Political science is the study of constitutions, law, and government, at the local, national, and international levels, and of those things that influence the exercise of political power, such as individual interests and attitudes, norms, institutions, and culture.
On Monday, April 7, a retirement party was held for Dr. Pat Shields, a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Political Science. Around 40 faculty, staff, and students attended to celebrate Dr. Shields’ contributions to the department and university over her 47 years of service. The party included speeches and refreshments, including cake.
Dr. Shields received a PhD in Public Administration in 1977 from Ohio State University. She joined the faculty of the department’s Master of Public Administration program in 1978. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She was awarded the rank of University Distinguished Professor in 2020 and Regents’ Professor in 2021.
Dr. Shields served as the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program for 18 years and during that time served on the accrediting body for public administration programs and on the council of the National Association of Public Affairs and Administration.
She has been published widely in areas such as civil-military relations, peace studies, military recruitment, pragmatism and public administration, women in public policy, research methods and public finance. She won the Presidential Seminar Award for research (the university’s highest award for scholarship) in 1984. Since 2001, she has edited Armed Forces & Society, a leading journal in military studies. She received a career achievement award from the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society in 2017.
On Tuesday, April 1, Supporting Women in Political Science (SWIPS) hosted an informational session about graduate school for 12 of its members. Two panelists attended to assist, Zoe Kulas (Master of Public Administration) and Daphne Williams (BPA major, future law student at Texas Tech University).
Panelists were asked questions about their motivation for pursuing graduate studies, the challenges of graduate school, and the advice they would give aspiring graduate students. The goal of the panel was to help members gauge their interest in graduate school and provide them with real student testimony. Student questions centered around the application process and workload.
SWIPS is a nonpartisan women’s organization at Texas State University. This professional education and development organization is dedicated to helping political science majors and other students explore the various aspects of political science, enabling them to pursue their professional and academic interests. SWIPS meets every other Tuesday at 6:00PM in THH 309.
If you’d like to learn more information about this organization, please contact SWIPS President Madelyn Byers at mgb174@txstate.edu.
On Wednesday, April 2, over 60 faculty, staff, and students attended a faculty panel on “American Foreign Politics and World Politics in a Rapidly Evolving World.” Panelists included Dr. Tom Doyle, Dr. Ed Mihalkanin, Dr. Ionuț Popescu, and Dr. Franzi Newell.
Dr. Doyle opened with a discussion of American foreign policy from 1945-2025 pre-inauguration of President Donald Trump. This was characterized by the U.S. and its allies committing to a “liberal international order” with international laws, norms, institutions, and free trade. Goals were containing authoritarianism, defending democracy, nuclear arms control, and balancing a rising China and a reactionary Russia. Discussion then shifted to a comparison of foreign policy under President Trump. This has been characterized by a withdrawal from the liberal international order, increasing partisanship on foreign policy, and a shift to bilateral transactionalism and economic protectionism. Each panelist was able to share their views on the current changes to foreign policy approaches brought about by the new administration. Drawing on research from his new book (No Peer Rivals), Dr. Popescu argued the Trump administration is pursuing a successful realist grand strategy combining hard power with economic measures to reduce the deficit and counter the rise of China as a superpower rival to the United States. Dr. Mihalkanin, on the contrary, argued that Trump’s approach will likely lead to bad outcomes and a loss of US prestige around the world. Similarly, Dr. Newell warned against the risk of alienating US allies and of cutting foreign aid programs.
Student questions centered around the U.S.’ role in Ukraine, the risks of nuclear warfare, the future of the U.S. domestically and globally, and the controversy surrounding certain executive orders.
On Thursday, March 27, Pi Sigma Alpha hosted Dr. David Upham of St. Thomas University College of Law. His visit was co-sponsored by Discourse in Democracy, and the Department of Political Science hosted.
In the morning, Dr. Upham led a seminar for around 20 faculty, staff, and students that focused on the creation of the FourteenthAmendment. He discussed how the amendment originated, the debates surrounding its ratification, and the effects of its passing.
The seminar set the stage for Dr. Upham’s lecture in the evening, entitled “Taking American Citizenship Seriously and the Recovery of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The lecture shares its name with his newest book, which is set to be published in early 2025. More than 60 faculty, staff, and students attended. Dr. Upham’s lecture centered on the Fourteenth Amendment, particularly Sections 1 and 5. He explored various conflicting interpretations of the amendment and how our understanding of it has changed over time. He discussed the amendment’s role in several high-profile U.S. Supreme Court cases, such as Brown v. Board of Education and McDonald v. City of Chicago.
Dr. David R. Upham is currently an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Law. He received his J.D. from the University of Texas College of Law and his Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Dallas. Dr. Upham has published in a wide variety of journals including The Georgetown University Journal of Law and Public Policy, Perspectives in Political Science, Notre Dame Law Review, and Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. His scholarly work has focused on American constitutional history, with a particular focus on the Fourteenth Amendment. His book, Taking American Citizenship Seriously and the Recovery of the Fourteenth Amendment, is scheduled for publication later this spring.
From March 19th to 23rd, Texas State students participated in the Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) competition in Charlotte, NC. Students debated numerous topics ranging from combating the illegal mining and trafficking of precious metals to expanding cybersecurity capabilities to protect critical information infrastructure in developing member states.
Approximately 600 students, comprising 75 delegations from 45 universities, competed in the SRMUN competition. Participating universities included the University of Colorado, Auburn University, Clemson University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Central Florida.
