Graduate Students

Grad students find support, guidance in Dissertation Proposal Workshop

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:57:57 +0000

Grad students find support, guidance in Dissertation Proposal Workshop Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/03/2018 - 13:57

Writing a dissertation proposal is an important step toward the dissertation itself, but the process of researching and writing one can be a difficult transition time for many graduate students.

For their first years of graduate school, students adhere to a structured coursework schedule with deadlines from their advisors, the Graduate School or their department. After spending those years criticizing the best work by experts in their fields, students are expected to propose something new and better.

The Social Sciences Dissertation Proposal Workshop offers graduate students strategies and support for getting started and efficiently completing their proposal.

To learn more click here!

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2017 Leonard D. White Award Winner

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 17:00:53 +0000

2017 Leonard D. White Award Winner Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/16/2017 - 11:00

Political Science Ph.D. Recipient at CU Boulder

The Political Science Department would like to congratulate Alan Zarychta in receiving the 2017 Leonard D. White Award from the American Political Science Association.This award is given to the best dissertation in the public administration field defended within the last two years. Members of the award committee included Zachary Oberfield of Haverford College, chair, Mary Feeney of Arizona State University, and Holly Goerdel of the University of Kansas.

Zarychta received both his MA in Public Policy and Ph.D in Political Science at CU Boulder. He currently is an Assistant Professor in the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

Zarychta’s research focuses on social policy in both public health and the environment in Central and South America. He is presently working on several projects on the effectiveness of health care policy in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras.

More information about his work can be found on his biography at the University of Chicago website: https://ssascholars.uchicago.edu/a-zarychta/biocv

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LAPOP 2017 Inaugural Seligson Prize Winner

Anonymous — Thu, 25 May 2017 15:39:01 +0000

LAPOP 2017 Inaugural Seligson Prize Winner Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/25/2017 - 09:39

Emma Piller

Graduate Student in Political Science

The Department of Political Science would like to congratulate Ph.D candidate Joby Schaffer on receiving the 2017 Inaugural Seligson Prize from Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). Both Schaffer and his co-author Andy Baker, an Associate Professor at CU, received high praise for their publication entitled Clientelism as Persuasion-Buying: Evidence from Latin America.

Schaffer's research focused on analyzing why political parties use material inducements to acquire votes from their constituents in Latin American countries. “In many Latin American countries, political parties engage in a practice called 'clientelism,' Schaffer said. “They go out and purchase voters by offering them food, small consumer items, or other inducements, and in some places in Latin America, this is a rampant practice.

“Among those who study clientelism, there’s this question of given party machines having limited resources--they can’t just go out and give away food and other goods to just anybody--who do they target with clientelism; who do they go after to try and get their votes.

“A lot of scholars have suggested that clientelistic political parties attempt to directly buy votes, which means that they likely try to target people who are undecided in order to sway them to vote for their party. Other scholars say that clientelistic political parties instead try to buy people’s turnout, which means they likely try to buy people that are already loyal, that already care about the party’s positions, who they only have to get to the polls.”

The problem with the first explanation--vote-buying--is largely empirical. Those who have been targeted for clientelism also tend to report higher levels of partisanship. While this supports turnout buying, that strategy isn’t really cost-effective. There are other ways to more efficiently mobilize people.

“We were trying to find a way to balance those two out and address both of these puzzles. We came up with this idea that what these political parties are actually doing is targeting those in a community who tend to engage in political discussion. This comes with the expectation that these individuals will then attempt to persuade those in their personal networks. We call this ‘persuasion-buying.’ This is cost-effective because it creates a ‘multiplier effect,’ where I’ll give you some resources and I tell you to go out and start persuading those you’re close to to vote in the same way. So I’m not only getting your vote, but I’m getting these people around you because you have this network.

“It also works in terms of what we find empirically because we noticed in our analysis of data from the 2006 elections in Mexico that people’s partisanship gets stronger as the election gets closer. Our argument there is that once they’ve received some goods early on from a political party, they start to solidify their position in the direction of that party,” he said. “That allows us to make sense of why strong partisans get targeted benefits.”

The LAPOP award accepts papers that have been published one to two years prior to that year’s award recipient, so when Schaffer received notice he had won, he was pleasantly surprised. “I haven’t thought about this paper in over a year, and I had no idea that it was even been considered.”

Schaffer currently works in Denver as a researcher in a company that helps foundations, non-profits, and other social impact organizations use research and evaluation to improve their work. “The training that I got from CU in terms of doing quantitative and qualitative research is now being used to help these groups understand ‘are we being effective,’” he said. Schaffer plans on continuing his work there and remain in Colorado after he completes his Ph.D.

“Two things I learned through the process are that it takes a long time to publish a paper--this started in 2011, we published in 2016," he said. "And it’s really useful to rely on professors that have a ton of experience and are not only smart but know how to engage with other scholars to get feedback and know how to navigate the process of getting published. For me, it was invaluable having someone like Dr. Baker on the paper. He came in and did so much work to improve it.”

