News and Events

Highlights...

Professor Arthur Lupia delivers the annual Pi Sigma Alpha induction ceremony lecture.

Distinguished Alumnus recipient Professor Harvey Starr elected president of the ISA.

Jacqueline Sievert is the recipent of a Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award.

Brian Hardt is named as the Senese Teaching Assistantship recipient for 2011-12.

Markets and States Speaker F.H. Buckley presented "The Efficient Secret: How America Nearly Adopted a Parliamentary System, and Why It Should Have Done So" in late January.

Daniel Kotlewski wins of the Best Graduate Student Paper Award

Another Highly Productive Year for the Faculty

Joshua Dyck promoted to Associate Professor

Prof. Frank Zagare's new book: The Games of July.

Prof. Claude Welch featured in article in UB Honors Today.

Edward G. Carmines named Department's Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.

Prof. Jason Sorens named recipient of the Lisa Hertel Teaching Award.

Teaching Schedules for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012

Prof. Claude Welch is the Key Note Speaker at the NY State Political Science Meeting

Outstanding Job Placement Rate for our New PhDs

Prof. Charles Lamb named 2011 Strickland Teacher by Middle Tennessee State Univ.

See the full stories and more below ---

Read about the Faculty's Achievements in 2010-11

The faculty's research in recent years has been extensively published in some of the best journals in Political Science. The faculty in 2010-11 published or have forthcoming two books, 28 peer-reviewed journal articles and six book chapters.

These numbers tell only a small part of the story of the faculty’s success in publication. The faculty published or have forthcoming articles in many of the top tier journals in the discipline: American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, British Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Social Science Quarterly, among others. Check out individual faculty webpages for article titles and, in many cases, posted copies of the articles.

The Department's faculty continue to be highly productive. Check out the individual faculty webpages, but here is some news of recent successess:

Prof. Frank Zagare recently published The Games of July: Explaining the Great War with the University of Michigan Press.
Prof. Jason Sorens' book Secessionism: Identity, Interest, and Strategy is forthcoming from McGill-Queen's University Press.
Prof. Jim Campbell published articles in The Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and PS in October 2010.
Prof. Claude Welch's “Extending Enforcement: The Coalition for the International Criminal Court” will appear as the lead article in the November 2011 issue of Human Rights Quarterly.

Welch Makes Key Note Address to NYSPA Meeting

Professor Claude Welch gave the key note address at the 65th Annual Meeting of the New York State Political Science Association meeting held at Niagara University on April 8th and 9th, 2011. The title of the address was "Human Rights in a Time of Major Upheaval."

Campbell Named a UB Distinguished Professor

Professor James Campbell has been named a UB Distinguished Professor. A UB Distinguished Professor is a Full Professor who is "viewed as a leader in his/her field and...(has) achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation through significant contributions to the research/scholarly literature.... The quality of the research/scholarship... must be unambiguous and unequivocal, and must be expected to continue in the future." Four other faculty, all from the School of Medicine, were also designated UB Distinguished Professors this year. Professor Frank Zagare was named a UB Distinguished Professor in 2007 and Professor Claude Welch was named a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in 1989.

Campbell Elected to Chair of the Political Forecasting Group

The Political Forecasting Group, a Related Group of the American Political Science Association, has elected Professor James Campbell for a two year term as its Chair. The group consists of about 200 political scientists with an interest in forecasting various aspects of politics. While election forecasting has received the most attention in the political forecasting area, members of the group are interested in a wide variety of political forecasting subjects from Supreme Court decisions to international conflict. Campbell served as the Vice Chair and Panel Organizer for the group in 2010 and 2011.

Job Placement Success

Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Harvey Palmer, reports that all of our students who were actively on the market landed jobs this year. This is a particularly remarkable achievement given the deep and prolonged recession and the resulting bad job market.