Texas State represented the following countries:
Argentina – Gabriel Marquez, Joel Scott, Nolan Ruhland, Preston Love, Valentina Ardila-Rosales, and Caroline Cambron;
South Africa – Colm Graham, Eris Andrews, Ali Tinubu, Branden Henderson, Em Boegel, Alazne Leon, Emma Hopkins, Alli McCalla, and Simon Kinski;
Iran – Savanna Tremback, Oscar Friend, Leah Gonsalves, Emily Wheatley, Ethan Guinn, and Emily Hanna;
North Korea – Ashton Hansen, Sofia Hernandez, Lucy Beaty, Lauren Dekan, and Myra Bennett;
Afghanistan – Jonathan Hebler, Emmanuel Briseno-Hernandez, Zack Estrada, Carson Raatz, and Joseph Crist.
Texas State students performed extremely well at SRMUN, as they have in previous years. Highlighting our students’ accomplishments, the delegation representing Team South Africa and Team Argentina won co-Distinguished Delegation (2nd Place Overall), while Team Iran and Team North Korea won co-Honorable Delegation (3rd Place Overall). This marks the eighth SRMUN competition in a row that Texas State has had at least one delegation placing in top three. Remarkably, Texas State students also won several individual awards, with Ali Tinubu, Branden Henderson, Em Boegel, Alazne Leon, Preston Love, Nolan Ruhland, Savanna Tremback, Oscar Friend, Lucy Beaty, and Sofia Hernandez winning Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee) in their respective committees. This was the most individual and team awards that Texas State students have won in our participation in the SRMUN competition.
The complete list of awards and honors is as follows:
Preston Love and Nolan Ruhland – Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee), Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons;
Savanna Tremback and Oscar Friend – Co-Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee), General Assembly Plenary;
Ali Tinubu and Branden Henderson – Co-Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee), General Assembly Plenary;
Lucy Beaty and Sofia Hernandez – Co-Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee), International Telecommunications Union;
Em Boegel and Alazne Leon – Co-Best Delegate (1st Place in Committee), International Telecommunications Union;
Ali Tinubu and Branden Henderson – Best Position Paper (1st Place in Committee), General Assembly Plenary;
Colm Graham, Eris Andrews, Ali Tinubu, Branden Henderson, Em Boegel, Alazne Leon, Emma Hopkins, Alli McCalla, and Simon Kinski – Co-Outstanding Position Paper (1st Place Overall), Team South Africa;
Savanna Tremback, Oscar Friend, Leah Gonsalves, Emily Wheatley, Ethan Guinn, and Emily Hanna – Co-Outstanding Position Paper (1st Place Overall), Team Iran;
Savanna Tremback, Oscar Friend, Leah Gonsalves, Emily Wheatley, Ethan Guinn, and Emily Hanna – Co-Honorable Delegation (3rd Place Overall), Team Iran;
Ashton Hansen, Sofia Hernandez, Lucy Beaty, Lauren Dekan, and Myra Bennett – Co-Honorable Delegation (3rd Place Overall), Team North Korea;
Colm Graham, Eris Andrews, Ali Tinubu, Branden Henderson, Em Boegel, Alazne Leon, Emma Hopkins, Alli McCalla, and Simon Kinski – Co-Distinguished Delegation (2nd Place Overall), Team South Africa;
Gabriel Marquez, Joel Scott, Nolan Ruhland, Preston Love, Valentina Ardila-Rosales, and Caroline Cambron – Co-Distinguished Delegation (2nd Place Overall), Team Argentina.
“I had a great time at SRMUN this year,” said Ethan Guinn, president of Model United Nations. “This was my second year, so I was happy to share tips with the members new to SRMUN on succeeding in the competition. I think it paid off, and I was so happy to see all the awards we got.”
For more information on Texas State’s Model United Nations Competition Team, please contact Professor Ben Arnold at ca17@txstate.edu.
On Wednesday, March 19th, 17 faculty, staff, and graduate students attended an Inklings gathering. Dr. Patricia Shields, Regents’ Professor in the Department of Political Science, gave a presentation entitled “A Scholar’s Journey: How Students, Colleagues, Philosophy, and Surprise Shaped Invisible Ties of Discovery Over 30 Years.”
In her presentation, Dr. Shields discussed research methodology, stressing how she connected research purposes to conceptual frameworks and the importance of “micro-conceptual frameworks” that remain close to the data. She also highlighted several influential faculty, staff, and students that helped her with her research and writing.
Dr. Shields has been with the Department of Political Science for 47 years and will be retiring at the end of the Spring 2025 semester. She received a PhD in Public Administration in 1977 from Ohio State University. At Ohio State, she worked with the National Longitudinal Survey data at the Center for Human Resource Research. She began teaching as part of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program faculty in the Texas State Political Science Department in 1978. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She was awarded the rank of University Distinguished Professor in 2020 and Regents’ Professor in 2021.
Dr. Shields served as the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program for 18 years and in that time shepherded the program through three re-accreditation cycles. While MPA Director, she served on the accrediting body for public administration programs and on the council of the National Association of Public Affairs and Administration.
She has been published widely in areas such as civil-military relations, peace studies, military recruitment, pragmatism and public administration, women in public policy, research methods and public finance. She won the Presidential Seminar Award for research (the top scholar award at Texas State) in 1984. Since 2001, she has edited Armed Forces & Society, a leading journal in military studies. She received a career achievement award from the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society in 2017.
The original Inklings consisted of a small group of intellectuals (whose ranks included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) who met weekly at Oxford University to read aloud and discuss their works in a spirit of fellowship and civil conversation. In the spirit of these Inklings, the Department of Political Science at Texas State University has held similar gatherings for more than two decades. Meeting monthly, TXST Inklings participants discuss research, exchange ideas, and address a wide variety of issues reflecting diverse interests.
For more information on the series, please contact Dr. Arnold Leder at al04@txstate.edu.
The Department of Political Science houses two academic journals, an international mediation newsletter, and two program magazines - Political Science's Alumni NewsWire and Public Administration's Public Matters.
