Schar School News May 2022

2022 Paul L. Posner Federal Budgeting Award Winner Announced: Philip Joyce

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 27 May 2022 15:29:17 +0000

2022 Paul L. Posner Federal Budgeting Award Winner Announced: Philip Joyce Andrew J Schappert Fri, 05/27/2022 - 11:29

Philip Joyce, senior associate dean and professor of public policy in the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, is the recipient of the 2022 Paul L. Posner Federal Budgeting Career Legacy Award. Joyce received the award at the spring lunch of alumni of the Office of Management & Budget and the Bureau of the Budget.

The award, presented for the eighth time, recognizes those who over a career have made an important and lasting contribution to the federal government’s budget process and institutions and demonstrated high personal integrity and dedication to the public service.

Presenting the award, former OMB and House Budget Committee chief economist Joe Minarik said, “Phil Joyce personifies the standards set for those receiving this award. He has had a distinguished career both as a budget practitioner and as a scholar and teacher of the federal budget process. He literally wrote the book on the Congressional Budget Office.”

The Posner award is named for the late Professor Paul L. Posner, who served as director of the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Master’s in Public Administration program at ��AV. He was former managing director for strategic issues at the U.S. General Accounting Office for 14 years; he worked at GAO for 30 years. He died in July 2017, at age 70.

The award was made possible by a grant to Mason by alumni of the Bureau of the Budget, a group now merged with the Office of Management and Budget Alumni Association. It is administered by the Schar School’s Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise.

Philip Joyce’s teaching and research interests include public budgeting, performance measurement, and intergovernmental relations. He is the author of The Congressional Budget Office: Honest Numbers, Power, and Policymaking (Georgetown University Press, 2011), and coauthor of two books—Government Performance: Why Management Matters (Johns Hopkins, 2003) and Public Budgeting Systems, 9th Edition (Jones and Bartlett, 2013). He is the author of more than 50 other publications (including book chapters and articles), appearing in outlets such as the Public Administration Review, Public Budgeting & Finance, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Administration and Society, and the Handbook of Government Budgeting. Joyce is a former editor of the journal Public Budgeting & Finance and a past president of the American Association for Budget and Program Analysts. Joyce has been on the faculty of The George Washington University, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the University of Kentucky.

Joyce also has 12 years of public sector work experience, including four years with the Illinois Bureau of the Budget, three years with the Illinois Department of Corrections, and five years with the United States Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In 1992, he received the CBO Director’s Award for Distinguished Service. He received his PhD from the Maxwell School and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Topics

Awards

Paul L. Posner

Center on Nonprofits Philanthropy and Social Enterprise

Schar School News May 2022

Double Alum Finds Fulfillment with Master’s in Public Administration

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 25 May 2022 14:08:14 +0000

Double Alum Finds Fulfillment with Master’s in Public Administration Andrew J Schappert Wed, 05/25/2022 - 10:08

In This Story

Katrin B. Anacker

Meron Aboye: ‘When you’re studying something you are passionate about, it’s not about the grades anymore, it’s about what you’re actually learning.’

After earning her BS in chemistry from ��AV in 2019, Meron Aboye had a plan to attend pharmacy school. She has always followed a checklist. Go to college. Check. Take the right classes. Check. Get your bachelor’s degree. Check. Apply to pharmacy school. Check. But as she began receiving acceptances from several schools, she started to panic.

“I had a lot of reservations that this career wasn’t really for me,” she said. “I had never had those feelings before.”

So, even though she admits to being nervous, Aboye completely altered her plans.

“I decided to scrap that idea and find something I really wanted to pursue,” she said.

In a sharp pivot, she enrolled in the Master’s in Public Administration program in Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government, where she was initially intrigued by the nonprofit management concentration.

“Nonprofits have had a lot of impact on my life and I’ve always wanted to do nonprofit work,” she said. (She was part of Mason’s Early Identification Program, which provides access to educational resources for middle and high school students who will be the first in their families to attend college.)

Once she learned that an MPA could lead to other career avenues beyond nonprofits, including working in local or federal government, Aboye felt excited by the possibilities.

“With undergrad I had a list of everything I wanted to do and that kind of cornered me in one area,” she said. “That’s why I decided to go with the MPA. If I wanted to concentrate on nonprofits I could, but I could still be open to what else is out there for me.”