Here's a summary of those placements (and two that were renewed from last year):

Tenure-track positions:

Annika Hagley, Monmouth College (IL)

Fait Muedini, Eckerd College (FL)

Sooh-Rhee Ryu, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Nick Seabrook, University of North Florida

Visiting Assistant Professor positions:

Bryan Dettrey, Oklahoma State University

Meredith Petersheim, Keuka College

Jesse Wasson, Rochester Institute of Technology

Eric Wilk, University of Georgia [2nd year]

Adam Nye, Penn State University [2nd year]

This is a great accomplishment for our graduate program, especially given how competitive the job market was this year, and hopefully something we can build upon going forward. Much credit belongs to Professor Palmer, the faculty who worked closely with these graduate students, and the diligence of these newly minted PhDs. Great news! Great jobs!

Lamb Named Strickland Teacher for 2011

Professor Charles M. Lamb has been named by Middle Tennessee State University as its 2011 Strickland Teacher. As the honored Strickland Teacher, Professor Lamb will teach several classes over two days, hold a teaching workshop, and deliver a general lecture. The visit is planned for the Fall of 2011. Professor Lamb received his undergraduate degree at Middle Tennessee State University.

Department Presentations

The Research Workshop Series:

The Department has a very active series of faculty and graduate student workshop presentations and occasional guest speakers. Professor Greg Johnson and Professor Jim Battista organize the biweekly series. Please visit the Department Workshop page for a list of past workshop topics as well as upcoming workshops.

Graduate Student Professionalization Seminars:

The Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Harvey Palmer, organizes a series of professionalization seminars for graduate students. These address practical issues of becoming a productive and successful political scientist. Topics cover issues from comprehensive exams and dissertations to teaching, conference participation, and research publication.

Invited Speakers

The 2012 Pi Sigma Alpha Lecture and Initiation Ceremony

On Friday, March 30, 2012, Professor Arthur "Skip" Lupia gave the 2012 Pi Sigma Alpha talk in the Department. Professor Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. The title of his talk was "The Trouble with Voters... and Those Who Try to Fix Them: Information and Persuasion in Politicized Environments." New members of the Rho Tau Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha were initiated and recognized at this event and a lunch followed. Professor Josh Dyck, chapter advisor to the Rho Tau Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, and Sue Ann Sciandra organized the event.

Research Workshop Series in Markets and States

On Friday January 27, 2012, Professor F.H. Buckley of George Mason University presented a talk entitled "The Efficient Secret: How America Nearly Adopted a Parliamentary System, and Why It Should Have Done So."

In the Fall 2011 semester, Professor Edward J. Lopez of San Jose State gave a talk entitled "The Problem with the Holdout Problem."

In the Fall 2010 semester, there were three Markets and States lectures:

Professor Guy Whitten of Texas A&M University gave a talk entitled "Buttery Guns and Welfare Hawks: The Politics of Defense Spending in Advanced Industrial Democracies," and Professor Larry Bartels of Princeton University gave a talk on "Public Opinion, Political Institutions, and Policy Congruence: Taxes and Spending in Comparative Perspective."

Professor Michael Ross of UCLA gave a talk in the Markets and States series on March 5, 2010. Professor Ross is the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA. He is also the author of Timber Booms and Institutional Breakdown in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2001). The title of Professor Ross's talk was "Latin America's Missing Oil Wars."

Peter Leeson, professor of economics at George Mason University, delivered the first States and Markets talk of the 2010-11 academic year. On September 12, he presented a talk entitled, "Trial by Battle."

Earlier Political Science Speakers

On November 13, 2009, Professor Robert Grafstein of the University of Georgia presented a talk on "Conflict between Altruitsic Generations: Social Security and the Politics of Aging Societies." He is the author of Choice-Free Rationality (Michigan, 1999).

On February 19, 2009, Professor Peter J. Katzenstein, the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University and current President of the American Political Science Association gave a lecture on "Obamania and Anti-Americanism: The United States and the World in the 21st Century" for UB's undergraduate academies.

