ISSUE 2 • 2020-2021 Political Science Moot Court Faculty and Staff This past fall four students from POLS 215/315 Moot Court (Patrick Elliot, Peyton Hall, Danielle Stewart, and Tyler Walker) competed at Dr. Michael Morgan Associate Professor the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament at the Regent University School [email protected] of Law. Due to the pandemic, all moot court tournaments this year 740-376-4660 were held virtually over Zoom. The Mid-Atlantic regional tournament Thomas 307 attracted a large number of schools including teams from the University Focus on international of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, the College of relations, comparative William and Mary, Clemson University, Duke University, the University of politics, and research methods Virginia, etc., and was won by a team from Regent University. The team of Patrick Elliott and Tyler Walker competed successfully through the Dr. Mark Schaefer open rounds on Friday November 6, making it to the elimination rounds Chair, Professor on the second day of the tournament, Saturday November 7, where they [email protected] lost to a strong team from Patrick Henry College. 740-376-4801 Thomas 314 Focus on U.S. and This past fall moot court students worked on the hypothetical case international politics provided by the American Moot Court Association, DeNolf v. Knerr. The case involved a wedding planner who refused to serve a same sex Dr. Mike Tager couple, thus violating the city’s public accommodations law, and who then Professor lost a city contract after contributing financially to state designated (anti- [email protected] LGBT) hate groups. DeNolf sued the city of Knerr for separately violating 740-376-4898 Thomas 308 his freedom of speech and association rights under the First Amendment. Focus on U.S. and Based on actual case law, students developed appellate legal arguments comparative politics and for both parties in the litigation. political theory Ms. Amy Williams Notable Student Activities Administrative Coordinator Last fall Johannah James served as the student worker for the 2020 Election [email protected] Working Group under the auspices of the McDonough Leadership Program. The 740-376-4633 nonpartisan group’s aim is to increase awareness and stimulate participation by Thomas 122 students in elections. For more information, please contact Johannah James or . Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi Maribeth Saleem-Tanner Director of the China Institute, Beijing Office [email protected] Model United Nations 740-376-4921 The MC Model United Nations club is open to all students interested in Thomas 105 learning more about global issues by attending simulated UN sessions where students role play diplomats from different countries. Right now the club is on hiatus as we await the return of in-person Model UN conferences after the pandemic subsides. We anticipate attending a Have items of interest to the political science community conference in the fall of 2021, with the one credit Model UN prep course at MC? Please let Dr. Tager POLS 135 being offered that semester. Please contactMaddie Leers, or know. This newsletter is published twice a year, or as any Political Science professor, for more information. the news warrants. 1 ISSUE 2 • 2020-2021 Political Science Capstone In POLS 420, senior Political Science students worked on original research projects using methods and the Stata software they learned to use in POLS 320, Research Methods, the previous spring. All the research projects were supervised by Dr. Morgan, the instructor of POLS 420. Please look for research presentations from these students during All Scholars Week, April 19-23. Patrick Elliot – “Social Media and Civil Unrest” – An investigation of how the growth of social media influences the level of civil unrest using cross-national data from 1990-2018. Bryce Gandee – “Availability of Hospital Beds and the Effect on Smoking Rate in West Virginia” – An investigation of the relationship between access to healthcare facilities and smoking rates in West Virginia using county-level data from 2017. Christian Hopp – “Trump, Twitter, and Markets” – An investigation of how the volume of President Trump’s tweets influence the stock market using daily data from October 2016-September 2020. Kathyrn McIlroy – “How Do Adoption Trends Impact Juvenile Crime Rates Across the United States of America?” – An investigation of how adoption trends impact juvenile crime rates across the United States using state-level data from 2000-2016. Anna Oster – “Per-Pupil Spending and Its Effects on Education Attainment” – An investigation of how per-pupil spending by state affects graduation rates using state-level data from 2000-2018. Chandler Rabatin – “Violent Crime and Soaring Sales: The Gun and Crime Connection” – An investigation of how the prevalence of violent crime influences the number of firearm sales in the United States using state-level data from 1998-2020. Max Turner – “Press Freedom and State Stability” – An