Aboye experienced a new-found motivation in her coursework.

“When you’re studying something you are passionate about, it’s not about the grades anymore, it’s about what you’re actually learning,” she said. “It felt fulfilling that the work I was going to do was going to be impactful.”

Aboye credits her professors with providing support and counsel whenever she needed it.

“They were always very accessible,” she said. “I always felt like I had that community.”

Katrin Anacker, a professor in the Schar School, taught Aboye in her Policy and Program Evaluation course. She says it was a privilege to have Aboye in class.

“She is a critical, respectful thinker who broadens analyses and enriches discussions,” Anacker said. “Her excellent questions demonstrated that she had thought about the materials ahead of class. The entire class benefited from her contributions.”

Now that she has graduated—again—Aboye will begin a two-year fellowship with the Loudon County Department of Finance and Budget, where she will provide data analysis support.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I have so much to learn. It will be a great opportunity for me to grow and develop, not just in my career but as a person.”

No matter where her career takes her, Aboye has learned that being openminded has its advantages.

“After switching from chemistry to where I am now and seeing how good that change can be, I’m not afraid of changing direction anymore,” she said.

Topics

Master’s in Public Administration

Schar School News May 2022

Shafuq Naseem: Seizing Opportunities, Winning Honors

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 17 May 2022 15:17:02 +0000

Shafuq Naseem: Seizing Opportunities, Winning Honors Andrew J Schappert Tue, 05/17/2022 - 11:17

In This Story

Bonnie Stabile

Heba F. El-Shazli

Shafuq Naseem: ‘I’m really fortunate to have met such inspiring and kind student-leaders who are willing to take the time and support me and the work I am doing.’

It’s been quite an active junior year for Shafuq Naseem. While many Schar School of Policy and Government students are busy enough with their studies, Naseem took on a new role as a research assistant for a project that she helped conceptualize—and for that her effort and other achievements, she received the Gender and Policy Center (GAP) Leadership Award.

That was just one of the honors bestowed on the government and international politics major this year. In October, Naseem was one of only 68 students in the country chosen to attend the Harvard Kennedy School’s Public Policy and Leadership Conference.

Naseem, it would seem, has made the most of the opportunities afforded by the Schar School and ��AV.

In addition to attending the highly competitive conference at Harvard, the Springfield, Virginia, native has broadened her experience, made meaningful relationships, and assisted those in need throughout her college career, all while maintaining a parent-pleasing GPA.

She spent 10 weeks in the fall of 2021 as an intern for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project. And this spring semester, she wrapped up an internship with Workplace Fairness, a worker’s rights resource organization.

Naseem gets her physical exercise amid her academic and extracurricular activities by running whenever she has the chance. Would she also have time to join a club? Well, actually, not only does she belong to a club, but she founded it—in her freshman year.

“It’s the Patriot Period Project,” she said. “Our mission is to address menstrual equity and period poverty on Mason's campuses.”

The pilot program, which distributes free menstruation products at campus bathrooms, began in the fall of 2021 and is expected to continue into 2022. Of course, at the time of founding the organization, the then-first-year student would hardly know the intricate ins-and-outs of beginning a brand-new, student-operated organization at a large academic institution such as Mason, and for that she worked with a network of student leaders with more experience, including the present and past student body presidents.

“I’m really fortunate to have met such inspiring and kind student-leaders who are willing to take the time and support me and the work I am doing. Many have become some of my closest friends at Mason,” she said of the relationships she’s developed. “I definitely owe it to a lot to my family, friends, and professors who continue to support me.”

One of those faculty members is Heba F. El-Shazli, an assistant professor with the Schar School and director of undergraduate programs. As an example of how faculty members can help students achieve their goals beyond the classroom, Naseem said the Women’s Rights Project specifically mentioned in their acceptance email the powerful letter of recommendation from El-Shazli.

“It is such a wonderful feeling when one can help another—when I can help such a deserving, hard-working, and dedicated student,” said El-Shazli.

That the professor knew Naseem so well is not an accident. She was El-Shazli’s student during a summer intensive course in which 14 weeks of study is condensed into five weeks.

