dr. Jody Baumgartner recently published a book chapter which provides a comprehensive review of the effects of viewing political humor on various forms of political engagement. “Political Humor and its Effects: A Review Essay” can be found in Jacqueline Benavides, Editor, Humor y Política: Una Perspectiva Transcultural [Humur and Politics: A Cross-cultural Perspective] (Bogotá: Ediciones Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia), pp. 3-39.

Dr. Jonathan Morris recently had students complete a new and innovative project in the course, POLS 3031: “Research Design for Political Science.” Students developed an original questionnaire about issues of concern in Greeneville, NC, and then utilized the call center in the Center for Survey Research to conduct a phone survey of Greenville residents. Students were able to gain first-hand experience with survey design and original data collection.

Sharon Paynter and Willow Jacobson recently published an article that in the Public Personnel Management titled “Verdict Pending: Understanding Leadership Role Identity for North Carolina Judges and Lawyers.”

The article “examines precursors to leadership practice, specifically through the lens of role identity. The assumption explored is that people are unlikely to engage in the hard work of leadership if they do not see that challenge as part of who they are and what they do, especially collaborative or system-level leadership. Role identity is, then, a critical building block in developing a deeper understanding of leadership intentions and actions especially in collaborative settings. Multiple judicial players, termed here “public service lawyers,” are investigated in this single-state case study that examines individuals’ view of their role and primary focus. Factors are examined that contribute to the construction of role perception. Results reveal that leadership training, the position one holds, and motivational orientation all influence the extent to which public service lawyers develop a view of their role that includes a broader system or collaborative orientation.”

See https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0091026018814566.

Drs. Baumgartner and Francia have been asked to revise their Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions (Third Edition, Rowman & Littlefield) for a 4th edition. The book, set to come out in the fall of 2019, has received positive reviews for its accessibility and coverage of a variety of issues related to campaigns and elections.

Dr. Olga Smirnova has published a new book, titled Building a Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure for Long-Term Economic Growth.

The book examines contemporary transportation issues through the lens of various modes of transportation while also focusing on the importance of sustainability, urban planning, and funding. The book covers the topics of sustainability and climate change, public management and planning, financing of transportation infrastructure, and revenue and spending issues facing modern transportation infrastructure. It is ideally designed for engineers, planners, government officials, transportation specialists, legislators, researchers, academicians, students, and industry professionals seeking current research on sustainable transport systems.

Dr. Magda Giurcanu has a forthcoming paper in Party Politics with Petia Kostadinova (University of Illinois at Chicago). The paper is titled: “Europarties’ election pledges and European Commission legislative priorities: An assessment of their overlap”.

Abstract: Utilizing a newly compiled dataset, this article demonstrates that some election pledges made by the transnational Europarties are included among the European Commission legislative priorities issued during the pre-legislative stage. The dataset consists of 597 promises made by four transnational Europarties during the 2004 and 2009 European Parliament elections, and of 698 subsequent Commission intentions. Focusing on the time periods during the Barroso Presidencies, the article’s findings suggest that 1) Decision-making rules in the European Parliament help us understand which transnational pledges are included in Commission priorities; and 2) Promises by two Europarties: the EPP and ELDR, are more likely to be considered by the Commission than those of other parties. Our results speak to scholarly debates on the place of the Europarties in the EU inter-institutional relations and more broadly on the democratic legitimacy of the Union.

Party Politics is a peer-reviewed major, international journal that provides a forum for the analysis of political parties, including their historical development, structure, policy programmes, ideology, electoral and campaign strategies, and their role within the various national and international political systems. The 5-year Impact Factor of Party Politics is 2.41.

• Spend six weeks in a marvelous city — “Magic Prague” has something for everyone!
• Gain 6 credits that fulfill degree requirements in Political Science majors and minors, Security Studies program, and Russian Studies minor
• 3 ECU Political Science credits and 3 transfer credits from the Anglo-American University, our host institution– AAU offers a wide range of courses in the social sciences and humanities
• Excursions to Radio Free Europe, the Museum of Communism, Yalta Bunker, Czech Parliament, the US Embassy, Terezin, Cesky Krumlov, and Konopiste
• Enjoy affordable prices and student discounts in the heart of Europe!

Dr. Armin Krishnan will serve as a panelist at the Army Autonomy and AI Symposium of the Association of the United States Army on November 28 in Detroit on the panel Robotics, Autonomy, and Artificial Intelligence in Small Units.

Col. Robert Scott Barker (Ret.) will facilitate a town hall meeting at the VA Center in Greenville  NC on the 4th of December. The event will take place from 3:00-5:00 and all veterans are welcome to attend to talk with VA leadership about matters of concern.

The following students enrolled in the “Visegrad in the 21 Century” course taught by Dr. Magda Giurcanu, with Dr. Armin Krishnan as guest speaker, presented research posters at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) hosted by NC State University in Raleigh on Nov 10, 2018.

• Andrew Li and Maya Gonzalez, “A comparison of the Involvement of Young People in the Czech Velvet Revolution and Tunisian Arab Spring”
• Spence Hodges, “The Current State of the Refugee Crisis and Immigration into V4 States”
• Alexis Newman and Kaleigh Calloway, “Anti-Communist Movements and Opposition to Communism Prior to 1989”
• Cady Willard and Deyanira Sanchez, “Communist Nostalgia in Hungary and Poland”
• Alexa Braithwaite, “Thersienstadt Labor Camp and the Propaganda behind it”
  Artis Destiny and Brown Wilson, “Russian Online Propaganda”

In addition, George Hendrix, mentored by Dr. Magda Giurcanu, presented the following research paper at the same conference: “The Roles of Social Media in 21 century Populism(s): US Presidential Campaigns”.

ECU’s students participation in the SNCURCS conference was made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Visegrad International Fund.