Faculty Distinctives
» Faculty members in the political science department are actively involved in research and scholarship in addition to advising and teaching. Over the past five years, they have published 12 books, 9 peer-reviewed articles, and 27 chapters in edited volumes.
Professor Doug Koopman co-edited Religion and American Politics: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (Pearson Education, Inc., 2010).
- Professor Amy Patterson published The Church and AIDS in Africa: The Politics of Ambiguity (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 2010).
Professor Patterson also received a Fulbright Grant in 2010 and spent February –July 2011 in Zambia conducting research.
- Professor Joel Westra published "Cumulative Legitimation, Prudential Restraint, and the Maintenance of International Order" in International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 54 No. 2, June 2010)
» Faculty regularly work with student research assistants. Between 2005-2010, department members have worked with 17 different student researchers through the McGregor Program and the Paul Henry Institute student research program. Some students have accompanied faculty members at conferences and on fieldwork (including fieldwork in Zambia and Uganda).
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Recent graduate Michelle Fraser (2010) traveled with
Professor Patterson to Uganda in July 2010 to assist with a conference that Patterson organized on religion, AIDS, and social activism.
» In last six years, political science department faculty have directed eight off-campus programs for students from a variety of majors at Calvin.
» Political science department faculty are fully invested in a number of interdisciplinary programs, including the pre-law program, the international development studies major, the urban studies minor, the gender studies minor, and the African and African diaspora studies minor.
» Thanks in large part to the department’s Washington, D.C. and state and local internship programs, the faculty serve students as readily available counselors and contacts for employment or other professional opportunities after graduation.
» Faculty members serve in leadership positions in their congregations and community organizations such as the Inter City Christian Federation, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the World Affairs Council.