“Let us say it is not a kind, gentle way to be introduced to a professor and their courses,” El-Shazli confides. “Yet, Shafuq came to as many office hours as she could three to four out of the five weeks” for wide-ranging conversations that touched on everything from workers’ rights in developing countries to environmental degradation to books, with Alka Joshi’s The Henna Artist being a particular favorite in common.

This year Naseem worked alongside a student team of researchers in the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP) to help Associate Professor Bonnie Stabile, director of the Gender and Policy Center, perform advanced research on a subject titled “Pink Taxes and Period Poverty.”

The topic, Stabile said, “was brought to my attention by Shafuq.” Her inspiration and her work led to the GAP Leadership Award.

Naseem recommends all students “open yourself up to meeting new people and getting to know your professors,” she said. “Not only do they want you to succeed in the classroom, but they also want to support you outside the classroom, with professional opportunities, or anything you find interesting.”

Topics

Government and International Politics

student organizations

Schar School News May 2022

Gender and Policy Center

Schar School BA in Government and International Politics

Schar School Student Spotlight

Helping first-gen students, graduate discovered her passion

Colleen Rich — Mon, 16 May 2022 17:48:04 +0000

Helping first-gen students, graduate discovered her passion Colleen Rich Mon, 05/16/2022 - 13:48

Mason student Olga Diupina completed several research projects on the accessibility of higher education, finding inspiration in English-language learners’ transition from high school to college.Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

While pursuing a degree in government and international politics at ��AV, Olga Diupina was thrilled to work in the field of political engagement. But between her personal experiences as a first-generation student and what she said she heard from colleagues, she realized her passion for equity wasn’t steering her toward the campaign trail, but back to higher education.

“I definitely didn’t come into college thinking I would want to work in admissions,” Diupina said. “But my passion is education policy. I want to ensure high retention rates for first-generation students making the transition between high school and college.”

Diupina, who finished her degree in three years, completed several research projects on the accessibility of higher education, finding inspiration in English-language learners’ transition from high school to college. She took this initiative into the Admissions Office at Mason, where she worked as a general admissions representative, leading tours across campus for first-generation students, and attempting to bridge the gap of accessibility so many fellow first-generation students face.

“While I’ve held a few political campaign internships, my main work has been with the Admissions Office,” said Diupina, a member of Mason’s Honors College. “I’ve spent most of my time there.”

With the guidance of faculty members—including Eva Bramesco, director of Mason’s University Scholars Program, and Assistant Admissions Director Carla Goodwin—and her day-to-day work in the admissions office, a full picture of a future pursuing her passions began to form.

She also received the 2022 Honors College Outstanding Service Award, with seniors Julia Hakeem (biology), Sean Diment (biology), and Kylie Smith (mathematics).

“Olga has elevated the entire Honors College Recruitment Team [HCRT] and has helped expand its size and scope from a group of student helpers to a thriving organization in which its members feel pride and ownership,” Bramesco said. “Olga is also instrumental in the success of our on-campus admissions events, providing logistical organization and direction for both the Ambassadors and HCRT.

“That Olga is so effective is impressive enough on its own,” Bramesco added, “but that she is able to balance these significant commitments successfully while also completing her degree in three years is nearly astonishing—and certainly recommends her well for the fast pace and hectic day-to-day of an admissions office.”

“Mason is such a diverse institution,” Diupina said. “There are people from all over the place, all over the world, all different walks of life. Being a first-generation student here, I’ve been able to meet others going through the same new experience—as well as discover how different our stories are.”

Diupina is graduating this spring with a bright future ahead of her.

“I hope to work in higher education in admissions. I want to stay at Mason as well,” she said.

"In admissions, we often say that there are those that do this for a few years, and there are lifers,” Bramesco said. "Olga is a lifer, and I look forward to seeing the impact she will leave on the profession."

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar School News May 2022

First-Ever Joint U. of Penn-Mason Course Teaches Students ‘How Washington Really Works’

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 13 May 2022 13:42:29 +0000

First-Ever Joint U. of Penn-Mason Course Teaches Students ‘How Washington Really Works’ Andrew J Schappert Fri, 05/13/2022 - 09:42

In This Story

Steven Pearlstein

Co-professors Ezekiel Emanuel, left, and Steven Pearlstein conduct the semester’s final class of “How Washington Really Works” at Horizon Hall. Photos by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Schar School junior public administration student Andrew Strasberg gains additional insight from Ezekiel Emanuel following the last class.

