Opportunities and Announcements

for the Week of April 10, 2020

Senior Capstone Presentations.  This year’s senior capstone presentations will be held virtually, in zoom meetings.  These will be held in three separate capstone sessions, on Monday, April 20, and Wednesday, April 22, each starting at 5:00pm.  Please add these events to your calendars now.  Two sessions include seniors whose work can be identified as involving US politics; a third session includes capstones in the subfields of comparative politics and international relations.  Details of the presentations are being sent to all presenters, faculty members, and political science majors. Chaired by our faculty, the meetings will be convened by individual faculty members responsible for chairing each session.  Senior capstone students and junior and senior political science majors will receive zoom invitations, and can join the presentation sessions as they prefer. Zoom invitations will be sent on the day, shortly before each session begins.  Invitations are not to be shared publicly.

Senior capstone presentations are a signature event of the political science department.  As in years past, the Spring 2020 capstone presentations model the process at professional political science meetings.  Each capstone student will have the responsibility of presenting the capstone work in progress to the virtually assembled group, followed by a question-and-answer session.  Our students shine during these sessions, suiting up to share their completed work, presenting their work in an engaging and professional manner, and handling questions from faculty and their peers. I’m looking forward to the presentations and to learning about student research in their capstone work.

Under normal circumstances, senior capstone presentations would be followed by a buffet dinner, when we all convene from our separate sessions to dine together and to engage in further discussion and general conversation (and we send our students home with all the leftovers).  It is a little heartbreaking that we will not be able to celebrate those students who are completing their capstones this semester at a dinner, but the faculty have been discussing alternative ways to recognize those who will be presenting their work this month. We also have the convention of photographing capstone students with their faculty advisor; we’ll have to settle for some screen shots this time.

Registering for Courses.  Course registration is moving ahead apace, and we look forward to seeing many of you in our courses in the fall.  The Department is offering three SAGES departmental seminars, which serve to fulfill both a SAGES requirement and a requirement for the POSC major.  These are: POSC349 Research Methods in Political Science, POC378 International Relations Theory, and POSC346 Women, Power, and Politics. I’m particularly looking forward to teaching POSC346, given that August 18, 2020, is the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States; there will be a lot to discuss in the course.  As always, I strongly recommend that our majors take POSC349, our research methods course. Although POSC349 is not a required course for the major, it is fundamental for a deep understanding of much political science scholarship and is helpful for preparing students for senior capstone work. POSC378 is always a popular course, offered by Professor Lavelle, and is already approaching its maximum enrollment.  

Beyond our SAGES departmental seminars, the Department is offering a range of interesting and pertinent courses.  Professor White is offering POSC383 Health Policy and Politics this fall; there could hardly be a more timely topic – unless it’s Professor Moore’s course, POSC371 Natural Resources and World Politics, or Professor Tartakoff’s POSC347 Civil Liberties in America.  I’ll stop here, before I list every course that the Department is offering in the fall term. In sum, this is a crucial time for students, and everyone generally, to understand politics and government, here in the US and around the world. All of our courses address the important issues of our times, and are well taught and engaging.

Note that none of our courses have prerequisites, and we are happy to welcome all students into our courses.

Meetings with Majors. Thanks to the fifteen POSC major seniors who met virtually with me yesterday to discuss their experiences as political science majors and to make suggestions for our department moving forward.  I am always impressed by how smart, thoughtful, kind, and committed our political science majors are, and these strengths were in high evidence during this meeting. Among the issues our seniors raised were senior capstone processes, departmental honors, research methods, learning coding for political science, introducing concentrations within the major, and additional courses they would like us to offer.  As challenging as it is to meet virtually, all those who participated were happy to see each other, and I was pleased to see so many of our seniors in such good spirits. I’ll be sure to raise these issues in future department meetings. I’ll offer the opportunity for the senior majors to meet again in a few weeks. The next step: I will be convening our junior and our sophomore POSC majors in the coming weeks.

Ohio Primary Elections Are In Progress and You Can Still Vote.  Here’s How.

