The Political Science Department is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected programs.
Our department is highly ranked in national surveys, and our award-winning faculty are known for innovative research on the discipline’s most current and important questions.
Our dedication to teaching is also apparent: we are one of the largest majors on campus, with a commitment to excellence in undergraduate instruction.
Seven projects in the College of Letters & Science have received funding to advance the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s commitment to Education Innovation. Educational Innovation is a campus-wide initiative to create innovative approaches to education and research and set the university on the path to greater self-sufficiency. All of the EI projects were chosen based on [...]
Professors, instructors and advisers enlighten, challenge and inspire us. They can shape our opinions, push our work to new heights and spark an interest to learn more about a topic or discipline. In the 2011-12 academic year, the College of Letters & Science asked graduating seniors to nominate faculty or staff members who impacted their [...]
Finalists for dean of the College of Letters & Science will conduct public presentations and question and answer sessions ahead of the end of the semester. As part of formal campus interviews, the sessions will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Gordon Dining and Event Center, 770 W. Dayton St., on the following dates: —Thursday, May [...]
No matter how busy Allan H. “Bud” Selig (BS’56, History and Political Science) gets, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball still makes time for University of Wisconsin-Madison students. Selig, who plans to write his memoirs on campus after his retirement, treasures his trips to Madison — particularly when they involve interacting with undergraduate students, who [...]
Three University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, along with a fourth candidate who taught at UW-Madison for 18 years, have been named finalists for the position of dean of the College of Letters & Science, UW-Madison’s largest academic unit. The new dean will succeed Gary Sandefur, who has led Letters & Science since 2004. Sandefur plans to step [...]
Several graduate programs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters & Science are ranked among the nation’s best in the 2014 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.” “We’re proud of all of our graduate programs and particularly pleased that once again many have been rated so highly,” says Provost Paul [...]
Ben Relles (BA’97, Journalism) is taking his University of Wisconsin-Madison education viral. The founder of one of YouTube’s most viewed channels, “Barely Political,” Relles is transforming the world of online video and digital media. As head of programming strategy at YouTube, Relles instills his Wisconsin values as a leader and innovator, all while helping others bring [...]
Five promising young faculty in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters & Science have been honored with Romnes Faculty Fellowships. The Romnes awards recognize exceptional faculty members who have earned tenure within the last four years. Selected by a Graduate School committee, winners receive an unrestricted $50,000 award for research, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). [...]
The Institute for Research in the Humanities has announced its Resident Fellows and Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity Fellows for 2013-14. The Resident Fellows are: Nan Enstad (History), fall semester; Jordan Zweck (English), fall semester; Karen Britland (English), spring semester; Lauren Kroiz (Art History), spring semester; Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen (History), spring semester; and Ellen Sapega (Spanish and [...]
Compared to President Barack Obama, George Washington had it rough. No executive staff, no modern dental care, and the preferred method of treatment for a throat infection (which killed the nation’s first president) was removing pints of ‘tainted’ blood from the patient. On the other hand: “There were no nuclear weapons, no political parties, and [...]
“After doing this pretty much steadily since the 1960s, you have to remain a cockeyed optimist: expecting you’ll see something at the very least fun, at the very most a life-changing experience. You could even hope to be shattered, though I’ll admit that happens very seldom.” — Richard Schickel (BS’55, Political Science) Richard Schickel has [...]
In forging connections with China, UW-Madison has created an international model for the university. The Innovation Office in Shanghai has opened up new opportunities for students, faculty and leaders in business and government. From the Shanghai Seminar Series to a UW account on Sino Weibo, and from technology transfer to official state visits, Wisconsin and China are closer than [...]
Monumental discoveries were made. Critical projects were finished. Laudable programs were celebrated. And scholars and alumni were remembered in the College of Letters & Science’s 124th year.
These were just some of the markers of 2012 in L&S. Here are some of the moments that made 2012 a memorable year for the College.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig will give the keynote address as a part of Ethics Week, sponsored by the Howard Carver Ethics and Professionalism Program at the Wisconsin School of Business. Selig’s remarks, titled “Perspectives on Ethical Leadership — A View from the Commissioner,” will be from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, [...]
