Student news and events

Sign the retirement Guestbook for our beloved Graduate Secretary Barbara Faria
Barbara will be retiring after 34 years of exceptional work at the University of Windsor. The Department of Political Science was extremely fortunate to have had Barbara for 28 of those years. In addition to her retirement Guestbook, there will be an open house in Barbara's honour on Monday April 30, 2012 from 2-4 in room 1137 in Chrysler Hall North. All are welcome to attend the open house in celebration of this wonderful woman and all she has done for our Department. Please feel free to sign the Guestbook at the link below:
http://cronus.uwindsor.ca/users/f/faria/guestbook.nsf/Input?OpenForm
 

Department offers new combined program with Digital Journalism
Students interested in pursuing careers in journalism now have the option to earn a combined honours degree at Windsor in Digital Journalism (DJ) and one of three academic disciplines: Political Science, English (either English Language and Literature or English and Creative Writing), and Communication, Media and Film. Journalism is an exciting but rapidly changing field, with increasing need for practitioners and audiences who can navigate and utilize the capabilities offered by the internet and social media in addition to traditional print, televison, and radio outlets.  The combined DJ programs are now admitting students for Fall 2011.  If you are interested in finding out more about Digital Journalism at Windsor, please click here, or for more information on the specifics of the combined DJ/Political Science program, please click here.

New title for 45-160 course
Heads up to those students enrolling in the department's 02-45-160 course - as of the Fall 2011 semester, the course has a new name.  Formerly known as Issues in World Politics, the department has re-titled 45-160 Introduction to International Relations, to more accurately reflect the content and focus of the course as it hs been taught over the last several years, and to make sure students know that the course provides a foundation for those majoring in the BA Honours International Relations and Development Studies program.  The course is also an option for those students in the Political Science BA programs, and is popular among non-majors from across the unviersity.  Because course descriptions and titles are scattered across various parts of the department's and university's websites it may take some time before the updated title appears in all the right places, but it has been updated to Introduction to International Relations on the Student Information system (SIS) already, and is the official course title.
 

Windsor Political Science adds new internship option for MA program
The Department of Political Science is happy to announce that it has added a new option for MA students to complete their degree.  The new option will be based around coursework and a 4-6 month internship, followed by a research paper and presentation based on the student's internship experience.You can read more about the internship option by clicking here, while general info on our MA program is available by clicking here.

Windsor professor leads EU study abroad program
University of Windsor political science professor Dr. Stephen Brooks recently returned from the two-week European Union Study Abroad Program, in which students from Windsor and the University of Michigan (at right) studied EU politcal and cultural institutions in Brussels and Leuven, Belgium.  Check this site for more information on next year's program as it becomes available, or read about the requirements for this year's program here.  This story was also reported on the University of Michigan website.

MA student wins Ferriss Award from Graduate Studies
Political Science MA student Osman Shah has been awarded the 2010-11 A. Rand and E.G. Ferriss Award by Graduate Studies.  The award of $1000 is given every year to a graduate student with a minimum average of 11.0 (A-), and Osman was one of seven winners of the award in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences this year.  Congratulations to Osman on behalf of the department!

IR major on her way to Ghana with Engineers Without Borders
Third year International Relations major Tania Sanchez (at right) is heading to Ghana for four months this summer as a Junior Fellow with Engineers Without Borders (EWB).  Tania will be working in northern Ghana's Tamale District, where she will be traveling to different communities to interview farmers and conduct a detailed assessment of EWB’s Agriculture As a Business (AAB) strategy.  The goal of the AAB strategy is to help rural farmers switch from subsistence to market-oriented agricultural production, generating more farm revenues that can then be put towards other household and farm expenses, such as school fees for their children, medicine, and seeds.  Her objective will be to determine the strategy's impacts on farmers and bottlenecks in its implementation.  Based on her findings and observations, Tania will then be expected to make recommendations to the long-term EWB volunteers.  Upon returning to Windsor in the fall, Tania will volunteer with the local on-campus chapter of EWB to help raise awareness of international development issues and share her experiences with the campus and broader Windsor communities.  Good luck to Tania during her time in Ghana!

Political Science looks to add new BA, MA programs
The Department of Political Science has been working to develop a number of new programs for both undergraduate and graduate students, and to update current program offerings.  Detailed information on new programs will be added in the listings under the Graduate Programs and Undergraduate Programs headings on the left as they are approved and added to our roster of offerings.  The department expects these programs to be approved at the university level in the near term, but in the meantime, we want to let prospective and current students know what the department is working toward.