This story is adapted with permission from Penn Today.

Learning the inner workings of Washington, D.C., typically comes after a long career inside the Beltway, from how politicians manage to reach across the aisle and make successful policy decisions to understanding the role of think tanks and media.

But for a few dozen students at the University of Pennsylvania and ��AV, that experience was condensed into a single spring course called How Washington Really Works. The innovative class brought the students from Penn and George Mason every Friday to the Penn Biden Center at the base of Capitol Hill in Washington. The semester-long course was co-taught by Penn Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel and Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post columnist and Mason Robinson Professor Steven Pearlstein.

In a conference room with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows facing the U.S. Capitol building, the class looked at eight case studies to explore post-World War II policy debates, political dealing, institutional dynamics, and the personalities, motivations, and ambitions of the people involved in enacting legislation and operating the federal government. (The final class of the semester took place at Mason’s Horizon Hall on the Fairfax Campus while Penn students participated via video.)

Every class involved high-profile Washington insiders as guests who could speak to the topic of the day.

“They've had an opportunity to hear from people at the highest level of government: the former chief of staff, the former majority leader in Congress, the national security adviser to a president, the head of the New York Times Washington bureau,” Emanuel said.

“Tom Donilon was advising Obama on whether to send Navy SEALs in to kill Osama bin Laden and how to weigh that choice. Hearing from someone like that doesn't happen every day for Penn students, or for any student anywhere. Having these speakers week after week is a pretty amazing, insightful experience,” he said.

Case studies included topics such as John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis; Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform efforts, with Tom Daschle, former Senate Democratic/Majority Leader, as guest speaker; and George Bush, Barack Obama, and the 2009 Auto Bailout, featuring speaker Tim Geithner, former Secretary of Treasury.

Emanuel and Pearlstein, a Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, connected about 12 years ago, when Pearlstein was covering the passage of the Affordable Care Act for the Washington Post, and Emanuel was helping Obama craft the law in his role as health policy advisor. They developed a friendship over the years, and when Pearlstein transitioned into a new role as college professor, they started to talk about possible classes looking at the ways of Washington, Emanuel said.

“Both of us were lamenting how little students understood what really drives things in Washington and how things have changed. So, we hatched a plan to get students to think about civic life in different ways, to help them understand what's going on today in government and how to get things done,” Emanuel said.

Pearlstein said the class differs from a standard political science course in that it treats politics and governing more as an art—or at least a craft—than a science.

“What I hope we can do in this course is cure students of the deep cynicism, and a lot of their ideologically driven assumptions, that they bring to political and policy issues,” Pearlstein says. “They should come away with a lot more nuanced and sophisticated view of why politicians and institutions behave the way they do, why things happen and why they don’t.”

This spring was the inaugural launch of the How Washington Really Works course. Pearlstein said the course will be offered again in fall 2023.

Emanuel and Pearlstein alternated weeks of teaching, with the first half of the class a lecture and discussion and the second half of the 3.5-hour session devoted to the guest speaker.

On the day they discussed the Affordable Care Act, after Emanuel shared his first-hand knowledge, guest speaker Liz Fowler gave her insider view on helping write the ACA and her efforts to achieve bipartisanship. At the time, Fowler was chief health counsel to former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the Democrat from Montana who played an influential role in the debate on health care reform.

In the final weeks of the course, students worked in groups of politically like-minded colleagues to come up with comprehensive, politically realistic policy proposals to either regulate big tech, reduce poverty, or secure the promise of racial justice.

Sam Brause, a Penn senior computer science major, took the class because it was his final semester at Penn, and he wanted to take something totally different than his computer science courses.

Brause says taking classes with Mason students offered a valuable perspective and he appreciated the rapport the professors had with one another. And taking the class in Washington itself was particularly beneficial, Brause said.

Molly Reed, a senior at Mason Schar School of Policy and Government majoring in government and international politics, said collaborating with Penn students has been the highlight of the class.

“Also, getting the chance to learn from two renowned experts in the heart of D.C. was not something I wanted to pass up,” she said.

