Opportunities and Announcements
for the Week of February 21, 2020
Senior Capstone Presentations. Political Science majors are working diligently on their senior capstone projects, which they will present later this semester to the assembled POSC faculty and students (and family and friends). Please note that the senior capstone presentations and buffet dinner will be held on Monday, April 20, from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Please add this event to your calendar. More details will be forthcoming.A Century Ago…
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
After what Eleanor Flexner referred to as a “century of struggle,” women in the United States were finally fully enfranchised, at least in principle, with the ratification of the 19th amendment on August 18, 1920. That amendment doubled the size of the US electorate and brought US women closer to full citizenship.
In recognition and celebration of that momentous event, the Cuyahoga County League of Women Voters is holding a Symposium on the CWRU campus, “to reflect on the historical meaning of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, and the extension of the franchise to women.” The League is bringing a range of speakers to campus (about which more later), and is seeking volunteers to help with the Symposium arrangements.
Students who are interested in helping with the Symposium can volunteer through this website. All volunteers will receive free tickets to the panel discussion as well as a free boxed lunch from Bon Appetit.
The Symposium will take place in the Ballroom of the Tinkham Veale University Center, Case Western Reserve University, on Saturday, April 18, 2020, from 8:30am to 1:30 pm.
For those interested in the history of women’s suffrage and women’s voting preferences, see this brief history. I also recommend the following books by political scientists: Christina Wolbrecht and J. Kevin Corder, A Century of Votes for Women, Dawn Teele, Forging the Franchise, Corrine McConnaughy, The Woman Suffrage Movement in America, Lee Ann Banaszak, Why Movements Succeed or Fail: Opportunity, Culture, and the Struggle for Woman Suffrage, and Eleanor Flexner (an historian), Century of Struggle. See also Lee Ann Banaszak’s recent review of Teele’s Forging the Franchise in Perspectives on Politics.
Early Voting in the Ohio Primary
My grandmother, a registered nurse and a student of [C]WRU’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, was seventeen years old when the 19th amendment was ratified, and would have been too young to vote in the 1920 elections. It’s inspiring to contemplate now how many Ohio women are eligible to vote in the Ohio primary elections in 2020. For all those registered to vote in the Ohio elections on March 17, please note that early voting is now available. Please see here for explanations of early voting options in Ohio.
Primary Elections and the Presidential Nominating Cycle
The Democratic Party held another presidential candidate debate Wednesday night, preceding the Nevada caucuses (which will be held tomorrow). The schedule of debates and primary elections and caucuses for the Democrats and for the Republicans can be found here. The pace will pick up on March 3, with “Super Tuesday,” although we should keep our eyes on Michigan (March 10) and on Ohio (March 17). It’s interesting to note that the previous Ohio governor beat the current president in the 2016 Ohio Republican primary election.
The vernal equinox was last night (11:58pm), at least in the US Eastern time zone. From now, the hours of daytime increase and the hours of nighttime decrease. We’ve hardly had a winter (yet) in northeast Ohio. Can spring be far off?
Cheers,
Karen
Karen Beckwith
Flora Stone Mather Professor and Chair
Department of Political Science
Upcoming Events
Paying the Price — College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream
February 21, 12:00 – 1:30 pm, The City Club of Cleveland
Join us as Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of Paying the Price – College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream and the “defender of impoverished students and a scholar of their struggles,” shares her research.
Food for the Soul
February 21, 12:30 – 2:00 pm, Thwing Atrium
Food for the Soul is an annual CWRU tradition of celebrating the ideas and writing of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. We invite students, staff, and faculty to participate by reading a personally meaningful poem or brief selection from his work or the works of others related to themes of his life. A Soul Food lunch is also provided.
Friday Public Affairs Discussion Lunch: Are Nano-particles the New Asbestos?
February 21, 12:30-1:30pm, KSL Dampeer Room
Nanotechnology involves design, production, and use of materials, structures, devices or systems in the nanoscale range – so between 1 and 100 billionths of a meter in scale. This technology is viewed as having many positive applications in medicine, such as to counter the effects of viruses, mutated genes and misfolded proteins of similar scale. If nanoparticles can deliver good things to intended places, however, they might also deliver not-so-good things to unintended places. Join us for a discussion of new public health issues at the intersection of economics, politics, and science.
