Political Science

Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Austin, Director of the Program in African American Studies, on the publication of The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America, with the State University of New York Press!

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Congratulations to Lina Benabdallah on receiving a UF Graduate Student Teaching Award! The award ceremony was held on Friday at the Friends of Music Room. From Left: Provost Joe Glover; Dean of the Graduate School, Henry Frierson; Lina Benabdallah; Prof. Connie Sheehan, Chair of the award selection committee.

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Congratulations to the more than 40 Political Science undergraduate majors who graduated in December! May you go from strength to strength in your future studies and careers.

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Hearty congratulations to newly-minted PhDs Drs. Lina Benabdallah and Oumar Ba. Not in the picture, Drs. Rob Scharr, Keith Lee, and Richard Yon.

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Latest issue of Perspectives on Politics, edited by Professor Michael Bernhard and Professor Daniel O’Neill, is out with a provocative and timely cover.

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The American Political Science Association (APSA) has announced a new editorial team for Perspectives on Politics, one of its flagship journals dedicated to “Political Science in the Public Sphere.” APSA selected a team from the University of Florida, Professor Michael Bernhard, who will serve as editor, and Professor Daniel O’Neill, who will serve as associate editor. […]

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The Department held its annual Spring Banquet on March 22, 2018, at the Sweetwater Branch Inn. Our distinguished guest speaker was Professor Melissa Michelson, Menlo College. The following awards were presented: Best undergraduate student paper award: Bianca Nachmani The Douglas Price Award: Enrijeta Shino Best graduate student paper award: Ryan Whittingham James Button Award: Bobby […]

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The Department held its annual Spring Banquet on March 21, 2017, at the Sweetwater Branch Inn. About 75 people attended, including faculty members, graduate students, staff members, spouses, and supporters. Our distinguished guest speaker was Professor Chris Achen, the Roger Straus Professor of Social Science at Princeton University. The following awards were presented: Best undergraduate […]

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Professor Richard Conley (second from right) led eight students last week on a spring break study tour of Native American reservations and sites in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana. Louis (R), a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe, spoke to the students about Arapaho history, language and culture on the Wind River reservation, which is […]

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Hearty congratulations to Professor Leslie Anderson on winning a research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities! Prof. Anderson’s research project is titled “Democratic Enclaves in Times of Trouble: The Politics of Resistance in Nicaragua.”

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The Department held its annual holiday potluck luncheon on Monday, December 12th. The food was yummy and everyone was in a festive mood. A huge thank you to Sue Lawless-Yanchisin for organizing the event. Happy holidays to all!

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Department faculty and graduate students participated today in a half-day retreat at the Harn Museum of Art. The event included a tour of the galleries as well as a discussion of the museum as a teaching resource and faculty involvement in exhibitions. Many thanks to Eric Segal, the Harn’s Director of Education, for planning and […]

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About 40 political science majors attended Dr. Michael Cohen’s presentation today on “Unlocking DC: Pursuing Internships and Careers in the Nation’s Capital.”

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Graduate students from the department, led by Lina Benabdallah, are organizing a series of workshops for undergraduate students who are applying to graduate programs. About 15 undergraduates attended the first workshop on Wednesday, October 26th. The panelists discussed the differences between MA and PhD programs as well as various components of graduate school applications. Many […]

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On October 4, 2016, Stephen Dupont — an Australian photographer, documentary filmmaker and artist — spoke to Professor Aida Hozic’s undergraduate class on Art and War. The class revolves around the exhibit “Aftermath: The Fallout of War-America & the Middle East” at the Harn Museum of Art. The exhibit features several of Dupont’s photographs from […]

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Our “interpreting current events” series was off to a good start today with a presentation by Professor Zach Selden. Selden’s talk was titled “Cold War 2.0? Managing a relationship with a revisionist Russia.” About 25-30 faculty and students attended the talk and the discussion was quite lively. Many thanks to Prof. Selden for sharing his […]

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On Friday afternoon, September 9, the Department held its annual “welcome back” reception. Some 40-50 faculty members and graduate students attended the reception and a good time was had by all. A big thank you to Sue Lawless-Yanchisin for organizing the event!

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With sadness, we note the passing away of John Spanier. Spanier was an active member of the Department for almost 40 years, 1957-1996. Many of us have had the privilege of being taught by him, mentored by him as graduate students, or working closely with him as colleagues. As the obituary notes, Spanier’s life, and […]

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Two pillars of the Department, Professors Kenneth Wald and Richard Scher, are retiring this month. Ken and Richard have been members of the department for 33 and 44 years respectively, and they have touched the lives of thousands of students. Pasted below are the remarks made in their honor at the Department’s recent spring banquet. […]

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Congratulations to newly-minted PhDs (from Left) Drs. Kevin Funk, Mitch Sellers, Nail Tanrioven, Audrey Flemming, and Scott Feinstein. Also in the picture, Prof. Ido Oren (center) and Ben Smith. Not in the picture: Dr. Steve Lichty.

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Congratulations to the 194 political science majors graduating in Spring 2016! Three political science professors participated in the commencement ceremony on May 2, 2016. From left: Patricia Woods, Ido Oren, and Carlos Suarez-Carrasquillo.

