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Political Science & Geography DepartmentPolitical Science and Geography Newsletters (PDF Format) What's NewStudents and alumni! Send your news items to Professor Kathleen Braden (kbraden@spu.edu) or Ruth Ediger (ediger@spu.edu), so we can share with our community. Note: Your submission gives us permission to post them here. Applying for a Global Development Studies major? Please note that now you can apply at any time. The application form is under "Areas of Study" on our dept. website. As noted in the catalog, you must have a minimum 2.5 average grade point in classes for the major.
SOME PEOPLE HAVE ALL THE LUCK
Christalyn M. Steers with Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Do you want to study Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese or other languages over the summer? Check out the Kathyrn Davis fellowship program to spend a lovely summer in Vermont at Middlebury College studying what our government calls a "critical language" : Middlebury College fellowship
Check out the "Running Start: Bringing Women Into Politics" program at Running Start and note their connection for college students with the American University program. Unfortunately, the fellowship program deadline for this year is past, but you might want to keep it in mind for next year if you are a freshman or sophomore. Thank you to SPU prof. Claudia Grauf-Grounds, whose daughter is involved in the program, for the tip on its resources! OUR AGENTS IN EGYPT!
Kristin McCarthy writes:" We are all having an amazing time in Cairo studying and learning so much! I have attached two pictures of the four of us (Tyer Anders, Caitlin Kincaid, Kelsey Hampton, and myself) first on top of Mt. Sinai, and then at the Arab League."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEY! Check out etc magazine feature on political science major, Rosa Covarrubias: ROSA in Etc
Welcome to all new Global Development Studies majors admitted in 2009! Pictured above from left- Davis Winslow, Danielle Bradford, Cynthia Haan, Alyssa Newton, Marissa Ukosakul, Taylor Beach, Michael Chew, Anja Thompson, Aaron McConkey, Jenn Birch.
Note from alumna looking for students to help with Guatemala ministry: My name is Lynsey Neal and I graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 2007 with a degree in Political Science: International Affairs. I am writing you in regards to a ministry opportunity: I am in the process of starting a non-profit organization called Semilla de Esperanza (Seed of Hope Ministry) in Antigua, Guatemala. Semilla de Esperanza is a youth ministry whose purpose is to see the youth in Antigua, Guatemala and throughout the world develop real and personal relationships with Jesus Christ; to help the youth find real, everlasting hope in their lives through coming to live in communion with God. Lynsey wrote this Sept that she will be back in Seattle in November and would like to connect with SPU students who want to help. You can email her at seedofhopeministry@gmail.com or visit her on Facebook.
Alumni News http://www.globalzero.org/en/report-back We've come a long way but much remains to be done. We're in this for the long haul-and we need you with us all the way to the finish line. Rosalyn Leitch started her internship in Washington DC with the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation and wrote " Right now, we are working mostly on a project to fund education exchanges that would bring students from the Middle East and Gulf states to the US to get degrees in Nuclear Engineering and Safeguards Policy. "
http://herdropinthebucket.blogspot.com/
Nicole Beges took a position as Legal Administrative Assistant at Falhman, Olson, and Little which is a Law Firm that deals with Trust and Estate Management. Speaking fo the legal profession, Allison Kerr spent 9 days as a file clerk and was promoted to a paralegal Conrad Reynoldson is interning with the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC Anne-Marie Snider (one of our Geography self-designed major BAs!) is entering the University of Wellington’s PhD program in Geography in New Zealand and will focus on the new emerging field “geography of happiness” studies-
Jonathan Hall (who is a new dad!!!!) is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden. His dissertation focuses on diasporas and building peace in their homelands. As part of his PhD, he has taken external courses in Ljubljana, Oslo and Coimbra; He has presented papers at e.g. the annual meeting of the International Studies Association in San Francisco and New York, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Association for Development Research in Trondheim. As a PhD candidate he is responsible for administrating a Conflict Analysis bachelor's course, and lectures in Peace and Security on the bachelor's level and in the Dept's Causes of War master's course, which is part of an international two year master's in Peace and Conflict Research. He lives in Uppsala with his wife Caroline.