On February 20, 2009, Professor Frederick J. Boemke of the University of Iowa talked about his research on "Subverting Administrative Oversight: Campaign Contributions and Nursing Home Inspections" with faculty and graduate students in the Department.

On September 26, 2008, Lee Epstein, the Henry Wade Rogers Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law gave a talk about her research titled “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging.” Professor Epstein's talk was co-sponsored by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy.

Three other speakers were brought to the Department in the 2007-08 year through a grant that Jason Sorens received for a series of research workshops on “Markets and States.” The first speaker in this series was Professor Erik Gartzke of University of California at San Diego who presented his research on “The Relevance of Power in International Relations.” Professor David M. Konisky of the University of Missouri, Columbia followed with a presentation on “Exporting Air Pollution? Regulatory Enforcement and Environmental Free Riding in the United States.” The final speaker in the series this past Spring was Professor Nita Rudra of the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Rudra discussed her research project “Have Governments Gone Too Far?”

Faculty and Student Awards

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD

The Department of Political Science is pleased to announce that it has named Professor Edward G. Carmines as the 2011 recipient of the Department’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. Professor Carmines received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University at Buffalo in 1975.

Professor Carmines joined the faculty of Indiana University that same year and currently is both the Rudy Professor of Political Science and the Warner O. Chapman Professor of Political Science. He served as chair of the IU department from 1990 to 1997. His principal areas of research and teaching are American politics, political behavior, and research methodology.

He is the author of seven books and numerous articles and book chapters. He has also received many honors and awards, including the APSA’s Gladys M. Kammerer Award for best book in American national politics. He received this award twice, once in 1990 for his classic study Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics (co-authored with James Stimson) and again in 1998 for Reaching Beyond Race. He is the only person to have won this prestigious award twice.

In making the award, the Department observed that "Professor Edward G. Carmines is a scholar of great distinction and he has brought great credit to the University at Buffalo and to its Department of Political Science." Professor Carmines is the third recipient of the Department’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Distinguished Alumnus Award winner in 2009 was Professor Harvey Starr of the University of South Carolina. Professor Starr received his BA from UB in 1967. He was recently voted president-elect of the International Studies Association (ISA). The recipient for 2010 was Professor Karen O'Connor of American University. Professor O'Connor received her J.D. from UB in 1977 and her Ph.D. from UB in 1979.

FACULTY AWARDS

2011 Lisa Hertel Award Winner

Jason Sorens has been named by as the winner of the 2011 Lisa Hertel Outstanding Professor Award. The award recipent is selected by the Department's undergraduate students. The announcement of this year's award was made at the Department’s 2010-11 graduation reception.

2010 Plesur Award Winner

Claude E. Welch, Jr. was named as a recipient of the Milton Plesur Award for undergraduate teaching for the 2009-10 academic year. The award is made by the Student Association and recognizes teaching excellence and commitment to students. I understand that there will be an award ceremony on April 7th in the Student Union in Room 210. It will begin at 3:00pm. There will be a small reception following the awards. I hope you will be able to attend.

Palmer Wins Award from Graduate Student Association

The Political Science Graduate Student Association created an award this year for the member of the faculty who exhibited an Exceptional Dedication to the Graduate Program." The graduate students named as the first recipient Professor Harvey Palmer. The announcement from the Graduate Student Association cited Professor Palmer as "fundamentally changing the graduate program in a way which has benefited the entire student population" as well as "spending considerable amounts of time providing feedback for all who seek it" and "being unafraid to challenge students in terms of their attitudes, work ethic and productivity."

Lamb Wins Barker Award

Professor Charles Lamb was awarded the Lucius Barker Award for the best paper presented at the 2008 Midwest Political Science Association conference on a topic investigating race or ethnicity and politics. Professor Lamb's paper was"The Origins of Federal Fair Housing Policy: Racial Segregation, Restrictive Covenants, and the Truman Administration."

GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS

Best Graduate Paper Award, 2010-11

This award is made annually from among papers nominated by members of the faculty. First awarded in 2005, the prize is intended to recognize original research that makes a significant contribution to understanding political phenomena. The 2011 recipient is Daniel Kotlewski. Daniel won the award for his paper entitled, "Interest Groups as Instruments of the Public: Clarity of Responsibility Revisited."

Paul D. Senese Graduate Assistantship

The Department of Political Science is delighted to announce the selection of Nick Nicoletti as the fourth graduate student designated to hold the Paul D. Senese Graduate Assistantship. He holds this designation for the 2010-2011 academic year.

In the fall of 2007, the Department’s faculty approved the naming of a graduate assistantship in honor of Paul D. Senese. Professor Senese was a highly accomplished and very promising scholar in International Politics who joined the Department in 1998 and passed away in the summer of 2006. This graduate assistantship is named in his memory and reflects Paul’s commitment to UB, political science, its graduate students, and the study of international politics.

The Department’s Graduate Committee awards the distinction of the Paul D. Senese Graduate Assistantship annually to a continuing graduate student. The designation of the recipient of this honor is based on the Committee’s collective judgment of the student’s superior performance in the program, with a preference given to students in the international politics field.

As well as the honor of this designation, there are two tangible forms of recognition. First, each annual award winner’s name will be inscribed on a plaque permanently displayed in the Department’s main office. Second, a copy of the The Steps to War: An Empirical Study by Paul D. Senese and John A. Vasquez (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008) is presented to the award recipient.

Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award

Jacqueline Sievert, a graduate student in the Department, has been awarded a Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award for 2012. The University honored the award recipients for their "exceptional competence and dedication as a teacher" in a presentation ceremony and reception in the Center for the Arts. Past graduate students in our department who have won this award include Annika Hagley in 2010 and Fait Muedini in 2009.

UNDERGRADUATE ACHIEVEMENTS & AWARDS

Reception for Graduating Political Science Students of 2011

In the Spring of 2009, the Department began a new tradition of an end-of-year Reception in Honor of Graduating Political Science Students. We continued this in the Spring of 2011 with a reception in 280 Park Hall. The event was a success and well attended by both graduating majors, underclassmen political science majors, friends and faculty. There was a very brief program to recognize graduating students and particular student accomplishments. Hors d’oeuvres were served and a good time was had by all. 135 Political Science graduates were recognized at the University's graduation ceremony. Congratulations to each member of the graduating Class of 2011! We hope that you stay in touch with your professors and fellow students through the website's alumni page.

Outstanding Senior in 2010-11

Sarah Mye was selected by the Department as its outstanding senior.

Robert H. Stern Award

The winner of the Robert H. Stern Award for the Most Outstanding Undergraduate Paper was Katherine Snediker.

Pi Sigma Alpha

Ten new members were inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha, the national honor society for political science. Those new members of Pi Sigma Alpha are: Kathryn Delong, Sharlene Green, Ryan Harrison, Alyssa Jones, Minji Kim, Sarah Mye, Ashley Negrin, Joshua Shack, Katie Stephens, and Jill Wnek. Congratulations!

New Faculty

There many good reasons to be optimistic about the Department’s future. Although the Department continues to be understaffed, it has been quite successful in recruiting high-caliber faculty in recent years and the University’s administration supports bringing the Department's faculty numbers up to 20 faculty as soon as possible. In the last few years, the Department has made a number of excellent faculty hires.

In 2008-09, Dinissa Duvanova, an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics, joined the Department in the Fall of 2008 after having had a productive post-doctoral year at Princeton. Professor Duvanova received her Ph.D. at Ohio State University. Philip Arena, an Assistant Professor of International Relations, also joined the faculty in the Fall of 2008. He received his Ph.D. from Penn State. Both are Professors Duvanova and Arena are scholars of great promise, terrific colleagues and are two more reasons to be optimistic about the future of the Department.

