Several UB faculty members and students traveled to Boston, Mass. this weekend to attend the American Political Science Association's annual four-day convention to present original research and participate in panel discussion.
"(The APSA Convention) is like Disneyland for a political scientist," said political science Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Monroe Eagles. "Major publishers attend, cutting edge research is heard and discussed, and it's a chance to catch up with colleagues socially, which has a great impact for the sociology of the discipline."
According to its Web site, the APSA is the largest professional organization for the study of politics in the world. Now in its 99th year, the APSA has 13,500 members in 70 countries and annually holds meetings that draw approximately 6,000 people to hear about new research, as well as socialize with peers in the discipline, colleagues, and political celebrities.
This year, keynote speakers include APSA President and Harvard Professor, Robert Putnam and Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont.
At the conference, researchers present their work in a panel setting attended by colleagues and peers of the author, and a discussant later comments on their work.
UB professors attending the conference include James Campbell, presenting "The Likely Effects of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act."
Johanna Birnir, the panel chairperson for the Society for Romanian Studies, will discuss "The Foreign Policy Implications of Romanian and Moldovan Domestic Policy."
Professor Mark Hurwitz will present original research findings titled "The Dynamics of Discretionary Opinions in the U.S. Courts of Appeals," which he believes is a largely ignored area of study.
Hurwitz said that most scholars tend to focus on the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, but he believes that the opinions authored by the justices in these lower courts, both dissenting and concurrent, have also had an enormous impact on the judicial system.
Many faculty members attend the conference each year, forcing the department to cancel a few classes.
Eagles believes that attending the APSA convention goes a long way toward keeping professional political scientists up to date on current issues facing their discipline.
"The value of your degree depends on the quality of the faculty," said Eagles.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