And being so close to the Capitol building was awe-inspiring, the Dallas, Texas, native said.

“Most of us have dreamed of working in politics for years. You can imagine how inspiring it is to be learning at the foot of where our nations’ decisions are being made,” she said. “It so happened that the day we were discussing Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination was the day Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated. Watching history happen across the street from our class is a memory none of us will forget.”

Schar School first-year student Pearl Matibe, a government and international politics major originally from Zimbabwe, said she took the class hoping to get a sense of the cultural, political, and economic dimensions that shape what happens on Capitol Hill. The class didn’t disappoint, she said, from the guest speakers to having a professor from another university to the location itself.

“While a university campus lecture hall has a similar look and feel in many cities across America, there is no other place on earth where the Capitol building—a distinct symbol to the world—is within view throughout class,” she said. “You can pick any class seat, and you have a panoramic view of the Capitol, and from the rooftop, Capitol Hill.”

How Washington Really Works is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program, which supports classes at Penn that aim to examine the theory and practice of dialogue across differences.

Topics

Politics

Schar School News May 2022

Examination of Middle East Politics Wins Undergraduate Research Award

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 11 May 2022 16:37:42 +0000

Examination of Middle East Politics Wins Undergraduate Research Award Andrew J Schappert Wed, 05/11/2022 - 12:37

In This Story

Heba F. El-Shazli

Peter Mandaville

Delaney Soliday: ‘Being in this program and being so supported by peers and other professors really allowed me to find my stride…’

Growing up in Irwin, Pennsylvania, Delaney Soliday remembers learning about Flight 93. Her small hometown sits roughly 50 miles from Shanksville, where the plane crashed on 9/11.

“I heard a lot about that and I wanted to understand it,” she said. “That led to my interest in Middle Eastern politics and it kind of showed me that there is so much more to the region.”

Now a junior in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at ��AV, Soliday, a global affairs major with a concentration in global governance, has immersed herself in her classes and in-depth research.

Peter Mandaville, a professor of government and politics in the Schar School of Policy and Government, has taught Soliday in courses including Introduction to International Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East. He has been impressed with her enthusiasm and scholarship.

“She has a genuine passion for learning, and for relating what she is studying to real-world events and policy considerations,” he said. “The questions and contributions she brings to the classroom are incredibly impressive.”

Soliday frequently discussed her research ambitions with Mandaville, and he connected her with faculty whose interests matched her own.

“Professor Mandaville has been amazing in helping me find a community and professors who were supportive of my research ideas,” Soliday said. “He has been really great in helping me take an initial idea and turning it into a plan that actually makes sense.”

Mandaville introduced her to Heba El-Shazli, an assistant professor in the Schar School, who also serves as director of the Undergraduate Research Community (URC). El-Shazli encouraged Soliday to join the semester-long program, which gives students the opportunity to gain hands-on research and analytic skills while contributing to topics of interest and earning class credit.

As part of the program, students work on a project and present it at an annual Undergraduate Research Fair. Soliday’s initial idea proved too broad, but after brainstorming with El-Shazli, her topic came into focus.

The finished product, The Taliban Over Time—A Diachronic Case Study of Governance in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, examined how today’s Taliban differs from the group that led Afghanistan in the 1990s.

“Professor El-Shazli really helped me to organize the idea because my initial idea was too all encompassing,” she said. “I came out with a much stronger project because of that.”

Indeed, Soliday earned first place at the Undergraduate Research Fair for her work.

“The poster and presentation were excellent on all levels: research question, visuals, content, responses to questions, and an overall engaging presentation of your research,” El-Shazli said in a congratulatory email to Soliday.

To say she was surprised is an understatement.

“I was really shocked,” Soliday said. “I was just over the moon. There were so many other incredible projects and I was just blown away by everyone’s creativity.”

Hoping for a career in homeland security or intelligence analysis, Soliday looks forward to her upcoming internship with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where she will serve on the counterterrorism and intelligence team.

“When I am working at the Washington Institute this summer, I will be getting open-source intelligence analysis training,” she said. “That’s something I’m really excited to put toward a future career where I’m able to use those skills potentially in a more classified setting.”

Soliday feels thankful she joined the URC, where she found community and confidence.