Elect Her! Campus Women: Your Voice Counts
February 22, 11:30am-4:00pm, Flora Stone Mather Center for Women
Have you ever thought about running for a student leadership position, but haven’t yet? Are you interested in training to run for elected office on campus and beyond? This event, hosted by Running Start, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that inspires and trains young women to run for office, will feature discussion of the importance of women running for office, help crafting and delivering elevator speeches, opportunities to learn about campaign strategy and meet elected female role models in their communities, and much more! Registration is required at may be completed on CampusGroups.
Power of Diversity Lecture Series: Become America: How to Revive Our Belief in Democracy
February 25, 4:30-6:00pm, Tinkham Veale University Center, Ballroom A
Eric Liu, author and CEO of Citizen University, is a nationally recognized speaker on such topics as citizen power, civic health, the future of democracy and American identity. Liu will discuss how to revive our belief in democracy. This talk is free and open to the public.
Civility & Discourse on College Campuses: A Candid Conversation
February 26, 7:00-9:00pm, Corporate College East
A panel discussion featuring Case Western Reserve University President Barbara R. Snyder, Cuyahoga Community College President Alex Johnson and Cleveland State University President Harlan Sands will be held to discuss civility and discourse on college campuses. The forum will be moderated by J. David Heller, board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. The event is free open to the public.
Building the Post-1949 State in China and Taiwan
February 27, 4:00-5:30pm, Tinkham Veale University Center Room 134
Julia Strauss, Professor of Chinese Politics from SOAS, University of London, will join this global currents discussion on the difficulty of state-building in the case of China and Taiwan. How a state is built shapes its future – and is shaped by the past. Professor Strauss shows how somewhat similar challenges and inherited understandings led to both commonalities and differences in how authority was consolidated on both sides of the Straits. That has lessons for understanding both China and state-building.
Guest Speaker: Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson
February 27, 5:30-6:45pm, Clark Hall 205
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson will be a guest speaker for the POSC 301: Decision-Making in American Cities class session. He will discuss topics including municipal budget management in an era of limited state and federal support, balancing economic development projects with the needs of neighborhoods, and how Cleveland can compete for capital investment. Mayor Jackson’s talk will be followed by an off-the-record Question & Answer session. Interested students should respond to Professor Michael Wager (michael.wager@case.edu), so he can advise the Mayor’s office of the number of likely attendees.
The Twilight of Judicial Independence
February 28, 12:00-1:30pm, The City Club of Cleveland
Charles Geyh, Professor of Law at the Maurer School of Law, Indiana University at Bloomington, will join the City Club to discuss judicial independence—the ability of courts and judges to perform their duties free of influence or control by other branches of government or shifting popular opinion. This forum will address such questions as, why is independence essential to the role of the judiciary in American government, and how it can be rescued and defended? Nonmember tickets are $38; a live stream will be available online.
Friday Public Affairs Discussion Lunch: China’s Belt and Road Initiative and China’s Record in Foreign Development
February 28, 12:30-1:30pm, KSL Dampeer Room
China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” is as massive as it is controversial. Many international governments have pushed back against the project, and even the benefits to China are not entirely clear. So, how are we to understand China’s policies and their likely results? Professor of Chinese Politics, Julia Strauss, will offer her perspectives on China’s behavior and the experience of partner nations.
Current Opportunities
ThinkEnergy Fellowship
This program exposes students to a wide variety of energy topics including technology, policy, entrepreneurship, and research. ThinkEnergy connects students with faculty, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and government officials. It often gives students an opportunity to operate outside of their comfort zones, developing competencies that are dissimilar to what they learn in their courses. 2020-2021 cohort applications are due by 9am on March 9, 2020.
All Politics is Local (APiL) Conference and Call for Papers
The 17th annual APiL Conference for undergraduate students interested in Political Science and International Relations is Saturday, April 18, 2020 at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. Students may present papers or posters in any areas of the conference’s discipline. Registration for those presenting papers is due by April 1 and papers are due by April 10. For more information on the conference and the call for papers, click here.
APSIA Events
APSIA hosts various events in their effort to advance international understanding, prosperity, peace, and security through the people and ideas shaped by our schools. Their events include seminars and free webinars, such as a free webinar on applying to graduate schools.
Competition Opportunities
NYU Policy Case Competition
The 2020 NYU Policy Case Competition, hosted by New York University’s Politics Society, is an annual team-based competition that brings together teams of undergraduate and graduate students to design and propose policy solutions to a range of current international and domestic issues. The competition will take place in New York City during the weekend of April 25-26. Registration is $5 and closes on March 6; The CWRU Political Science Department will reimburse the registration fee for students that apply.
