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 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.

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.

Dr. Jody Baumgartner has a co-edited (with Dr. Amy Becker) book due out in October titled Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research (Lexington Studies in Political Communication).

From the jacket: “In the past decade various studies have examined how political humor may influence various political attitudes and voting behavior; whether it affects learning, cognition and media literacy, how it might shape political participation; how people process different forms of political humor; and more. This book is devoted to anticipating and addressing where the field of political humor and its effects will move in the next generation of scholarship, exploring the continued evolution of the study of political humor as well as the normative implications of these developments. It includes research accounting for important changes and developments “on the ground” in the political humor landscape. These include the fact that the cadre of late-night television hosts have completely changed in the past 3 years; there are now more late night television choices; and many hosts have become more overtly political in their presentations. Recommended for scholars of communication, media studies, and political science.”

See the book on Amazon!

The paper, “Research Note: Negative News and Late-Night Comedy about Presidential Candidates,” by Jody Baumgartner, Jonathan Morris and S. Robert Lichter has been accepted for publication in Humor.

The paper explores the creation of jokes told on late night talk shows targeted at major party nominees for president from 1992-2008. The working assumption is that the number of jokes told about candidates are related to variations in polling numbers, mainstream media coverage, and party identification of the candidates. Results show a positive relationship between the number of jokes told at a candidate’s expense and the amount of negative news coverage about the candidate. In addition, Republicans are targeted with more frequency than Democrats. Results suggest that favorability ratings and whether or not a presidential candidate is an incumbent has no effect on the number of jokes targeting a candidate.

Dr. Magda Giurcanu took 7 ECU students to Prague for the first study abroad program that the Political Science department has ever offered. The experience allowed students the opportunity to enroll into two courses, one taught by an ECU instructor and one course of their choice at the Anglo-American University in Prague. They spent 6 weeks in Prague (June 18 to July 27).

The program started with students attending Prague European Summit, a major 2-day event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Czech Government. Students were able to interact with international thinkers, political analysts focused on the politics of Czech Republic, Eastern Europe, and the EU, as well ask key politicians from the area, the EU, and even US.

Among attendees and presenters we listened to the Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Andrej Babis, the Czech European Union Commissioner, Vera Jourova, as well as Wess Mitchell, the US Department of State Assistant Secretary for European Affairs. Several members of the European Parliament were also present. The audience was international, from all EU member states and the US.

More news about the program will follow….

Olga Smirnova was re-elected for another term on the American Society for Public Administration Section on Transportation Policy and Administration. The section is devoted to transportation research in public administration.

See: https://www.aspa-stpa.org/home

Dr. Peter Francia reports that the Center for Survey Research is preparing to release its inaugural report from its new “Life, Liberty, and Happiness” project.

See https://surveyresearch.ecu.edu/lifelibertyhappiness/.

ECU is again hosting the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program. The program consists of a series of eight lectures by academic and professional experts on topics of global significance.

The topic for the April 24th session is “Russia’s Foreign Policy,” with Rick Ericson, Professor, ECU Department of Economics

The Great Decisions Program is the oldest and largest grassroots world affairs educational program of its kind in the country. Established in 1954, it is the flagship program of the Foreign Policy Association, a non-partisan, non-governmental organization. The goal of the Great Decisions program is to discuss, debate, and learn about international affairs, national security and U.S. foreign policy.

PLACE: Rivers West Building, Auditorium 105

TIME: 6:00 – 7:30 P.M.

COST: $10.00, but Students, Faculty & Staff Attend for Free!

April 12-14, 2018 in Charlotte. The students represented the countries of Nigeria and Iraq on the GA Plenary, Economic and Social Council, International Renewable Energy Agency, and the African Development Bank committees. The students performed very well earning some of the highest position paper grades to date. Margaret Matthews, Ray Parker, Andrew McLeer, Kaitlyn Rose, Sorrell Saunders, and Diquan Covington, Aji Njie, and Mariama Abubakri represented Nigeria, and Dustin Younts, Dylan Fulp, Zach Hollopeter, Raequan Purvis, Haley Creef (club President), andSadie Crockett represented Iraq.