University of Arkansas Department of Political Science

We're not JUST popular in Arkansas: Dr. Karen Sebold was recently interviewed by Deutsche Welle in Germany about Gov. Tim Walz and how his selection as VP Kamala Harris' running mate will change the 2024 presidential race. Check it out at the link below!

Kamala Harris picks Minnesota governor Tim Walz as running mate for US 2024 election | DW News Democrats in the US are rallying around Kamala Harris's choice of running mate in her bid to become the next US president. In a post on Instagram, Harris sai...

Curious about what's next for the 2024 election after this weekend's news? Check out this interview with Dr. Sebold from 40/29 News -- Fort Smith & Fayetteville, Arkansas!

UARK professor discusses Biden's exit and Kamala Harris's path forward President Joe Biden's decision to end his reelection campaign raises a lot of questions about the remainder of the election season.

Amazing news for PLSC student Amelia Southern-Uribe.

Congratulations to these two exceptional students!

U of A Students Awarded Prestigious Climate Finance Fellowship Helana Alexander and Amelia Southern-Uribe are among only 20 fellows chosen nationwide for the highly competitive Campus Climate Network's Climate Finance Fellowship.

Congratulations to Professor Heasun Choi, who was named a Connor Faculty Fellow earlier this month!

Fulbright College Announces the 2024 Connor Faculty Fellows The expertise of the 20 faculty chosen as fellows spans the natural sciences, humanities, fine arts and social sciences, and the Connor Fellowship helps each rising academic to further their professional pursuits.

Check out this excellent profile on Public Policy alumnus and president of National Park College, Dr. Wade Derden. Derden used his PUBP experience and degree to advocate for students and raise graduation rates at NPC.

Thank you for your service to students across Arkansas, Dr. Derden!

Alumnus Derden's Public Policy Insights Support Students as New National Park College President The U of A's graduate program in public policy, which offers avenues of study in healthcare, criminal justice, agriculture and environmental policy, enriched Wade Derden's perspective for solving education issues.

Congratulations, Dr. Bayram!

Political Science's Bayram Named a Leader for the International Studies Association A. Burcu Bayram, professor of international relations for the Department of Political Science, has been elected as the vice president and section chair of the International Studies Association.

University of Arkansas School of Law announced today that MPA graduate Samantha Doss was among their 2024 award recipients. Sam received the 2024 Outstanding Academic Achievement Award and the 2024 Bard Rogan Natural Resources award.

Congratulations, Sam! You can read more at the Newswire story below.

School of Law Announces 2024 Graduation Award Recipients Samantha Doss, Brett Callaway and Alexandria Rook recieved the top academic achievement awards, and another 35 were recognized for specific coursework, pro bono service hours and other awards.

Mark your calendars, Professor John C. Davis is giving a talk hosted by the Fayetteville Public Library this Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m.

John C. Davis to Discuss His New Book, 'From Blue to Red: The Rise of the GOP in Arkansas' Davis will give a book talk about From Blue to Red: The Rise of the GOP in Arkansas at 6 p.m. May 15 at the Fayetteville Public Library as part of its U of A Press Author Spotlight Series.

Congratulations to the graduates of the class of 2024!

PLSC alumna Justyce Yuille was selected to serve as the vice chair of the American Bar Association Law Student Division council and regional secretary for the Southwestern Region of the National Black Law Students Association.

Congratulations on these recent accomplishments, Justyce!

U of A School of Law Student Elected to Leadership of Two National Organizations Second-year law student Justyce Yuille was selected to serve as vice chair of the American Bar Association's Law Student Division Council and regional secretary for the National Black Law Students Association.

Dr. Maxwell's selection as a Carnegie fellow is featured on today's Newswire— check it out to read more about her research and what her selection means.

Congratulations, again, Dr. Maxwell!

Carnegie Corporation Selects U of A's Angie Maxwell as 2024 Research Fellow Political scientist Angie Maxwell selected to be part of the prestigious fellowship class tasked with finding solutions to the growing political polarization issue in the U.S.

Congratulations to Professor Angie Maxwell and PLSC alumna Professor Sunshine Hillygus! They've each been named Carnegie Fellows for their contributions to political polarization research.

28 Scholars to Research Political Polarization with Support from Carnegie Corporation of New York | Carnegie Corporation of New York Philanthropic foundation commits $18 million over three years to help find solutions to a national problem

Need something to do on your day off? Check out Dr. Maxwell's interview with Hillary Clinton, "A Conversation with Hillary Rodham Clinton: The Arkansas Years," on the Pryor Center website (See "Video")! Access to this content and more with Senator Clinton is free, and you just might learn something this Reading Day 😎

Hillary Rodham Clinton Interviews Pryor Center interview of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Due to a clerical error, we removed the original post about this fantastic news from PLSC grad student Julie Gallagher back in March. The article is active again, so we're sharing it today to brag about her!

Julie also successfully defended her thesis, will graduate from the MA program next week, and was accepted into the Public Policy Ph.D. program! Congratulations on all of your accomplishments, Julie!

Political Science, African & African American Studies Student Receives $40,000 NSF Grant Graduate student Julie Gallagher has received a $40,000 National Science Foundation internship grant for her efforts in advancing the NSF research of political science assistant professor Najja Baptist.

Congratulations to the 2024 Department of Political Science scholarship and teaching award winners!

Scholarship awardees:
Isabella Thompson
Kyle Morgan
Hank Herzfeld
Meerim Seiitova
Macey Wyler
Grace Fentress (not pictured)
Kori Witt (not pictured)
Reid Pinckard (not pictured)
Emma Rasmussen (not pictured)
Daniel Shi (not pictured)

Teaching awardees:
Najja K. Baptist, Ph.D.
Eric Button, Ph.D.
Zoe Patrick (not pictured)

Senator Pryor was an alumnus of our department who went on to have one of the greatest public service careers imaginable. He was patient, kind, and generous with his time when he returned to teach in our department after he retired from the U.S. Senate. He made the state and the nation better places. We miss you already, Senator Pryor.