Donald Zillman (BS’66, History, JD’69), Richard Hoffman (BA’65, History), Richard Hays (BS’66, Political Science), and Stuart Grover (BA’66, MA’67, Ph.D.’71, History) made up the 1965 University of Wisconsin-Madison College Bowl team that competed at the national level. They won five straight matches on their way to retiring as undefeated champions! For their great achievement the four, along with [...]
The unthinkable is Scott Straus’ stock-in-trade. The barbarity and righteous conceit that spawns genocide is his research focus, and Straus, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is using his expertise to help agencies throughout the U.S. government better understand the causes of genocide and ways to prevent atrocity around the globe. “It was an [...]
The rise of social media in China will be the focus of an upcoming panel to be held in conjunction with the Sixth Annual China Town Hall Oct. 29. Wisconsin China Initiative Director and Professor of Chinese literature and culture Nicole Huang will serve as the moderator for “Information Revolution: Social Media in China,” from [...]
A group of UW-Madison students and faculty have received 2012-13 grants from the Fulbright Program, the country’s flagship program for international educational exchange. Of the 21 recipients from UW-Madison, all but three are from the College of Letters & Science. Thirteen L&S students have won fellowships from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program; three graduate students in L&S [...]
Presented with the opportunity to hire six new professors, John Coleman, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, faced “a little bit of a puzzle.” The new faculty lines allowed him to fill teaching gaps in one of the country’s top political science departments. To put competitive offers on the [...]
To mark Constitution Day in the United States, the American Democracy Forum, housed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Political Science, will hold a faculty panel discussion on constitutional issues in U.S. elections. The discussion, which is open to the public, will take place Monday, Sept. 17 from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Wisconsin Idea [...]
Margaret “Maggie” Peters brings a unique perspective to her position as Assistant Professor of Political Science. Before earning her master’s degree in economics and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University, she worked as a consultant for the management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint (now part of Deloitte). The job took her to Doha, [...]
The College of Letters & Science has more than 800 faculty, a group that includes brilliant researchers, noteworthy authors, and inspiring teachers. This year, the College welcomes more than 50 new faculty members. From Classics to Chemistry and from English to Economics, departments across L&S recruited emerging experts who bring impressive breadth and depth of [...]
What drives some people to succumb to oppression while others fight back? Is it culture, willpower, luck or experience? In a new study of Jewish resistance to Nazi genocide in Poland and the Soviet Union, Evgeny Finkel roots the answer in experience. Finkel, who just received a Ph.D. in political science at the University of [...]
Political Science professor Byron Shafer is attending the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions – and he’ll be blogging daily. Shafer, who has been at UW-Madison since 2001, has attended every national convention as an observer since 1980. His 1988 book Bifurcated Politics: Evolution and Reform in the National Party Convention is considered the definitive [...]
The College of Letters & Science will be represented at the London Olympics, starting this weekend. Mohammed Ahmed, a junior majoring in political science, will compete for Canada in the men’s 10,000 meters on Saturday. The race, which also features former Badgers distance star Matt Tegenkamp, is at 3:15 p.m. Central time and will be [...]
John Zumbrunnen is the 2012 recipient of the Meiklejohn-Powell Fellowship, given to the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty member who proposes the best new course for the Integrated Liberal Studies program. An associate professor of political science, Zumbrunnen’s broad and interdisciplinary interests and research make him an outstanding candidate for ILS teaching. The new course, “Educating [...]
A University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist has received the inaugural Sussex International Theory Prize for innovative research in international relations. Helen M. Kinsella, an associate professor of political science, was recognized for her book, “The Image Before the Weapon: A Critical History of the Distinction Between Combatant and Civilian,” published by Cornell University Press last [...]
The 2008 presidential race was one of the most watched, discussed and analyzed campaigns in U.S. history, and when it came to the vice presidential candidates, voters heard a great deal about Sarah Palin. Much more, in fact, than they heard about her opponent, Joe Biden. News coverage of Palin, then the Republican governor of [...]
Jamie Stark won a $2,000 prize funded by L&S alumnus Sidney Iwanter for his senior thesis.
A series of online courses geared for members of the military to learn more about foreign policy and international relations is testing the geographic limits of one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s guiding principles. In this case, the boundaries of the university have extended to a student stationed on an aircraft carrier at sea, as [...]