Classes Continuing.  As we conclude our fourth week of remote teaching, political science courses are functioning well.  Faculty are advising our students via zoom and other means; courses are meeting regularly; our students are doing their best, as are the faculty.  Thanks to everyone for pulling together so quickly and so successfully under such difficult circumstances. As always, to our students, if you need me for anything, please email me at karen.beckwith@case.edu.

I hope everyone will be able to enjoy the weekend.  As always, stay calm, stay connected, and study political science.

With all best wishes,
Karen

Karen Beckwith
Flora Stone Mather Professor and Chair
Department of Political Science

Virtual Events

Maintaining Economic Health During a Crisis
April 10, 12:30-1:30pm, Virtual Forum by the City Club
Loretta J. Mester, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland will share shares the national Federal Reserve Bank’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, her economic outlook, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s continued work in the community during the crisis.

Best Practices in Applying to Graduate School 
April 14, 10-11:00am, Webinar by APSIA
The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) is hosting an introductory webinar on best practices when applying for graduate school, including selecting a program, preparing and application, paying for school, and career opportunities.

Current Opportunities

Fall 2020 White House Internship Program
The Fall 2020 White House Internship Program application is now open until 11:59 PM EDT on Friday, April 24. The White House Internship Program is a highly competitive public service leadership program providing unique and valuable experience.

Scholarship Opportunities

OCCDF Public Service Scholarship
The Ohio Conference of Community Development Public Service Scholarship is intended to help students dedicated to a career in public service.  Applications are due by April 13.

Summer Funding Opportunities
CWRU’s Baker-Nord Center offers three different grant competitions for summer funding.  Applications are due April 15, 2020.

Summer Opportunities

ICPSR Summer Program
The ICPSR Summer Program offers rigorous training in quantitative methods and data analysis.  This program offers more than 80 courses in Ann Arbor, Michigan and other cities across the U.S.

Democracy Journal Internship
The Democracy: A Journal of Ideas offers Washington, DC-based internships in writing and editing and covers foreign topics. Applications for summer are due April 30.

Department of Veteran Affairs Summer Internship
The VA National Diversity Internship Program (NDIP) provides internship opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students. Applications are open year-round.

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
The FDD, a Washington, DC based think tank, offers a variety of unpaid internships to undergraduate students. Applications are open until all positions are filled.

Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Governmental Affairs Summer Internship
The APLU CGA internship is an unpaid opportunity for students with an interest in politics and the political process, as well as for those interested in higher education and/or science or technology policy. Applications should be submitted 2 months prior to the start date of the internship.

American Enterprise Institute Summer Internships
AEI provides various internships to undergraduate students. Internships are unpaid, but applicants can apply for a scholarship to provide a monthly stipend. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.

City of Canton Mayor’s Internship Program
The City of Canton Mayor’s office provides students with real work experience, while exposing participants to the diverse functions and operations of a municipal government. Applications should be submitted 1-2 months before anticipated start date.

International Security Positions
Deadlines for international security positions beginning summer 2021 can be as early as this spring due to security clearance requirements.  If you are interested in such positions, begin to monitor usajobs.gov and U.S. federal agency web sites regularly now.

Graduating Senior Opportunities

Masters in Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago
The Masters in Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago teaches the skills of social scientific inference and the technical mastery of important computational methods. Students learn to make important contributions in Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Anthropology, and History. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until April 30.

Ohio Legislative Service Commission Legislative Fellowship Program
The LSC sponsors 23 – 24 paid thirteen-month legislative fellowship positions designed to provide college graduates with practical experience in the legislative process. The fellowship program begins the first week in December of each year and continues through December 31 of the following year. Applications for legislative fellowship positions are due May 1. Applications for media production fellowship positions are due May 31.

Rotary Peace Fellowship
The Rotary Peace Fellowship program awards up to 130 fully funded fellowships for dedicated leaders to study at one of their peace centers in either their master’s degree program or professional development certificate program. Applications close July 1, 2020 for the 2021-2022 fellowship.

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.

City Year
The role of a City Year AmeriCorps member is designed to help students build the social-emotional and academic skills to achieve their goals. The next application deadline in May 29, 2020.

Job Opportunities

APSR Managing Editor
The American Political Science Association is seeking a candidate to fill a full-timeManaging Editor Position in its publication department. Applications will remain open until position is filled.

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.