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Friday, April 1, 2016 was Pat Root’s last day in the Department’s office. Since joining the department in January 2010, Pat has worked—most reliably, efficiently, and capably—under three chairs, four associate chairs, and three undergraduate coordinators. We have all come to depend on Pat in so many ways, from entering and changing grades, through scheduling […]

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Congratulations to our newly-minted PhDs!!! From left: Prof. Dan O’Neill, Dr. Jonathon Whooley, Dr. Lorna Bracewell, Dr. Amy Stringer, Prof. Laura Sjoberg, Prof. Michael Martinez, Dr. Roger Austin, Prof. Dan Smith, Dr. Diana Forster. Missing from the picture: Dr. Nic Knowlton.

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The Department held its annual holiday potluck luncheon on December 14. Attendance was high and everyone was in a festive mood. A big thank you to Sue Lawless-Yanchisin for organizing the event. Happy holidays to all!

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Twenty political science majors and prospective majors attended the third Political Science Information Cafe, held November 9 in Emerson Alumni Hall. Participating faculty and other resource persons chatted with students in an informal setting about topics such as finding work in Washington, certificate programs, graduate studies, internships, and the Mock Trial program.

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Congratulations Drs. (from left) Mauro Caraccioli, Jadon Marianetti, and Manu Samnotra! Congratulations also to three freshly-minted PhDs not in the picture: Vincent Adejumo, Nic Knowlton, and Rachel Yon!

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Congratulations to Jacquelyn Johnson, winner of the 2015 Best Honors Thesis Award! Jacquelyn’s thesis, “The Politics of National Accounts: Debt and Deficit in the European Union,” was supervised by Prof. Aida Hozic. The thesis explored the under-reporting of national debt and deficit data by members of the EU. The analysis showed that the reporting requirements […]

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Congratulations to the 216 political science majors who graduated in Spring 2015! Four political science professors participated in the commencement ceremony on May 3, 2015. From left: Ido Oren, Suzanne Robbins, Sharon Austin, and Stephen Craig.

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On April 28, 2015, six graduating seniors majoring in political science had an informal lunch with the Department Chair, Ido Oren, the Associate Chair, Bryon Moraski, and the Internship Coordinator, Dan Smith. The students shared with us reflections about their experience in the political science undergraduate program as well as their future plans. From Left: […]

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The Department held its annual Spring Banquet on March 24, 2015, at the Sweetwater Branch Inn. Some 70 people attended, including faculty members, spouses, associate deans, and supporters. Our distinguished guest speaker was Dr. Steven Heydemann, Vice President for Applied Research on Conflict at the US Institute of Peace. The following awards were presented: Best […]

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Joshua C. Huder, Ph.D., has represented the department in Washington, D.C. for the last two years and we are proud to announce his recent graduation. Josh left Gainesville after accepting a prestigious American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship where he worked on legislative procedure, financial services, voting rights, campaign finance, trade, small business, and other issues. […]

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In the past four years, we were truly fortunate to have Dietmar Schirmer as our DAAD (German Government) Visiting Associate Professor. Dietmar became an integral part of the department, took an active part in the department’s life, and contributed to our mission in many ways, in and out of the classroom.  

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The Department held it annual Spring Banquet on April 8, 2014, at the Sweetwater Branch Inn. More than 70 people attended, including faculty members, spouses, the dean, and supporters. Our distinguished guest speaker was Professor Samuel Popkin from the University of California, San Diego. The following awards were presented: Best undergraduate student paper award: James […]

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Bryce Freeman, a dual Political Science and Economics graduating senior, was one of three undergraduate students to win the University Scholars Program’s university-wide Best Paper contest. His paper, “Purging Participation? The Impact of Targeting “Potential Non-Citizens” on Voter Turnout,” was written under the direction of Faculty Mentor Dan Smith.

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Will Hicks successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, Representation in the American States: Partisan Competition and its Conflicting Effects on Representative Government, on March 14, 2014. Will’s doctoral committee is comprised of Larry Dodd and Dan Smith (co-chairs), Michael Martinez, Beth Rosenson, and Larry Kenny (Economics). His dissertation, “Representation in the American States: Partisan Competition and Its Conflicting […]

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The Department of Political Science is excited to announce that David Samuels, Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, will present material from his co-authored book with Ben Ansells on Tuesday, April 1, 4-5:30pm in Anderson 216. David Samuels specializes in democratization, Brazilian politics, Latin American politics, political parties and elections, and US-Latin American […]

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Undergraduate major Michelle Asuncion represented UF at the 22nd National conference of the National Association of African-American Studies and Affiliates, held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Feb 10-15. She presented a paper on Filipino culture of migration.

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On Friday some 30 graduate students attended the second session of the Department’s graduate student socialization series. Professors Amie Kreppel, Ben Smith and Leo Villalon spoke and answered questions on “How to Write and Win Grants.”

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Two of our undergraduate majors, Shannon Crawford and Nishant Srivastava, have recently attended the United States Air Force Academy Assembly, a prestigious annual undergraduate student conference held in Colorado Springs. The theme of this year’s conference was “U.S.-India Relations: Partners in Democracy.” Shannon Crawford reports that it was “a stimulating, thought-provoking experience. The 3-day conference included […]

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The Department held its first Political Science Information Cafe yesterday. Close to 40 undergraduate students attended the event (held in Emerson Alumni Hall), mingling in an informal setting with faculty and staff members. Participating faculty/staff members answered questions and dispensed information on internships, honors theses, graduate programs, certificate programs, library resources, and more.

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