Sarah Ludeman Day sent her essay about visiting the
and this message: I'm writing you from the small, medieval town of St. Paul, about 2 hours south of Lyon, where my husband and I are staying for two months to study French. Not sure where or when we'll put it to use, but one of you told me that "the extent of a man's language is the extent of his world" so I'm here expanding my world. :) We've been living in Lausanne, Switzerland up till now, and we'll be heading back there in March to continue serving on the Youth With a Mission campus. Being in Europe is great! I've had the chance to travel and explore a land that's significantly richer in history and heritage than the U.S., dare I say. Can't say I appreciate the price of food, though. One of my favorite places to see last fall was the United Nations. Is life at SPU still good? I have to say I miss it. I miss academia! Maybe I'll be back for more.
Happy New Year and enjoy inauguration Tuesday.
Jonathan Assink, who received his BA in Political Science in 2005, with a minor in Geopolitics and a minor in Sociology, wrote: "I traveled with a group from my church to an orphanage in Lira, Uganda last February and spent 10 days there building a home. Photos from our trip can be found here (http://is.gd/fdFE) on my Flickr page. Secondly, and as a result of my trip to Uganda partly, I have been accepted into the International Care and Community Development masters degree program at Northwest University over in Kirkland. My goal is to eventually use photography and video to help missionaries and aid workers tell the stories of the people they are serving and working with."
From Paul Henderson: I’m currently living in Ballard and I work in a Financial Management office on Mercer Island—Paracle Advisors (I was a Political Science and Economics double major). The office was a great fit—one of the partners is an SPU grad and they are all just good, quality people. The past few months have been very, very interesting (i.e. my textbooks have been coming to life), and slightly busy, but all in all I still actually enjoy going to work in the mornings… something that I don’t take for granted. From Robert Mbugua ("Wawa")- I graduated in ’07 with my International Affairs, Political Science Bachelor’s degree. I would love to say that I’m now living somewhere where the sun never stops shining, and the rain is the furthest thing from my mind. To tell the truth, I’m still at SPU and there is no sun in sight – the wet ground and dark skies this winter are threatening to be a huge damper on my spirits. I’m not to be bamboozled by the weather though – I love the SPU community, my co-workers here at the Office of Admissions are fantastic, and the brightness of the incoming students keeps me cheerful all winter. I’ve been working at the SPU undergraduate Admissions office for just over a year now, staying connected with the SPU community through the students that I connected with on the road. Graduate school is also in the books for the future – when and where shall remain to be seen.
From Trina M. Heppner: "Graduating with an infant under 1 year old and another on the way was not easy, but I did it. I'm currently living in Los Angeles while my husband studies full time at USC's prestigious film school. I'm a stay-at-home mom, a full-time marketing manager from home for www.mineeds.com/, and I've started my own photography business http://psphotography-video.com/. We've recently found out that we have #3 on the way. Moving down here was a big step since the cost of living is a lot higher than what it was in Tacoma, but we're doing great." Emily Cochran Bech '02, who was ASSP president during her senior year, is working on her advance degree at Columbia University, and has two children with husband Peter. ( Dr. Braden can verify they are extremely cute.) Matthew Carter '05 writes, "A lot has happened to me since graduating in 2005. After spending a year doing carpentry and realizing I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life, I joined the Navy via OCS (by the way, it would be nice if you guys had more ROTC programs! :). I got commissioned in Oct 2006, got selected for the "premier," aviation, field of the navy, and have been selected for the E-2C Hawkeye. I'm currently stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, learning the finer points of a 50-year-old plane and how to fix it. Supposedly, E-2 guys get selected more frequently to assist the admirals in D.C.: possibilities? Here's a picture of me at commissioning (in whites) and during flight school for you to post and give some encouragement to those guys in Dr Durasoff's classes. If I remember correctly, he always enjoyed the ... current political policies? Hope you are doing well, as well as your colleagues; say "hi" to them for me! In Him, Lt. JG Matthew Carter, USN Stephanie