PS Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 1 Fall 1999

Dr. Simon was coauthor of a paper, "Perceptions of School/Community Relations: A Cross National Perspective" (with Dr. Scavo and Dr. Renata Siemienska) delivered at the annual Urban Affairs Association Conference in Louisville, Kentucky in April 1999. He delivered a paper on "The Post-Communist Parliament of the Czech Republic: 1993-1996" (coauthors Kevin Krause and Zdenka Mansfeldova) at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in April 1999, and a paper at the St. Petersburg, Russia, conference on "Parliaments as Agents and Subjects of Change," June 28 through July 1, 1999. During the latter conference Dr. Simon had the opportunity to meet with Russian scholars and politicians who offered their insights on democratic developments in that troubled country.

Dr. Simon has been nominated by the Department of Political Science for a 1999-2000 Distinguished Alumni Professor for Teaching Award.

Dr. Carmine Scavo continues as director of the MPA program. He is also acting as distance education coordinator for the department, researching which course offerings the department should make available via the Internet. In summer 1999, the MPA program will offer a distance education section of PADM 6100 (Politics and Management in Public Agencies). Eventually, the MPA core of eight PADM courses will be offered through some form of distance education. 

In the 1998-1999 academic year, Dr. Scavo published two book chapters, one on data management in public administration research and the other on the use of web sites by government. He also delivered a paper, "Perceptions of School/Community Relations: A Cross-National Perspective," (with Dr. Simon and Renata Siemienska) at the annual Urban Affairs Association conference. His paper "Who Hates Hillary?" with Charles Prysby of UNC-Greensboro, an analysis of public opinion towards the first lady, has been submitted to PS, the journal of the discipline of political science.

Dr. Scavo delivered the Campbell University Government and History Department's Kenelm lecture in September. This lecture forms the backbone of a two day seminar with Campbell University undergraduate students and faculty. Dr. Scavo's topic was "North Carolina Politics and Government at the Millennium."

Dr. Scavo has been nominated by the Department of Political Science for a 1999-2000 Board of Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Nancy Spalding has left her position as assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and returned to the department full time. She is coordinating the undergraduate program, and is currently teaching "War in the Modern Age" and "African Political Systems." Her paper on Nigerian political culture and the Biafra civil war will be published in the interdisciplinary journal Culture and Psychology. She is currently working on an article on the culture of fatalism and Nigeria's prospects for democracy and on a book that will integrate culture into Nigeria's history and development. 

Dr. John Williams is once again splitting his time between political science, the graduate program in international studies, and the undergraduate international studies minor, where he is serving as academic coordinator. Inside the political science department, he is the MAIS (master of arts in international studies) coordinator and also the faculty adviser to the Model UN, now known as the East Carolina International Relations Organization (ECIRO). Together with Dr. Conradt, he is preparing for the second year of the Eastern Carolina High School Model United Nations. His research continues to focus on evaluating decision processes, with a substantive focus on foreign and security policies of advanced industrial societies.

Dr. Tinsley Yarbrough chaired a panel, "Retrospectives on Eras, Courts, and Justices," at the 1999 annual convention of the American Political Science Association, and gave the first Henry Julian Abraham Lecture on the Rehnquist Court, at the University of Virginia, on September 24. Oxford University Press will publish his book on the Rehnquist Court and the Constitution in January, and he has begun writing a book on the Burger Court, to be published by ABC-CLIO as part of a reference series on each Supreme Court. Research for the Burger Court volume was conducted this summer under a grant from the Earhart Foundation. Dr. Yarbrough contributed several profiles of federal judges to the recently published twenty-four-volume American National Biography and authored several book reviews.