investigation of how the degree of media freedom influence a state’s stability using cross-national data from 2013-2017. Internships Faculty Activities Students can participate in internships locally Dr. Morgan has been working on a research project during the fall and spring semesters, or farther with Dr. Daniel S. Morey (University of Kentucky) away during the summer. Last fall Trent entitled “Peacekeeping Coalitions: Learning to Fight Anthony interned at the U.S. Bureau of the Together.” United Nations peacekeeping operations Fiscal Service in Parkersburg WV, working (PKOs) have ambitious goals, and lacking an in the Employment Services Branch. Patrick independent standing force, rely on member states Elliott interned at the Marietta Municipal to volunteer personnel for these interventions. Dr. Court with Judge Janet Dyar-Welch and Morgan and his co-author hypothesize that the Court Administrator Jason Hamilton. Also in ability of peacekeepers to achieve mandated goals the fall, Anna Oster interned in the Marietta will be partially determined by the ability of different Mayor’s Office, doing a variety of tasks for national contingents to overcome coordination Mayor Schlicher and his administration, problems and operate as a cohesive single force. and Chandler Rabatin interned with the Using monthly data of UN peacekeeping operations federal Census Bureau as an enumerator in from 1990-2018, they have found that as the level Wood County West Virginia. Please contact of shared experience within a coalition increases, any Political Science professor for further civilian fatalities occur at a significantly lower rate. information about Political Science internships. Their work is under review at an academic journal. 2 Political Science Happenings Political Science Alumni News Pre-Law Christian Hopp ’20 is employed at and processes about 20,000 cases Considering law school Kimball Midwest in Columbus, Ohio as a year. She previously worked in the after Marietta? If so, a Compliance Data Analyst. He en- Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office, please see the MC sures suppliers send the proper infor- and received her JD from the Moritz Pre-Law advisor mation and works on other processes College of Law at The Ohio State Uni- Dr. to improve efficiency. versity. Schaefer. He can help Anthony Jones ’19 entered the Uni- Cody Thomas ’10 is a Compliance you navigate the pre-law versity of Akron School of Law last fall. Data Analyst at Nations Lending, a process whether you Maria Stickrath ’17 graduated from large home mortgage company based are a senior preparing the College of William and Mary Law in the Cleveland, Ohio area. for the LSAT or a first School last spring, passed the bar Xiuye Zhao (Tony) ’10 recently co-au- exam, and is working as a Law Clerk thored an article titled “America’s year student wondering in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court this Governors and Mayors Have a Stake in where to begin. year. US-China Relations.” He is Director for Sean Kuhn ’15 is the Lead Product Asia Operations of the State Legislative Analyst at Root Insurance in Colum- Leaders Foundation, a nonpartisan, Washington bus, Ohio. He previously received an nonprofit organization dedicated to pro- MA in Applied Economics from The fessional development for current and Ohio State University. He double ma- future U.S. state legislative leaders. Semester jored in economics at Marietta College. Tian Wu (Teresa) ’09 is Director of Interested in studying Lauren Knight ’13 was elected Pros- Talent & Operations, and Chief of at American University ecutor of Harrison County, Ohio last Staff at Landing AI, a company based for a semester and November after defeating her Demo- in Palo Alto CA that provides artificial getting an internship cratic opponent by more than a two to intelligence platforms and programs in Washington DC? one margin. Quoted in the Steubenville to a variety of clients. She was a PhD Herald Star, she said after her victory student in International Political Econ- Please contact Dr. “We ran a campaign on the issues be- omy at the University of California at Tager for more ing presented to the people of Harrison Santa Barbara before transitioning into information about the County and how I plan to help fix those a career in Silicon Valley. She was a Washington Semester issues… I look forward to being able founding member of this company that Program (WSP) to serve the people of Harrison County started in 2017. and making sure the job is done well.” Sotiria Anagnostou ’08 is a Sustain- and see also www. She had previously served as an assis- ability Manager at Ingevity, a specialty american.edu/spexs/ tant prosecutor in Harrison County, and chemical and performance materials washingtonsemester/. defeated the incumbent county prose- company based in South Carolina. cutor in the Republican primary elec- She previously worked as a Sustain- tion last spring. She received a JD from ability Analyst for Whirlpool Corpora- the University of Akron School of Law. tion.