Daniel Hammond has received Departmental Honors for the Fall 2011 Commencement from Truman State. In addition to earning a perfect grade point average, Daniel has served two internships for the U.S. Department of Justice, received the Outstanding Attorney Award at the National Mock Trial Association competition, and participated on the Truman Model UN Team that won the 2008 Outstanding Delegation Award.

The Truman State team won the “Outstanding Delegation Award “ for its representation of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the American Model United Nations International Conference held in Chicago, Illinois from November 19-22. Stephen Gott and Chelsea Rodriguez were noted for their outstanding performance in their roles. Mehdi Zaidi also was chosed by the World Health Assembly to present the final report on “Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property” to the General Assembly. Samuel Kirschenheiter was selected to serve as a reporter on the International Press Delegation. He had four articles published throughout the conference an in subsequent editions of the American Model UN Newsletter.

Truman Political Science faculty and students will be active participants at the International Studies Association-Midwest Conference from November 11-13 at the Hilton at the Ballpark in St. Louis.  Professor Michael Rudy will present a paper that he co-authored with Wyatt Hoffman and Jeff Hunt entitled “Evaluating the Visegrad Battlegroup.”  Political Science Senior Dan Ritter will also present his paper on “Democratic Hegemons: Belligerent Boss or Gentle General?”

Political Science major Syed Zaidi has had his article “Islam and Democracy in Asia” accepted for publication in the Summer 2010 edition of Studies on Asia.

A consortium of graduate schools of international affairs which includes Tufts University (The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy), Princeton University (The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs), Georgetown University (Walsh School of Foreign Service), Columbia University (School of International and Public Affairs), and Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies) will be visiting Truman. The session will provide information to students about their graduate degrees and careers in international affairs.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday, September 21st at 1:30 in SUB Georgian Room A.

All students interested in graduate school and careers in foreign affairs are invited to attend.

Dr. Galina Zapryanova joins the Political Science faculty this academic year as a visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science. Dr. Zapryanova has a Bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She spent the summer of 2011 as a Research Fellow at the Max Weber Postdoctoral Programme at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Her fields of specialization include International Relations, Comparative Politics, Methodology, the Politics of Europe and the Politics of Latin America.

Elizabeth Hatting has received department honors for the May 2011 commencement. Elizabeth joins Amanda Nehrkorn, David Scott and Allison Coffelt as this spring’s honorees. Department honors are noted on the recipients’ transcripts and in the commencement program. To earn department honors, graduates must have an overall GPA of 3.65, a GPA in the major of 3.75, and distinguish themselves at two out of three activities involving a research presentation at an organized conference, a significant off campus learning experience, or demonstrated excellence in a university activity.

Jenny Johnson, senior political science major, was a recipient of a Pi Sigma Alpha Best Paper Award at the 19th Annual Illinois State Conference for Students of Political Science on its Bloomington-Normal campus on April 8th. Jenny presented her work entitled ” Political Islam and Gender Inequality” at the meeting. Her faculty mentor was Assistant Professor Michael Rudy.

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious honor society for the liberal arts and sciences, inducted six politcal science majors into Truman’s Delta chapter of the organization on April 17th. Our newest Phi Beta Kappa members are Christian Johns, Shannon Miller, Amanda Nehrkorn, Adam Reynolds, Dylan Terry and Syed Zaidi.

David Scott and Dr. Randy Hagerty participated at the Twentieth Annual Midwest Political Science Undergraduate Research Conference on the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, April 15-16. David presented his paper entitled “Insights into the Nature of Political Evolution: The Competing Cases of Hayek and Marx.” Dr. Hagerty served as the chair and discussant for the panel on “Environmental Politics and Policy.”