In 2009, the Department added Christina Boyd to its faculty ranks as an Assistant Professor specializing in Public Law and Judicial Politics. Professor Boyd completed her doctorate at Washington University, St. Louis. Professor Boyd is off to a great start, having published an article in the American Journal of Political Science during her first year at UB.

Passing of Professor Emeritus Paul Diesing

It is with sadness that we note that the Department has been notified that Professor Paul Diesing recently passed away. Professor Diesing was a member of the Department's faculty for 24 years. He joined the Department's faculty in the Fall of 1968 and served until his retirement in the Spring of 1992. Professor Diesing also had an apppointment in UB's Department of Philosophy. Professor Diesing was the author of numerous books and articles largely concerning the philosophy of social science. These included Patterns of Discovery in the Social Sciences (Routeledge and Kegan 1972 and Aldine Transaction 2008), Science and Ideology in the Policy Sciences (Aldine Transaction, 1982 and 2005), How Does Social Science Work? Reflections on Practice (Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1992). He and Glenn H. Snyder also co-authored, Conflict Among Nations: Bargaining, Decision Making, and System Structure in International Crises (Princeton University Press, 1977). For more information about Professor Diesing's life click here.

Civic Engagement and Professional Service

In addition to fulfilling their research and teaching commitments and to serving the Department, College, and University in various administrative capacities, a number of the faculty were also active in providing service to the political science profession and to the public more broadly.

Several members of the Department held national leadership positions in professional organizations, on editorial boards of scholarly journals, and in organizing professional meetings and conferences. Professor Campbell serves as President of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Honor Society of Political Science. Professors Battista, Campbell, Eagles, Welch, and Zagare each serve on at least one editorial board of a scholarly journal. Professors Benson, Campbell, Danilovic, and Eagles each served on at least one executive council or advisory council of a national professional organization.

Scholarship involves both the production and the dissemination of knowledge and the dissemination does not stop at the classroom door nor at the professional conference, several political science faculty are very active in sharing their research and ideas with the public through the media and in direct forums and otherwise bringing their professional expertise into the public arena. This is a key aspect of civic engagement. In this vein, Franco Mattei also was interviewed a number of times by both national and local media about nominating campaigns. Claude Welch was called upon by international (Pravda in Bratislava, Slovakia) and local (WBEN, WHAM, WBFO radio, WGRZ, WKBW, and Bridges-TV television, and The Buffalo News) news media for commentary on many international political issues.

Professor Campbell was often called upon by national, international, various local, and Buffalo area news media about his election research and commentary on American elections. These included: National Public Radio, Ohio Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, USA Today, Politico, Newsday, RTT News, the Binghamton Press and Sun-Journal, Yahoo News, CBS Market Watch, the Montreal Gazette, Greensboro News-Record, Mobile Press-Register, Palm Beach Daily News, DC Examiner, as well as a number of other media outlets. He also contributed essays on the election to both The Britannica Blog and to Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball websites. His research on the differences in the economic records of post-WWII presidential parties was the subject of a December 2011 article in Reason magazine.

Professors Halpern and Dyck also brought their political science expertise into the public arena. Professor Steve Halpern used his expertise in law to supervise law school interns and to serve as a pro bono counsel to a number of clients, including the Buffalo Living Wage Commission. Professor Josh Dyck served as volunteer consultant to Voter’s Direct, a non-partisan group focused on voter turnout.

Student News

Political Science Club Panel Discussion

The Political Science Club and the Department co-sponsored a panel discussion on Thursday, March 19th in 280 Park Hall on "Exactly How and Why Do You Become a Professor?" Professors Johnson, Palmer, and Campbell participated on the panel and several other faculty participated from the audience. There was a good turnout and an active discussion among Political Science Club members and faculty. Pizza was provided. These could be related.