Ivan Larson Presents at Pi Sigma Alpha National Conference

Ivan Larson (Political Science and History, 2016) delivered a paper on "Anti-Federalist Fears of Judicial Activism and the Federalist Response" recently at the Pi Sigma Alpha Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C. Ashland University was one of 42 schools in the country to send a student to the conference.

You can see the program for the conference here and more information is available here at the PSA Website.

AU's Model Arab League Team Places Second at Regionals

At this year's Ohio Model Arab League competition, Ashland University's team came in second,  placing ahead of thirteen other teams, among them teams from Ohio State University, Miami University, and Centre College, KY. This year's team also won numerous individual awards. Kelly Ranttila, Joey Barretta, Jackson Yenor, James Coyne, Joshua Frey, Brianna Sargent, and Sophia Leddy all won awards for their individual performances representing Qatar. AU's team was advised by Dr. Rene Paddags, Assistant Professor of History & Political Science. This is the first time Ashland University won a team award since it began participating in Model Arab League competitions four years ago.

AU's Model Arab League Team

A Model Arab League competition resembles a summit meeting of delegations from Arab countries. Divided into different committees, the delegates represent their countries' interests and try to achieve joint resolutions according to a pre-set agenda. The students participating in the Model Arab League are judged on their knowledge of their country and the region, their knowledge of parliamentary procedures, and their persuasiveness and diplomatic skills.

A Career in Charitable Giving

According to Karl Zinsmeister (in Imprimis, January 2016), the nonprofit sector of the US economy "comprises eleven percent of the total United States workforce. It will contribute around six percent of gross domestic product this year. To put this in perspective, the charitable sector passed the national defense sector in size in 1993, and it continues to grow. And these numbers don’t take volunteering into account: charitable volunteers make up the equivalent—depending on how you count—of between four and ten million full-time employees. So philanthropy is clearly a huge force in our society." 

The rest of this article has an interesting defense of philathropy, connecting it to the kind of regime we have in the United States, one where there is "polyarchy," that is, where there are a large number of different kinds of centers of power (as opposed to a monarchy, where there is one great power).  In other words, as our students will understand, we have federalism and protections for economic (and other) freedoms and for private choices about how to live.  

The philanthropic world  doesn't spring immediately to mind as a place for history and political science majors to seek out careers, but it should.   

Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium (URCA)

History and Political Science students (and their hardworking advisors) are well represented in the College of Arts and Sciences URCA Symposium this year.  Joey Barretta, Zachary Lindesmith, James Coyne, Joshua Frey, Ivan Larson, Allison Brosky, Sophia Leddy,  Tara Marasco, and Andrew Thomas are all giving oral presentations.  The subjects range from why the Civil War came to Constitutional Interpretation to Religious liberty and the Russian threat to Europe (among other topics).  Come out to support your colleagues on April 12 in Upper Convo.  And don't forget to check out the presentations from students in other departments, many of which are giving interesting papers.  You might learn something valuable.

Update:  Click here for the URCA website, which has now posted the schedule:

Internship Opportunity in History

Historic Lyme Village outside of Bellevue, Ohio, needs an intern:  

Lyme Village is "a reconstructed 19th Century facility looking to expand our programming and/or educational mission during 2016 in several directions.  What I am looking for is a one day a week intern to work in support of our special events during the coming season.  What I am not looking for is someone to take our garbage or run a cash register."

"Our needs require comprehension of historical accuracy and creativity along with the social skills to adapt and deal with a board of directors that considers anyone under 70 youthful."

If you are interested contact Dr. Foster.

What To Do in School to Have Success in Life?

Researchers at Gallup identified six elements of an undergraduate experience that had a significant effect on a students' post-graduation success:

1. A professor who made them excited to learn;
2.A professor who cared about them as individuals;
3. A mentor who pushed students to reach their goals;
4. Working on a long-term project;
5. Completing a job or internship related to classroom lessons;
6. Being engaged in extracurricular activities and groups.

According to the story, only 3% of students said they "strongly agree" they had all six experience that the researchers say have a "stronger relationship to long-term life outcomes... than the type of school these graduates attended."

Additionally, of graduates who strongly agree their schools prepared them well for life, 82% reported experiencing all six, compared with just 5% who say they experienced none. 

Ok, how hard can it be to make sure all six of these are at least available?  (Also, we must add that studying Aristotle's Ethics can be included in #1.)

Here is the whole story about the study.