Greeting from the chair

July 2007

Welcome to the Department of Political Science at Idaho State University. I’m beginning my third year as the Chair of our Department. We look forward to another productive and rewarding academic year serving our students, our profession, and our community. As it is in life, change and continuity continue to define our department as well as Idaho State. We continue to be a significant presence within the College of Arts and Sciences - the fourth largest undergraduate department and the third largest graduate department.

University wide we are in the midst of a major transition as our new President, Dr. Arthur Vailas, finishes up his first year at the helm at ISU. At the administrative level there are a lot of new faces here at Idaho State as President Vailas and Provost Robert Wharton put into place their leadership and administrative team. We say goodbye to our Dean, Dr. John Kijinski, as he moves on to be the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the State University of New York (SUNY), Fredonia. A fair-minded and supportive leader and administrator, he will be greatly missed.

As for our department, we are also in the midst of a transition as we witnessed our second retirement in two years. Dr. Mary Jane Burns, who taught international politics, human rights, the politics of Mexico, gender and politics, and who was also Co-Director of the Women’s Studies Program, retired in 2006. In May 2007 Dr. Ralph Maughan retired after thirty six years teaching at Idaho State in the Political Science Department. Dr. Maughan taught American politics and environmental politics and policy in our undergraduate and graduate programs. An avid conservationist, Dr. Maughan is also known for his popular “Hiking Idaho” books, his direction of the Wolf Recovery Foundation, and his environmental internet blog.

The newest member of our department, Dr. Donna Lybecker, will begin her career with us this Fall 2007 semester. Dr. Lybecker received her doctorate in Political Science from Colorado State University and was hired to fill Dr. Burns’s position in international relations. Dr. Lybecker’s areas of expertise include international relations, Latin America, the US-Mexico borderland, and environmental politics. We welcome Donna to our department and look forward to working with her.

The 36^th annual Frank Church Symposium on International Affairs, named in honor of the late Idaho Senator Frank Church, was held on campus February 28 to March 2. The symposium is organized by students in the International Studies Program, which is affiliated with the Political Science Department. Dr Richard (“Rick”) Foster, a political scientist in our department, is also the Director of the International Studies Program and Advisor to the International Affairs Council which sponsors the Frank Church Symposium. This year’s topic was “Women and Children as Second-Class Citizens of the World.” Ten national and international experts (lawyers, scholars, diplomats, professors, and activists) attended the conference to discuss topics ranging from child soldiers to human trafficking to the rights of women and children to poverty and health care.

Our annual Statesman of the Year Banquet, organized by the student members of the local chapter of our honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha, honored Idaho State Senator Edgar Malepeai. for his contributions to education and the people of Idaho.The banquet was a big success with people from around the state in attendance.

Dr. David Adler, professor of constitutional law and advisor to our three student organizations (Pi Sigma Alpha, the Law Club, and the ACLU Club), was selected as one of five top Distinguished Researchers of the Year at ISU for the second year in a row.

In 2005 Dr. Mark McBeth and Dr. Douglas Nilson, were selected as Distinguished Teacher of the Year (Dr. McBeth) and Distinguished Public Servant (Dr. Nilson). Dr. McBeth gave the commencement speech at the Summer 2005 student graduation. Members of our faculty have won outstanding teaching, research, and/or public service awards for the past six years.

Our graduate programs continue to grow. We currently have 10 graduate students in our Master of Arts program, 23 students in our Master of Public Administration program (MPA), and 22 students in our Doctor of Arts (DA) program.

We will be teaching classes in the new Rendezvous Building beginning this Fall semester of 2007. A state of the art higher education facility, the classrooms are high-tech and able to accommodate our average class size which is between 30 to 40 students.

Our adjunct (part time) faculty is a valuable asset to our department, bringing invaluable practitioner experience into the classroom. This superb group of instructors includes Pocatello city planners Robert Chambers and Tim Tingey, former US diplomat J. Michael Cleverley, former Idaho Congressman and Pocatello City Councilman Richard Stallings, attorney Tom Eckert who teaches criminal law, our own Doctor of Arts (DA) graduates Earl Phippen and Seth Kellam, and the honorable N. Randy Smith who was recently appointed United States Circuit Judge for the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Overall I am very upbeat about where our department is currently at and where we are headed. Please feel free to visit the other links on our website to learn more about our programs, our faculty, and our students. We are especially interested in hearing from former students. Send us an email to let us know what you are doing now.

Best Wishes,

Wayne Gabardi

gabawayn@isu.edu