As former mayor of Madison and a graduate of UW-Madison, Dave Cieslewicz has seen both the city and the university go through many transformations. Years after graduating, he is back in historic Science Hall this spring to teach the next generation of city planners. With ancient wooden desks covered in graffiti, the lecture hall looks [...]
Professor John Witte tends to learn a subject as he goes along. From industrial relations to education policy, the La Follette School political scientist accepts a challenge and becomes an expert. Kazakhstan is next on Witte’s agenda. After he retires this summer, Witte will head for Astana and become dean of the new School for [...]
The University of Wisconsin recently sat down for a short conversation with Anna Therese Day, independent journalist and a BA’10 graduate of Political Science. Day has been covering the Middle East and the Arab Spring as an independent journalist. You can follow Anna on Twitter at @AnnaofArabia.
The College of Letters & Science is proud to announce that eight L&S faculty members received 2012 Romnes Fellowships. The Romnes awards recognize exceptional faculty members who have earned tenure within the last four years. Selected by a Graduate School committee, winners receive an unrestricted $50,000 award for research, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research [...]
The College of Letters & Science is proud to announce that seven L&S faculty members received 2012 Distinguished Teaching Awards presented by the Wisconsin Alumni Association and the Secretary of the Faculty. The 2012 Recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Awards in the College of Letters & Science are: Jeffrey Beneker, associate professor of classics, Kiekhofer [...]
David Olson (MA’66, PhD’71, Political) was recently honored by Washington State House and Senate. Olson is an emeritus professor of Political Science at the University of Washington’s Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Olson was recognized for his work with the Washington State Legislative Internship Program which he led for several decades, giving students a hands-on experience to work [...]
As founder of the Guatemala-based Range of Motion Project (ROMP), Eric Neufeld ’98 has worked to provide more than 1,500 custom-made prosthetic limbs to people in developing countries since 2005—people who, without Neufeld’s help, might have never regained mobility. With B.A. in Biological Aspects of Conservation, Neufeld represents one of the 13 outstanding alumni of [...]
The world knew Anthony Shadid as a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the strife-torn Middle East, often at considerable personal risk. The University of Wisconsin-Madison knew Shadid when he was just a young journalism student on deadline for the Daily Cardinal. Shadid, 43, died Thursday, Feb. 16 of an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria for the New York Times.
Dean Gary Sandefur is proud to honor Professors Patricia Devine (Psychology), Bob Kaiser (Geography) and Ken Mayer (Political Science) with the 2011-12 Leon D. Epstein Distinguished Faculty Research Awards. The Faculty Research Awards provide flexible research funding for three faculty each year in the College. Congratulations to our faculty! Epstein was a professor political science and [...]
University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Catherine Skroch is now part of a select group of Mitchell Scholars who will pursue postgraduate study in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Skroch, who majored in political science and international studies with an individual major in peace studies and conflict resolution and a certificate in African studies, was one of 13 [...]
Historians and political junkies soon will have more Richard Nixon material to kick around, thanks to a UW–Madison professor emeritus who has fought for years to get the secret records of the former president made public.
The L&S Honors Program held its Second Annual Distinguished Honors Faculty Award program to recognize seven faculty members for their contributions to the Honors Program. All were nominated by students and their contributions to enriching the undergraduate educational experience at Wisconsin have been enormous.
John Ahlquist, a recent faculty hire in the Department of Political Science, recently won the Michael Wallerstein Award from the political economy section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The award honors the best journal article published in the previous calendar year. The winning article, Building Strategic Capacity: The Political Underpinnings of Coordinated Wage [...]
As recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates hoping to land jobs in political and strategic communications, Dana Vielmetti and Paige Helling this week found themselves in an enviable position.
Steven Olikara, a University of Wisconsin-Madison junior from Brookfield, Wis., has won a pair of prestigious national awards, landing both the Truman Scholarship and the Udall Scholarship.
The College of Letters & Science is proud to count eight young alumni as recipients of the 2011 Forward Under 40 award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association.
In fall 1965, a nondescript looking residence hall opened at 716 West Johnson Street. Part of the southeast dormitory complex, Frederic A. Ogg Hall has been home to thousands of coeds over the past 45 years. But who among them can recall the man behind the marble (or concrete and glass, as the case may be)?