The university is proud to have academics who are dedicated to understanding the global community in a way that allows for deeper connections and learning opportunities to be made.

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Meet Ryan Dawkins

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 16:59:10 +0000

Meet Ryan Dawkins Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/22/2017 - 09:59

Casey Van Divier

PhD Candidate, Graduate Part-Time Instructor

Whether it’s about course material, politics in the news, or his own personal experiences, Ryan Dawkins loves to answer the questions his students ask him. However, there is one part of his story he “never tells his students”:

“I did my undergrad at Colorado State University,” Dawkins said. “I told my students that my first semester teaching, and they pretty much revolted.”

Now completing his sixth year as a graduate student at CU Boulder, Dawkins has plenty of stories to tell about his experiences leading up to this point. He graduated from CSU with degrees in history, political science, and a minor in philosophy, subsequently deciding against his original plan to go to law school.

“Some of my friends were in law school and they said the job market was really miserable, so I decided to go into academia—because of course,” he said, “what’s the one thing other than the legal profession where the job market is even worse?”

Dawkins went on to earn his M.A. in history from Ohio State University, work on Betsy Markey’s 2008 congressional campaign, and spend some time in Jared Polis’ district office.

“My students always ask me how to get involved in politics and I say just send an email,” he said. “I sent an email. That’s how it starts. It’s easy as that.”

He later enrolled in the PhD program for political science at CU, where he has been enormously involved in the graduate student program. He’s served as both president and vice president of the graduate students, and he’s acted as a mentor for graduate students and undergrads alike.

On top of that, Dawkins published two academic papers this past year and taught several classes at the university.

“I love teaching because I love the intellectual engagement of the academy,” he said. “It’s the reason why I always knew I wanted to be in higher education, even when I was in college.”

In 2016, Dawkins won CU’s GPTI Teaching Excellence Award, a competitive award based on faculty and student evaluations and a classroom observation.

“Teaching forces me to think about the kinds of issues I never would have considered, and that makes me a better academic,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life other than this.”

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PoliSci grad student shares her story on Colorado Public Radio

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 16:07:09 +0000

PoliSci grad student shares her story on Colorado Public Radio Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2016 - 10:07

“For me, Clinton really represents things that I want to see happen, like equal pay for women and freedom of reproductive rights.” -Shawnna Mullenax

“I am a Conservative-thinking person, and I don’t like the way the country has gone. I can’t say that I like either candidate, but I’m going to vote on the party line.” -Carol Mullenax

Political Science PhD candidate Shawnna Mullenax and her grandmother Carol may be at odds over this election, but that doesn't mean they aren't willing to discuss politics with one another. The two joined CPR's Ryan Warner for an interview on how they make their political conversations work. You can listen to the interview here.

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Meet Shawnna Mullenax

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 14:57:12 +0000

Meet Shawnna Mullenax Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/28/2016 - 08:57

Casey Van Divier

PhD Candidate, President of PSCI Graduate Students

When Shawnna Mullenax enrolled at West Virginia University, she had plans to become a chiropractor; however, she quickly learned that it’s never too early to change your major.

“Three weeks into college, I knew it wasn’t for me,” said the fifth-year graduate student. “I was taking exercise physiology classes, a physics class, and an international relations class. And I realized the only class that was really interesting to me was my international relations class.”

Mullenax knew she wanted to pursue a degree in political science, but it wasn’t easy for her to walk away from her future in the medical field.

“I was nervous because I was changing my major from something that seemed a lot more lucrative,” she said. “I was in a program in high school for first-generation college students, and what we were repeatedly told was that we needed to get medical degrees. I had in my mind that any other degree was a gamble.”

Even so, she was able to overcome her doubts with the encouragement of her family and friends.

“I felt fortunate that my parents were always really supportive of whatever I wanted to do,” she said. “And it all worked out.”

Mullenax graduated with her degree in political science and went on to enroll as a graduate student at CU, where she specializes in comparative politics, international relations, and gender politics. Throughout her years as a graduate student, she has worked as a TA, taught her own class, and now works as a grader for an international political economy course.

“Boulder wasn’t on my radar at first,” she said. “But I had done a semester abroad in Bolivia, and it just so happened that Carew Boulding and Krister Andersson had also done work in Bolivia. So I applied, and I was thrilled when I got in.”

The department has since funded several trips for Mullenax to go to Bolivia and advance her research on the country. After conducting many interviews there, the PhD candidate looks forward to publishing a chapter in Contesting the Transformation, which will focus on the rights of Bolivia's women’s groups and LGBT movement.

In the meantime, she plans to stay busy as both an officer in CU’s graduate student government and the president of the political science graduate students.

“As president, I’m a liaison between the faculty and the grad students,” she said. “I work on taking any issues the grad students have to David Brown and Jennifer Fitzgerald.”

Her term has been both successful and enjoyable, and Mullenax has grown closer to her fellow graduate students throughout the year.

“Overall, I’m incredibly thankful for the grad school experience I’ve had,” she said. “The grad students are especially close in this department, and we’ve really made a commitment to being friends.”

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