Antietam Field Trip

On the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, twelve students and two faculty members from Ashland University visited Sharpsburg, MD. Arriving late Friday night on the campground near Burnside's Bridge, we set up our tents, started a fire, and had a beautiful dinner under the stars. Before everyone got a good night's rest, we got an introduction to the battle by listening to presentations from Robert E. Lee, George McClellan, and Edwin Stanton. The next morning, we broke camp and began our seven hour tour of the battleground. In the picture below you see us at Bloody Lane where the most ferocious fighting took place during the bloodiest day in American history.

Possible Career Lead for Teachers

I recently got this email from "Match Education", a company that prepares recent graduates to become outstanding teachers: 

Match Corps: Merrimack Valley is a full-time, 10.5-month urban education math tutoring fellowship in two high schools in the Merrimack Valley. We are hiring 50 smart, idealistic, relentless people to work during the 2012-2013 school year. Each Fellow works during the school day with two students at a time for five periods a day, and will have a personal caseload of 12 students all year long. Fellows not only will drive student achievement by providing individualized instruction, but will also build personal and meaningful relationships with urban students and their families during this pioneer year of service.

This opportunity is for math teachers, but Match Corps prepares students in all fields.  See their website: Match Education.  This looks like a good organization.  Has anyone else heard of them?

Alumni Update - Rebeccah Heinrichs

Rebeccah Heinrichs (Political Science, 2004), who can be seen and heard here participating recently on a panel on President Obama's "open-mic" statement, has just graduated from the U.S. Naval War College with a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Congratulations!  Knowing that she's looking out for us, we can feel a little bit safer.

Spring is Here?

Ok, today was a dismal day and depressed both the Mehock Relays and the Wendy's Spring Classic tournament, but the azaleas are doing their best to cheer things up.  Good luck to all you majors, and especially the seniors, as you prepare for exams and defend theses.

Legal Internship in Cleveland

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland has an internship available this Summer for students interested in a legal and nonprofit/government career.  This is how Amy Schuster, PHR, Human Resources Generalist, describes the opportunity:

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland (Legal Aid) seeks an intern for its Development & Communications Department to work up to 40 hours per week in its downtown Cleveland office this summer. The internship will begin in early June 2012 and last for approximately 12 (or more) weeks. Applications are due by May 4, 2012.

The Development & Communications Department focuses on fundraising from individuals, law firms, corporations and foundations; handles public relations; and conducts media outreach. The development intern will primarily support the Director of Development & Communications. We’d appreciate you circulating this job posting to any of your students who demonstrate interest in both a legal and nonprofit/government career.

Feel free to contact Amy with any questions or for more details. 

Amy Schuster
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
1223 West Sixth StreetCleveland, OH 44113
(216) 687-1900 main (216) 861-5023 direct
amy.schuster@lasclev.org

Check out Legal Aid’s website at http://www.lasclev.org/

Academic Honors Convocation

At the Academic Honors Convocation on the weekend, three students in history and political science were recognized for academic excellence.  Dantan Wernecke, for outstanding senior; Erin Sutter, for outstanding junior; and Joseph Griffith, for outstanding sophomore. Congratulations all! 

Please note that Dantan will be defending his Ashbrook thesis on Thursday (the 19th) at 3pm in the Ashbrook Center.  His topic: "The Happy Empire: Publius, Aristotle, and the American Regime."  The defense is free and open to the public. Next year, Dantan will be pursing his Master's degree in political science at Hillsdale College.

Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year

Our own Dr. Michael Schwarz was named the Outstanding AU male faculty member of the year over the weekend (at the 25th Annual Leadership and Service Recognition Reception, 2011-2012).  Congratulations Michael! It is a well deserved award.  It should also be noted that Dr. Schwarz had some tough competition,  including no fewer than two other faculty members from History and Political Science, Dr. Peter Schramm and Dr. Chris Burkett.  Besides, we had a nominee also in the category of Outstanding female faculty member of the year: Dr. Edith Foster.  Is this an awesome department, or what?  (By the way, the photo shows Dr. Schwarz delivering his very fine keynote address on Thomas Jefferson as the indispensible founder at the recent Phi Alpha Theta conference held at AU.)

Spring Study Abroad in Italy

This photo shows a number of History and Political Science majors (and a couple of others) under the gaze of Niccolo Machiavelli in his hometown, Florence, Italy.  The students were participating in the study abroad part of "In the Footsteps of St. Paul," a course run over Spring Break by the Department of Religion.  Thanks to Amy Miller for the photo.

Thesis Season

The first Ashbrook Thesis defense is tomorrow, when Caitlin Dalton defends her thesis at 5:15 in the Ashbrook Center. Her topic is "Let Us Be Terrible": The Character of Law during the Reign of Terror. Defenses are open to the public and they are usually informative and a lot of fun.  You can see the whole schedule here:  http://scholar.ashland.edu/thesis_calendar.html.  All of them are held in the Ashbrook Center.

A Culture of Politicization on Campus

This op-ed by Peter Berkowitz in the Wall Street Journal  (4/1/2012) comments on a new report by the California Association of Scholars called "A Crisis of Competence: the Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California."  (The WSJ requires registration; if you can't get the op-ed, try a Google search, which may give you a free pass.)  Suggesting that UC reflects trends across the country, Berkowitz points out that not only are most professors from one political orientation (17 Democrats to 0 Republicans in the UC Berkeley sociology department, for example, or 31 Democrats to 1 Republican in history), but more importantly, those professors see their task as promoting a political agenda rather than the evenhanded critical examination of evidence and arguments. The result of this approach, as it bears on the study of history and political science?

"None of the nine general campuses in the UC system requires students to study the history and institutions of the United States.  None requires students to study Western civilization, and on seven of the nine UC Campuses, including Berkeley, a survey course in Western civilization is not even offered... In many political science departments majors need not take a course in American politics."

Is that a problem?

Phi Alpha Theta Conference

Congratulations to Dr. John Moser and the student from Phi Alpha Theta for hosting a very successful conference this weekend.  One visiting professor had this to say:

"I wanted to send you (Dr. Moser) a brief note to let you know how much I enjoyed the PAT conference held at Ashland University this past Saturday. The professionalism and collegiality that you and your students (as well as all of the presenters and participants that I met) made this regional a truly remarkable event. It was a pleasure to present my research at this conference!"

And special congratulations to Dantan Wernecke, who won a prize on Saturday for his paper, "The Philosophic Executive: John Adams and the Early Crisis with France."