Political Science Department News

Richard Barberio, Associate Professor of Political Science, has received a Fulbright Scholar award for a research lectureship in international politics with the University of Milan, Italy (Università degli Studi di Milano). During spring 2020, he will teach courses in American government and politics for the University’s Department of International, Legal, Historical and Political Studies graduate program. The University of Milan is a large public institution near the city’s historic center. Its graduate programs in the areas of law and political science are routinely ranked as the best in Italy and highly regarded throughout the world.

Robert Compton, Professor of Political Science and Africana and Latinx Studies, has been awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.

Gina Keel, Associate Professor of Political Science, has been awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Brett Heindl, Associate Professor of Political Science, has published an article, “Muslim Immigration and Religious Human Rights,” in the February 2017 issue of International Politics. The article explores how legal and philosophical blindspots in international human rights protections created opportunities for nativist groups to target Muslim immigrants in Western Europe. View the full-text of the article.

Gina Keel (Political Science) presented “Sustainability Education: Values and Methods for Student Engagement” on a roundtable she developed and led at the Annual New York State Political Science Conference in Plattsburgh, April 10-11, 2015. The roundtable of SUNY professors discussed pedagogy and their use of case studies, simulations, games, creative media projects, civic and service learning projects to engage students in environmental policy and sustainability-related courses. Keel also chaired panels on Policy Evaluations & Innovations and Administrative Reform at the conference.

Bill Wilkerson (Political Science) has presented two papers this winter. The first, titled “Using “Big Data” in a Political Science Research Methods Course: A Description and Initial Assessment of a Social Media Analysis Assignment,” was presented at the American Political Science Association’s Teaching and Learning Conference in January 2015 in Washington, DC. The second, titled “Using Wikipedia page views to measure the mass salience of US Supreme Court decisions,” was presented at the Midwest Political Science Association meetings in Chicago, IL earlier this month. In addition to presenting, Wilkerson served as a paper discussant at each conference.

Robert Compton, (ALS and Political Science) presented a paper titled, “ 2015 Human Security, SADC and COMESA Regionalism: State Weakness and National Interest” at the International Studies Association (ISA) & Global South Caucus (GSCIS) Conference in Singapore, on January 8-10. The paper examines access to food and water security as one among a three-tiered structured concept of national security and evaluates the performance of SADC and COMESA in improving conditions of primary human security and the reaction of states to such initiatives. At the GSCIS Conference, Dr. Compton also served as a discussant for a panel titled, “The “Grand Challenge” of Disability and Development: Comparative Analysis of ASEAN Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPWD): Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam”

Robert Compton, ALS and Political Science, and Dr. Randy Clemons (Mercyhurst University) undertook an external review of the Buffalo State College, Department of Political Science’s undergraduate programs in Political Science and International Relations on May 7-9, 2014. They submitted their report on June 9, 2014.

Joshua Frye (Communications) and Gina Keel (Political Science) with Jack Byrne (-Middlebury College) co-facilitated a SUNY Faculty Senate development workshop, “Infusing Sustainability in New and Existing courses” at SUNY ESF, Syracuse, on June 2-3, 2014. Forty-one faculty from various campuses and disciplines in natural and social sciences, design and engineering, and teacher education participated in curricular discussions, shared resources, and made plans for collaboration. The group toured ESF’s LEED-certified Platinum Gateway Center, its combined heat-and-power (biomass) system and green roof, and ESF grounds, which exemplify using the campus as a laboratory. In addition to facilitating breakout sessions, Keel and Frye presented Oneonta’s Sustainable Susquehanna initiative of faculty workshops and other sustainability education efforts on our campus, and Keel led a place-based teaching exercise. Peter Knuepfer, University Faculty Senate President, initiated the cross-campus effort, and Deborah Howard, SUNY Director of Sustainability, and her staff organized the conference.

Gina Keel (Political Science) and Dr.Joshua Frye (Communication & Media) collaborated on a special issue of the Taylor & Francis journal First Amendment Studies with a focus on food and free speech. Dr. Keel examined GMO food labeling law and politics in “Commercial Free Speech Trumps the Politics of Food Labeling: The Legacy of rbST-Free Milk Mandate and Prohibition Cases for Genetic Engineering Disclosure Laws.” Dr. Frye’s article, “Big Ag Gags the Freedom of Expression” analyzes the recent focus on manipulating public communication in the political strategy of the industrial agriculture complex. Other articles in the special issue were published by faculty at Humboldt State University and Louisiana State University. A limited number of full-text copies are available at Taylor & Francis Online.

Robert Compton, Department of Africana and Latino Studies and Department of Political Science published a review essay titled “Hegemony, leadership, and integration: South Africa” in Regions and Cohesion, vol. 4 (1). The review essay examines the role of post-apartheid South African leadership in promoting social cohesion. It examines the country’s public policies and the use of political power. The 2,500-word essay relied on three books:

• The African National Congress and the regeneration of political power, S. Booysen, 2011. Wits University Press.
• Why nations fail: The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty, D. Acemoglu & J. Robinson, 2012. Crown Publishing (Random House).
• A legacy of liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the future of the South African dream, M. Gevisser, 2009. Palgrave-Macmillan.
• Regions and Cohesion is the journal of the Consortium for Comparative Research on Regional Integration and Social Cohesion (RISC) based at the University of Luxembourg.

Dr. Richard P. Barberio, published The Politics of Public Policy (Pearson 2014), a text that examines public policy making in the United States as an inherently political process, something fairly uncommon in the world of texts aimed at undergraduate public policy courses. The book uses a “policy as politics” approach to explore two related main themes: 1) How the public policy process both enhances and detracts from democratic ideals inherent in American democracy; and 2) The political nature of policy making. Exploring public policies and the policy making process as products of politics can help students gain new insights about key facets of our democratic ethos, such as representation, legitimacy, debate, and deliberation.