Hugh Lee published a two-part series entitled, “The Republican Tax Plan: ‘Big, Beautiful Christmas Present’ or Significant Blow to the Elderly” in West Publishing’s Elder Law Advisory. The first publication was “Part One: The Tax Plan’s Benefits” (324, March 2018) and the second (forthcoming) provides the opposing perspective “Part Two: Concerns for the Elderly (325, April 2018). He also presented a lecture to the North Carolina Bar Association’s 23rd Annual Elder and Special Needs Law Symposium at Pinehurst, North Carolina on February 23, 2018 entitled “Advising Clients about Long-Term Care Insurance – Dealing with today’s long-term care insurance market.”

Bonnie Mani presented “Psychological Contracts between Federal Agencies and Employees: A Structural Equation Model” at the annual meeting of the American Society for Public Administration in Denver, Colorado on March 9.

Carmine Scavo was quoted in Barry Yeoman’s article, “Walter Jones, Jr. is a Voice of Dissent in the GOP,” which will appear in the April 2 edition of The Nation. The piece is currently available online at https://www.thenation.com/article/walter-jones-jr-is-a-voice-of-dissent-in-the-gop/.

Olga Smirnova and Master of Public Administration alumna Sapna Varkey published “Using an Engaged Scholarship Symposium to Change Perceptions: Evaluation Results,” in the Journal of Extension.

Magda Giurcanu, with Petia Kostadinova, recently published “Capturing the legislative priorities of transnational Europarties and the European Commission: A Pledge Approach”, in European Union Politics (doi.org/10.1177/1465116518760242). 

Abstract: This article presents a new dataset of pledges made by Europarties during the 2004 and 2009 European Parliament elections, as well as pre-legislative priorities of the European Commission following these elections. The data cover two legislative cycles in the period 2004-2013. The article discusses the rationale behind the development of this dataset, the coding, and the measurement of the variables, and it highlights the applicability of these data.

European Union Politics’ current 5-year Impact Factor is 2.627. The journal ranks in the top quartile of all political science journals indexed in the Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) Social Science Citation Index.

The article can be accessed online at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116518760242 .

Access to the dataset is provided through the Dataverse depository at Harvard University, available at:  https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WUVHJP

Dr. Peter Francia announces the formation of a 15-person Advisory Board for the Center for Survey Research (CSR). The Advisory Board includes prominent local business leaders, government officials, political consultants, distinguished alumni, and nationally recognized academics. As the Director of the CSR, Francia welcomes the board’s experience and respected knowledge as the CSR seeks to grow and expand its services in 2018 and beyond.

What is the government doing to address the issues of terrorism? To find out, come to the next FaculTea. Dr. Alethia Cook, associate professor of political science, will present: “Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Government Actions to Confront a Complex Problem.”

The discussion will be at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, in Joyner Library, room 2409

This event is free and open to the public. It is co-sponosored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and Joyner Library.

Join us in in Hendrix Theater, March 1, from 7-8 p.m., for a discussion about political humor on late night television. With us will be the five leading scholars in the field!

• JODY BAUMGARTNER: Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Political Science at East Carolina University
• JONATHAN MORRIS: Professor of Political Science at East Carolina University
• AMY BECKER: Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Loyola University Maryland
• DANNAGAL YOUNG: Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Delaware and Research Fellow with the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication and University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center
• S. ROBERT LICHTER: Professor of Communication at George Mason University and Director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs

This event is FREE and open to the public.

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 session is “China and America: The New Geopolitical Equation,” with John Tucker, Professor, ECU Department of History.

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!

Drs. Baumgartner & Lockerbie’s “Maybe it is More than a Joke: Satire, Mobilization and Political Participation” will be published in Social Science Quarterly. The analysis examines the relationship between viewing late night political humor and political participation.

The essay shows that viewership of “Late Night with David Letterman,” a simple form of political comedy, seems to be unrelated to political participation. However viewership of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,” considered by most to be genuine political satire, is associated with higher levels of political participation.

The results suggest that advocates of political satire may be correct when they suggest that satire mobilizes viewers to political action.

Have you ever wondered why it’s so difficult for government to balance the budget? Join ECU faculty, students and the greater Greenville community playing the role of lawmaker in this two-hour activity.

• Evaluate and vote on a wide range of budget proposals involving entitlement programs, defense, health care, discretionary spending and taxes
• Participants will work in small groups to debate and even agonize over decisions about where to spend and cutWill your group’s proposals increase or decrease the deficit?
• In the end, these “congressional committees” will present their budget recommendations to Congressman Walter B. Jones (R), who represents North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, who will participate in the activity

This budget exercise was developed and has been presented around the country by the non-partisan, non-profit Concord Coalition

The event will be held February 10, 2018, 10:00am-12:00pm, in the Croatan’s Green Room (ECU Main Campus)

ECU’s Department of Political Science and Citizen U program are the on-campus co-sponsors of this engaging activity

The event is free and open to all, but we do ask that you register so we can plan appropriately. Register at: https://orgsync.com/145987/events/2233095/occurrences/5338110

For questions, you may contact:

Alethia Cook

• 252-328-5869
• cooka@ecu.edu

Marjorie Dufek

• 252-249-2233
• NCConcCoal@gmail.com

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 Jan. 30 session is Media and Foreign Policy, with John Howard, Professor, ECU School of Communications.

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!

ECU Political Science Department Alumni News

Dr. Raymond Williams (POLS BS, 2010) graduated with his PhD in Political Science at the University of Maryland-College Park in December 2017.  His dissertation was entitled “A Simple Twist of the Wrist:  Presidential Usage of Executive Orders and Proclamations in Times of Crisis, 1861-2012.”

Dr. Williams is now working as a research assistant at the Congressional Research Service in Washington, DC.

Congratulations, Dr. Williams, on your accomplishments and we wish you continued success!

If you are an alumnus of the department and have updates or accomplishments you would like to share on our newsfeed, please send the information (with a photo, if you wish) to cooka@ecu.edu.