Scholarship Opportunities
Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship Program
The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad. Applications close March 3, 2020.
Source AHSS Funding
All CWRU undergraduate students conducting research in the Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences are eligible for SOURCE AHSS summer funding. Applications close on March 6, 2020.
The Rocks Summer Grant
Apply for CWRU’s The Rocks Experiential Learning Fellowship to fund summer 2020 internships and other opportunities. Identify International Studies as a humanities major in the application. Applications close March 6, 2020.
Summer Opportunities
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Internship program provides students and recent graduates with a pre-professional, meaningful, and practical work experience related to the student’s field of study or career interest. Interns may work with Brookings’s staff in research areas – Economic Studies, Foreign Policy, Global Economy and Development, Governance Studies, and Metropolitan Policy. Summer 2020 applications are due February 28, 2020.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Internship Program
The DCCC Internship Program is designed to give students substantial exposure to practical, campaign-style politics on a national level. Applications for the Summer 2020 program close on March 1, 2020.
Carter Center Summer Internships
The Carter Center Internships provide students with an unpaid opportunity to explore careers in the field of Peace, Health, or Operations in Atlanta. Internships are also offered in the Fall and Spring. Applications close March 1, 2020.
American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Summer Internship
AIGS provides students with an unpaid internship in a not-for-profit think tank that works towards a smarter German-American relationship. Applications close March 1.
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Internships
The Unites States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations offers summer internship positions to students seeking to gain first-hand experience with foreign policy issues and the legislative process. The deadline to apply for a summer 2020 internship with Chairman James Risch is March 22, 2020 and with Ranking Member Bob Menendez is March 6, 2020.
Max Kampelman Fellowship Program
Fellows work directly with Congressional offices, executive branch officials, and foreign diplomats on foreign policy issues. Fellowships are offered in communications and policy. Summer 2020 applications are due March 15, 2020.
American Foreign Policy Council Internships
Interns in this program work with foreign policy professionals on article reasearch, publication, and event planning. Summer 2020 applications are due March 15, 2020.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Internships
The UNHCR’s Regional Office in Washington, DC offers a variety of internships to students seekign to work with the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless individuals, and others across the flobe. Applications for Summer 2020 are due March 15, 2020.
Fund for Peace Internships
FFP offers internships to graduate and undergradiate students each semester. Interns at FFP are given significant responsibility and are provided with practical experience in the international relations field, with excellent work experience and exposure to international and NGO communities. Applications for Summer 2020 close March 15.
Environmental Law and Policy Center: Science & Policy Internships
The Environmental Law & Policy Center offers several, unpaid policy and science internships for undergraduate and graduate students. Positons are offered in the Summer, Spring, and Fall. Applications close March 15, 2020.
Center for Global Development Internships
CGD seeks summer interns to assist with reasearch, outreach, and assissting with CGD’s goal of reducing global poverty and inequality. Deadline for Application is March 15, 2020.
Center for Democracy In the Americas Summer Internship
The CDA offers internship opportunities for undergraduate students interested in building constructive and respectful relations between the U.S. and countries of the Americas. A stipend to cover transportation costs is provided. Applications close March 15, 2020.
ICPSR Summer Program
The ICPSR Summer Program provides rigorous, hands-on training in statistical techniques, research methodologies, and data analysis. Courses will run in two sessions: June 22-July 17, 2020 and July 20-August 14, 2020. Students and faculty interested in the ICPSR summer program offering training for quantitative methods may find more information on ICPSR’s website. Applicants may complete a scholarship application here. The application deadline for all 2020 ICPSR scholarships is Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
Senator Sherrod Brown 2020 Summer Internship
The Office of Senator Brown hosts interns in their Washington, D.C., Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo offices year-round. Applications for summer internships are now open
Graduating Senior Opportunities
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Internship program provides students and recent graduates with a pre-professional, meaningful, and practical work experience related to the student’s field of study or career interest. Interns may work with Brookings’s staff in research areas – Economic Studies, Foreign Policy, Global Economy and Development, Governance Studies, and Metropolitan Policy. Summer 2020 applications are due February 28, 2020.
EPIK
EPIK invites recently graduated students from English-speaking countries with a motivation to share their knowledge and language with Korean students and teachers through teaching classes. Applications are open from February to July for the Fall term.
Please note that the Department of Political Science alerts our students to a range of opportunities, including internships, fellowships, and jobs. We do not endorse or sponsor these, and leave it to the judgment of our students what is most useful and appropriate to them.