“Being in this program and being so supported by peers and other professors really allowed me to find my stride and also recognize that my research interests are not just a weird quirk,” she said. “This will actually get you somewhere, get you a career with the skills you are developing.”

Topics

Student Research

Schar School News May 2022

New Approaches to International Development—Seen Through a Creative Lens

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 09 May 2022 15:03:34 +0000

New Approaches to International Development—Seen Through a Creative Lens Andrew J Schappert Mon, 05/09/2022 - 11:03

In This Story

J.P. Singh

Rebecca Schutt, former head of the British Council’s DICE program, discusses the artwork on display at Mason Square with Elsie S. Kanza, ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania to the U.S. and Mexico. Photos by Ron Aira/Creative Services

Schar School Professor J.P. Singh at the gallery opening: ‘DICE is making contributions that need to be understood.’

Reprinted with permission from the Pioneers Post (UK).

When Professor J.P. Singh heard the British Council’s plan, he wasn’t entirely convinced.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said the professor of global commerce and policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV.

The British Council, the U.K.’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, had commissioned 12 artists to illustrate his paper that outlined a theoretical framework for cultural relations approaches to international development. “Although it’s about art, and I work in that area,” said Singh, “I’ve just never had artists interpret a very academic paper.”

An exhibit of the commissioned art opened in April at the Van Metre Hall Art Gallery at Mason Square, formerly Arlington Campus, in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to a panel discussion about art, culture, and global commerce, Elsie S. Kanza, ambassador of Tanzania to the U.S. and Mexico, delivered a keynote speech. The exhibit continues until May 13.

Like Singh, Kazz Morohashi was similarly hesitant when faced with turning the paper into art. “It was a little difficult to get my head around it. Initially, I had to read it a couple of times,” said the artist who is finishing her PhD in museum learning design at the Norwich University of the Arts in England.

But after a period of nine months working with Singh and the other artists, the Japanese-born, U.K.-based creative produced a work which somehow manages to distill some of the ethics and practices of new approaches to development work into a two-and-a-half-minute animated video about a toy rabbit and his floristry business.

The paper and art are the result of Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE), a three-year pilot program designed to foster cultural and economic agency launched in 2018.

(Story continues at Pioneers Post.)

Topics

Global Commerce and Policy

Schar School News May 2022

Schar School Undergrads Exhibit Results During Research Fair

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 05 May 2022 13:47:35 +0000

Schar School Undergrads Exhibit Results During Research Fair Andrew J Schappert Thu, 05/05/2022 - 09:47

Ian Waite, left, and Anna Sladek pose with their poster depicting their work, with Camila Anderson, on the Local Climate Action Project.

Delaney Soliday won the top prize for The Taliban Over Time: A Diachronic Case Study of Governance in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Schar School undergraduates are encouraged to pursue their own research ideas by enrolling in the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, known as URAP. The program is supported by the Undergraduate Research Community (URC), a one-credit course that provides ��AV students with valuable access to experts and resources focused on all aspects of research and careers.

During the semester, students who volunteer for URAP work closely with Schar School professors who teach them how to conduct research, how to use sophisticated research tools, and how to present their conclusions in an oversized, single-sheet poster detailing their findings.

Not only do the students perform “research of consequence” that resonates beyond the campus, but they acquire valuable, highly marketable skills that prepare them for future careers.

Once a year, URAP and URC participants get to put the posters on easels during the annual Research Fair and explain to visitors the findings of their projects. This year’s event at Mason’s Fairfax Campus featured 15 posters, representing work by more than 40 Schar School undergraduates working with 15 faculty mentors and advisors.

Ruth Wolde-Semayat, pictured, Katherine Ly, and Lydia Sigman did a deep-dive into Congressional Caucus Data Collection.

Jena Musmar explains the research behind To What Extent Do US Carceral Settings Efficiently Provide the Psychiatric Needs of Inmates with Schizophrenia and How Should it be Improved?

Sophie Lutz, left, and Madison Moreau were part of a team depicting Mapping the Cross-Strait Military Balance.

