Dr. Hannah Kassab, our newest faculty member, was nominated by two of his students for the ECU Honored Instructor Award. Congratulations – nice job Dr. Kassab!

Dr. Olga Smirnova was invited as a speaker at the North Carolina Economic Development Association Emerging Executives Forum conducted February 17-18. The forum participants requested a rare topic for an applied profession: importance of theories. Knowing economic development theories can help in devising economic development strategies. Other panelists included Jonathan Morgan (School of Government, UNC) and Crystal Morphis (Creative Economic Development Consulting, LLC). Dr. Smirnova presentation focused on the economic base theory.
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Late night talk show hosts are not letting up on jokes about the president just because Donald Trump is no longer in office.

Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight Show” mentioned Biden’s stumble on the stairs of Air Force One – more than once. For example, on March 23, he quipped: “This next poll asks, ‘What is the worst trip you’ve ever taken? 50% said a family trip, 49% said a work retreat, and President Biden said ‘Walking up the stairs of Air Force One.”

Stephen Colbert made a joke about Biden’s fall in his monologue on March 22: “Biden promised 100 million shots in 100 days. Well, last week he fulfilled that goal in 58 days. Our new president is on a roll, baby! Nothing can stop him now,” Colbert said. “Except stairs.”

A new study by Bruce Sacerdote, Ranjan Sehgal, and Molly Cook, shows that in the US, news coverage of Covid-19 was overwhelmingly negative – to the point of all but ignoring positive developments.

See: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28110/w28110.pdf

Abstract: “We analyze the tone of COVID-19 related English-language news articles written since January 1, 2020. Ninety one percent of stories by U.S. major media outlets are negative in tone versus fifty four percent for non-U.S. major sources and sixty five percent for scientific journals. The negativity of the U.S. major media is notable even in areas with positive scientific developments including school re-openings and vaccine trials. Media negativity is unresponsive to changing trends in new COVID-19 cases or the political leanings of the audience. U.S. major media readers strongly prefer negative stories about COVID-19, and negative stories in general. Stories of increasing COVID-19 cases outnumber stories of decreasing cases by a factor of 5.5 even during periods when new cases are declining. Among U.S. major media outlets, stories discussing President Donald Trump and hydroxychloroquine are more numerous than all stories combined that cover companies and individual researchers working on COVID-19 vaccines.”

Emily Cervarich graduated from East Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a minor in Communication. She joined WNCT in April of 2020 as a Digital Reporter. She had previously worked at the station as an intern at the station during the summer of 2019.

She found her passion for reporting during her college career while watching different news entities for her political classes. Recognizing how differently and uniquely the same story could be told was fascinating.

After living in Greenville for the past 5 years, Emily is excited to tell the stories of the people and places she’s grown to love so much.

For more, see: https://www.wnct.com/author/emily-cervarich/

You are invited to join a Virtual Election Cybersecurity Workshop for five states, KY, NC, TN, VA, and WV on Thursday, April 22nd from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.

Cybersecurity threats are evolving and disinformation tools are changing, so our workshop presentations have been updated for 2021. In addition, we will include presentations on new security resources available from government and industry. Attached is a one-pager that briefly describes our initiative and the invitation flyer. You can register either by clicking “Info & RSVP” on the flyer or via this link:

https://uscregional.eventbrite.com

This initiative is independent and nonpartisan, supported by a generous grant from Google. Speakers will include Gary Pruitt, President and CEO of the Associated Press, our national media partner.

For your convenience and safety, this workshop will be virtual. For the best possible experience, we suggest using Zoom. If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, please visit the Zoom Help Center prior to our event at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200101697-Getting-Started

You will receive the Zoom meeting ID and password upon RSVP.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, April 22nd!

Thank you.

Best,

Shelby Bolen

University Liaison, USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative

A program run by the UNC School of Government offers full time paid fellowships in local government for recent graduates.

Dr. Park has taken advantage of the new virtual learning environment to deliver two virtual talks in the past few months. One was a a lecture series at SK University, Seoul, South Korea on Social Sciences and Machine Learning. The second, in February 2021, was a two hour long lecture on how to use computational methods to understand political violence and human rights.

Six votes decided the 2020 U.S. House election for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks won, and she has been seated, but Democratic challenger Rita Hart is asking a congressional committee to investigate the results.

Here are five facts on contested congressional elections:

If interested, read more at: https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/03/31/five_facts_on_contested_elections_770527.html#!

Last Thursday, March 25, Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honor Society, sponsired a debate between the College Democrats, College Republicans, and the Young Democratic Socialists. The event was held virtually (of course?), and was ‘attended’ by approximately 70 people. Participants came extremely well prepared, were well spoken, and questions from the audience suggested a high level of engagement.

Overall the event was a huge success!