Henry '08 writes, "I am currently interning with Fox News in Washington D.C., through the National Journalism Center. I work on Special Report, Weekend Live, and with Fox's British affiliates at Sky News. Needless to say, it's been quite an exciting time here at the Capitol, and I've been blessed with the opportunity to see it all first-hand. After my internship, I hope to freelance with Fox and/or Sky, either here or in NY. From Ryan Jablonski '05: "I’m doing quite well here. After graduating, I did some management and development work for a small startup for a couple years. I eventually decided to get some more education — I’m now over at UC- San Diego working on a Ph.D. in political science and co-teaching a couple courses. Specifically, I’m doing a lot of work on the political economy of commodity trades, particularly with regards to China and Africa. So I’ve been staying pretty busy and having fun working on some interesting research projects in the area. Other than that, I’m of course enjoying life here in San Diego. It’s great to be near the sunshine, sailing, surfing, and diving. Currently, I’m actually recalling Dr. Durasoff’s methods classes and trying to put together a couple good lectures on research design! Hope all is well in the department. Send some more graduate students this way one of these days. From Marcus Hill 07 : "I am currently attending Azusa Pacific University Graduate School in Los Angeles, Calif.. I am getting my master's of divinity. I am going to school full time and working as a youth director for St. Luke’s. I live in Pomona, Calif., and sing for the APU gospel choir. I am enjoying life and can’t wait to come back and visit Seattle for the Christmas season. It is great to know everything at SPU is going well."
I'm currently living in Arlington, Virginia, and am employed by Washington D.C. law firm Dickstein Shapiro LLP as an editor. It's been fun living in this area with all of the political energy that comes during election season, and I have certainly put the debating skills learned during all of my political science courses to good use! Hello to all alumni and professors; I miss the SPU community and think of you all often." From Becka Hamby '07: "I graduated from SPU in 2007 in International Affairs. I am currently in my second year of teaching elementary school in El Tigre, Venezuela. I work for a nonprofit organization called Quality Schools International. This organization establishes schools in some of the most remote and interesting places in the world. They have schools in over 29 different countries. Living in Venezuela has definitely been an experience. Before I moved here, I traveled extensively, but had no idea how different it would be living in a foreign country compared to traveling in one. Even though living abroad requires lots of patience, flexibility, and definitely an open mind, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the wider world. It really stretches you and makes you think about issues like you never have before. I love teaching and plan on going back to school to get my master's in education soon. Teaching abroad is one of the best ways to see the world, as there are always opportunities available, and that is something I definitely want to take advantage of. If there is anyone interested in teaching abroad, I would be more than happy to talk with them. Also, feel free to put my email address on the site: Becka Hamby (beckaallison@gmail.com). Nathanael Vlachos '05 writes, "I graduated from SPU in 2005 as a political science and philosophy double-major. I saw your -mail and wanted to let people know what I am up to. I have attached a (small) picture of myself as well. I am currently living in Lubbock Texas with my wife, Rachel Schneider '06. I am getting an M.A. in philosophy from Texas Tech University, which is one of the top M.A. programs for philosophy in the country. Even though I am getting an M.A. in philosophy, I have not abandoned my political science roots. I am applying to Ph.D. programs in philosophy this fall, and I hope to study political philosophy and applied ethics. I hope everyone in the department is well. I will never forget Dr. Davis' Marxism class my sophmore year! |
UN: 
see, Dr. B. even had an old photo of Jon with his dog Weezie's puppies. Watch out what you give to your profs- it might come back to bug ya! 
Joel Braman '04 writes, "I'm here in Boston, Mass., finishing medical school and MBA in Health care Management at Tufts University. I will continue my training with the U.S. Navy at a Naval Medical Center of their choosing." 
Megan Bartlett '05 sent us a photo that she captions "Me in front of my future residence." You go, Megan! and this news, "I love the new website; it looks great! Thanks for contacting alumni, because I'd love to hear what everyone has been up to since graduation.