Topics

Undergraduates

Schar School News May 2022

Political Science PhD Student, Adjunct Aaron Stuvland Earns Congressional Fellowship

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 04 May 2022 16:39:51 +0000

Political Science PhD Student, Adjunct Aaron Stuvland Earns Congressional Fellowship Andrew J Schappert Wed, 05/04/2022 - 12:39

In This Story

Jennifer N. Victor

Aaron Stuvland: ‘Having an up-close and personal perspective on how Congress works will enhance my teaching.’

After defending his PhD dissertation in November 2021, Aaron Stuvland weighed various employment possibilities. In the end, the Schar School of Policy and Government PhD in political science student turned down several teaching opportunities and accepted an offer from the American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellowship Program.

“I had a few other options, but nothing that was more compelling than doing the fellowship,” he said.

The APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is a highly selective, nonpartisan program devoted to expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress. Since 1953, it has brought select professionals to Capitol Hill to experience Congress at work through fellowship placements on congressional staffs.

The nine-month program begins in November with an intensive one-month introduction to Congress taught by leading experts in the field. After orientation, fellows work in placements of their choosing and participate in ongoing seminars and enrichment programs.

Stuvland’s dissertation, “Talking Like a Populist? Exploring Populism in Six Western Democracies,” examines when and why parties “talk like populists” or use populist ideas, concepts, and frames to appeal to voters. To answer this question, he analyzed speeches and manifestos over the last 20 years in Austria, France, Germany, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.

Jennifer N. Victor, associate professor in the Schar School and a member of Stuvland’s dissertation committee, encouraged him to apply for the fellowship. A former APSA Congressional Fellow in 2004-05, she thought Stuvland would benefit from participating in the prestigious program.

“Working in this capacity on Capitol Hill has several advantages for scholars of politics, not the least of which is the opportunity to develop first-hand experience with the policy-making process in the U.S.,” she said.

Stuvland admits he probably would not have considered the APSA fellowship had Victor not informed him of it. (The last time a Schar School PhD in political science graduate earned the APSA fellowship was in 2015. Brian Alexander is now a tenure-track faculty member at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.)

“She thought it would be a good opportunity for me to gain experience in Congress and get a better sense of how it works and to do it in the context of this fellowship,” he said.

Stuvland, who is an adjunct instructor at the Schar School, aims for a career in academia after the fellowship concludes and believes the program will strengthen his skills.

“Having an up-close and personal perspective on how Congress works will enhance my teaching,” he said. “I see the fellowship as a good way to deepen my knowledge of American politics and equip me to teach a variety of courses about Congress, policy-making, and things like that. I want to bring that experience and that knowledge to the classroom.”

Stuvland, who also holds a master’s degree in political science from the Schar School, says relationships with his professors have been key to his success.

“They modeled not only what the school is about, but how to be a good educator,” he said. “That would be the one thing I would highlight at my time at the Schar School. A lot of good teachers, good instruction, good people.”

Topics

Adjunct

Fellowships

Schar School News May 2022

political science

In Memorium: Former Ambassador Bill Farrand

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 03 May 2022 13:56:55 +0000

In Memorium: Former Ambassador Bill Farrand Andrew J Schappert Tue, 05/03/2022 - 09:56

In This Story

Richard Kauzlarich

Bill Farrand

Robert William (Bill) Farrand, a former U.S. ambassador who in retirement became a longtime distinguished senior fellow in ��AV’s School of Public Policy (now the Schar School of Policy and Government), died on April 26 in Alexandria, Virginia. The cause was Parkinson’s Disease.

Farrand was an instrumental affiliate faculty member of the Peace Operations Policy Program, preparing students and practicing professionals for careers in conflict resolution.

A career Foreign Service officer, Farrand was ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu between 1990 and 1993, then served as Deputy High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1997 to 2000.

Farrand cowrote, with former Schar School Peace Operations program director Allison Frendak-Blume, the textbook Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans: The Brcko Experience (2011). The book recapped his efforts in implementing the Dayton Peace Accords in the ethically divided Balkan territory of Brcko in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I admired his nonstop energy and commitment to building peace—something he carried over to his teaching in the Peace Operations program here at Mason,” said Distinguished Visiting Professor Richard Kauzlarich, who worked with Farrand when Kauzlarich was U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We will miss him as a valued friend and colleague.”

Farrand was a member of the Cornwallis Group, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the American Foreign Service Association, and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.

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Schar School News May 2022

Obituary