The Wisconsin Alumni Association and the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty are honoring University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty with the 2011 Distinguished Teaching Awards. This year eight L&S faculty took home top teaching awards.
The L&S Honors Program is proud to announce this year’s winner of the Mark Mensink Award and winners of undergraduate Trewartha Senior Thesis Grants. The L&S Faculty Honors Committee has awarded college’s largest research grant, the Mark Mensink Award, to Alexandra Demet, a double major in Comparative Literature and Art History to fund her archival [...]
Where will a liberal arts education take you? For these 26 Letters & Science alumni, a liberal arts took them on a path to Pulitzer Prizes. A total of 26 alumni have won the prestigious award.
Two public affairs professors, Pamela Herd and Timothy Smeeding, were recently featured in“Office Hours,” a half-hour weekly talk show produced at UW-Madison and shown on the Big Ten Network.
Limnology Professor Pete McIntyre is on the latest episode of “Office Hours” discussing the state of our rivers and lakes. Watch the full episode as seen on the Big Ten Network. University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Political Science Ken Goldstein welcomes the University’s leading faculty members to discuss their interests and research and debate current [...]
The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies is excited to welcome two new colleagues, Assistant Professor Keisha Lindsay and Assistant Professor Eunjung Kim. Lindsay’s research and teaching interests include black feminist theory, black masculinities, and the gendered politics of popular culture, as well as the racial and gendered implications of designating children as a protected [...]
Aili Mari Tripp, professor of political science and gender and women’s studies, takes a close, clear-sighted look at Ugandan politics since 1986, when Yoweri Museveni became the country’s president in her new book, Museveni’s Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010). Museveni’s exercise of power has been replete with contradictions: steps toward political [...]
We are pleased to announce that the following 13 individuals received a 2010-2011 College of Letters & Science Professional Development Grant …
This summer Political Science Professor Nadav Shelef is publishing a book Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Religion and Identity in Israel (Cornell University Press, 2010) in August.
Political Science Professor Nils Ringe will be teaching a European Union Studies Summer Program in Brussels, Belgium July 12-August 13.
The L&S Honors Program recently held a reception to honor several faculty members as Distinguished Honors Faculty nominated by students and staff for their contribution to teaching Honors courses and supervising honors students in research and scholarship.
This year, 10 alumni of the College of Letters & Science were named Forward Under 40 honorees. Of the twelve honorees this year, ten graduated with liberal arts degrees.
The UW-Madison Political Science Department, in conjunction with the Division of Continuing Studies, is proud to present a new series of online courses designed to prepare students for careers in politics…
UW-Madison Political Science Professor Katherine Cramer Walsh has received the 2010 Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Teaching Award, for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus.
Donald Downs, professor of political science, has received a Named Professorship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School.
Richard Avramenko, assistant professor of political science and integrated liberal studies, has received the William H. Kiekhofer Distinguished Teaching Award.
Kathryn Hendley, professor of political science, has been chosen to receive a Kellett Mid-Career Award.
University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus Anthony Shadid (BA’90, Political Science & Journalism) has earned a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the lasting effects of the war in Iraq.
The College of Letters & Science scored a grand slam for a second year with a sweep of the 74th Distinguished Alumni Awards.
A prize-winning author known for his global research on modern-day slavery will deliver a free public lecture this month at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of a daylong symposium on human trafficking.
Each year, the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards honors faculty for teaching excellence.
Six of UW–Madison’s most promising rising faculty have been named recipients of this year’s Romnes Faculty Fellowships.
UW Political Science Professors Charles Franklin and Ken Goldstein discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations to spend unlimited amounts on independent campaign and issue advertising.
‘Tis the season and L&S faculty and students are racking up the awards – congratulations to all!
A number of Letters & Sciences departments are programs have started Twittering.
UW Political Science Professor Charles Franklin authored an op-ed at Politico.com as part of their 2010 midterm election coverage, “Economy key to midterm elections.”
Congratulations to UW Emeritus Political Science Professor Dennis Dresang who was awarded the Women’s Philanthropy Council”Champion Award” for 2009.
UW Political Science Professor Aili Tripp was selected by the American Political Science Association to serve as co-leader of an Africa Workshop…