For students interested in and Honours BA in Political Science, the department is working to create two new Honours BA programs with specializations in bilingual skills (French and English, with several classes to be offered in Ottawa through collaboration with l’Université d’Ottawa) and in Law and Politics (building from our popular Law and Politics certificate program).  The bilingual specialization will begin admitting students for Fall 2011 - please email us at the address listed below and check this site frequently for more details as they become available and program requirements are finalized.

For students majoring in International Relations, we are adding a new concentration on Middle East and Islamic Studies that capitalizes on faculty expertise in the Political Science, History, and Languages, Literatures and Cultures (LLC) departments. This expands from our current lineup of six concentrations, of which students must select two for their degree.

And for prospective master's students, the department is working to put together a new MA stream that will include internship opportunities in combination with graduate level coursework.  Please keep an eye on our site for news on these programs as they become available to students, or email us at polscigrad@uwindsor.ca or polsci@uwindsor.ca for more detailed information.

Political Science MA students hit the conference circuit
Several MA students in the political science program have been hitting the road to attend and present at several different conferences around Canada this year, and the department is proud to highlight their efforts.

In April, Taylor Plunkett, Osman Shah, and Bilal Hamade are attending the 9th Annual Graduate Conference at the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies at McGill University in Montreal. Taylor's paper, "How to Train Your Dragon: China and the Potential for International Cooperation," focuses on the increasing importance of China in great power politics and the international system, asking whether China's rise will lead to inevitable great power conflict, or if the development of new great powers in the current system will enhance the potential for cooperative security and problem solving. Osman will present a paper titled "The Other Preatorian State? The Pakistani Military in Afghanistan," which outlines the nature of the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan via a historical analysis of the realities that have shaped the foreign policy issues between the two countries.  Bilal's paper, "Hezbollah and Canada: Is Hezbollah a threat to Canada?", examines the role of militatn group and political party Hezbollah through the lens of Canadian foreign policy.

This will be the second year in a row in which Windsor's MA program has had a presence at the CIPSS conference. Jack MacLennan, who is on his way to Ottawa's Carleton University in the fall to start the PhD program in political science there, presented his paper "A Still Developing Legacy: Iraq and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention" in Montreal at the CIPSS graduate student conference last March.  He followed this with a presentation on "Iraq (1998) and Iraq (2003): Constructing an Invasion," at the University of Windsor's Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation, and Rhetoric in February of this year. Jack is also on the program for the Canadian Peace Research and Education Association Annual Conference, part of the 2011 Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities to be held at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB, with a paper titled "Discussing Humanity: Rhetoric, Legitimacy, and Humanitarian Intervention After Iraq (2003)."  You can read more about Jack's work at his personal website.

Uri Marantz, who recently defended his MA major paper and is currently completing his MPP as part of Windsor's joint program with the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is also slated for three presentations this winter and spring.  In February, Uri presented his paper "Reworking Rationality: Canadian Democracy and Voting Behaviour" at the Carleton Graduate Student Conference in Canadian Politics: Democracy at the Crossroads?, held in Ottawa.  Next up for Uri is the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship Graduate Student Conference, March 25 and 26 in Québec City, where he will be presenting a paper titled "Apathetic Voter Behaviour: Rationally Unpredictable or Predictably Irrational?"  Finally, Uri will be presenting at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG), in Calgary in early June.  His paper, titled "Canadian Food Aid and Foreign Assistance: Cause or Effect of Foreign Policy?" examines changes in Canadian foreign and food aid policies in relation to the Israeli-Palestianian conflict.

Political Science and IR majors on Honour Roll

Several students from our Political Science, International Relations, and combined Political Science programs made the Dean's Honour Roll for the 2009-10 academic year.  We congratulate these students on their hard work and record of academic achievement during the past year. Keep up the good work!

• Drama & Political Science: Helena Mackenzie
• French & Political Science: Pinar Cil, Alexandra Rosinska
• History & Political Science: Zainab Abdulle, Jessica Brunet, Felicia Gabriele
• International Relations: Grace Bachelder, Adriano Durante, Ishita Guptan, Tania Sanchez, Lyndsay Stecher
• Modern Languages/German & Political Science: Jasna Cakmak, Joel Yinger
• Philosophy & Political Science: Joanna Tambakis
• Political Science: Andrew Drouillard, Cynthia Gurdebeke, Bradley Hymers, Connor Lyons, Suzanne Nield
• Political Science & German: Ryan Solcz
• Political Science & Labour Studies: Adam Bulkiewicz