U of A Remembers David Pryor, Alumnus, Governor, Trustee and U.S. Senator Pryor was a dual graduate of the U of A and spent more than 30 years in elected office serving the state of Arkansas.

PLSC’s Brianna Small was recognized Thursday at the State & National Awards Reception for her admission into the American Political Science Association’s Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh’s Mobilization and Political Economy Summer Research Program.

She is pictured here with her mentor, Dr. Najja Baptist, and PLSC department chair, Dr. Bill Schreckhise. Congratulations, Brianna!

Professor Patrick A. Stewart partnered with journalism professors from around the country, including from School of Journalism and Strategic Media, University of Arkansas, to author a new study covering the influence of social media on televised debates. You can read more about it at the link below:

New Study Examines Influence of Social Media on Televised Debate Viewing A new paper by a multi-disciplinary team suggests that inclusion of social media visuals on screen undermines the underlying purpose of presidential primary debates.

Journalism/Political Science major Reid Pinckard was featured in Newswire today, telling his story about his journey at the University of Arkansas.

#MyPathToSeniorWalk: Reid Pinckard Is Making a Difference for Survivors of Sexual Violence Reid Pinckard knew he wanted to make a difference in the world by preventing sexual violence. Today, he is a leader of change organizing the Sexual Violence Prevention Association's first student chapter.

Clear your calendars: Dr. Parry is speaking at the Pryor Center at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 11. The event is free and open to the public, so we hope to see you there!

Pryor Center Presents 'Twenty-Five Years of Arkansas Politics' With Janine Parry The Pryor Center will present

This Friday, you can catch PLSC student Charis Morsach in the documentary Girls State on Apple TV+. Morsach features prominently in the film, including as its first speaker.

Congratulations on your feature, Charis! Don't forget to brag about being a movie star in all of your classes 😎

Morasch of Fulbright College Featured in Upcoming Apple Documentary The documentary film followed Charis Marasch and other 2022 delegates attending Missouri Girls State. Now, a U of A first-year student, Marasch got to see the documentary in March.

Some good news to start the week: Dr. Parry was honored by the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center as the February '24 Wally Cordes Chair.

Congratulations, Dr. Parry, and thank you for all you do for our students and our community!

Parry Honored as Cordes Chair Janine Parry, University Professor of political science, was honored by the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center as the February 2024 Wally Cordes Chair.

Congratulations to Political Science major Amelia Southern Uribe for being selected as a finalist for the 2024 Harry S. Truman Scholarship!

https://news.uark.edu/articles/69859/u-of-a-junior-selected-as-truman-finalist?utm_source=arkansas-news&utm_medium=email_2024-03-20&utm_campaign=news_headlines&utm_content=u-of-a-junior-selected-as-truman-finalist&fbclid=IwAR2dEmhvj7MdmwvT5UZi7GK-LzBtlkROWGqipdfHgo37Ti10nI9HJKfJDOM

U of A Junior Selected as Truman Finalist Amelia Southern Uribe of Fayetteville, an honors political science and journalism major, has been selected as a 2024 Harry S. Truman Finalist.

Congratulations to Dr. Najja Baptist, this year's recipient of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists' Anna Julia Cooper Teacher of the Year Award for his excellent teaching, advising, and mentoring!

Do you find yourself thinking about state politics in Arkansas a lot? You're not alone! Check out Professor Davis' book, "From Blue to Red: The Rise of the GOP in Arkansas," available today! Newswire story below for more info:

Pryor Center's John C. Davis Releases New Book on Historic Partisan Shift in Arkansas Drawing from interviews Davis conducted of elected officials, party activists, journalists and other scholars — as well as polling data and other secondary sources — the book provides a comprehensive accounting of the decades-long effort by the GOP in Arkansas from perennial political underdog i...

Professors Jeff Ryan and Erika Almenara will lead an interactive talk on Latin American politics and political culture at noon Monday 02/19. Check out the Newswire article below for more details!

https://news.uark.edu/articles/69470/what-is-happening-in-latin-america-join-the-conversation-monday

Raise your hand if you gasped a little when you saw this story about a poll conducted in part by UArk MA graduate and former instructor Professor Jarred Cuellar 🙋 Great job, Dr. Cuellar! We're taking notes.

Poll shows Garvey and Porter tied for second place in California's Senate race Garvey is struggling to consolidate support from GOP primary voters despite his baseball career.

Not to brag or anything, but our very own department chair, Professor William D. Schreckhise, was recently featured on Short Talks from the Hill. He stopped in to chat about his recent article focusing on political civility; check it out at the link below!

'Can't We All Just Get Along?' The Politics of Civility William Schreckhise, professor of political science, discusses the strong relationship between civility and legislative productivity.

Dr. Baptist stays busy, and he just got a lot busier ☺️ Congratulations, Professor! Take some time to enjoy a break during the snow days, you've earned it!

Najja Baptist Chosen as Director of African and African-American Studies Program An assistant professor of political science, Baptist will direct the 55-year-old program, which allows students already seeking one major to pursue African and African-American Studies as a second major.

Dr. Sebold was featured in the LA Times today, spreading her wisdom on campaign finance as it pertains to the George Santos story. Check out the article below:

George Santos' Ziwe interview shows the promise — and limits — of his Hollywood dreams George Santos has become an even bigger internet star since being expelled from Congress. But he still has those pesky federal criminal charges to worry about.