Undergraduate Research
Some of our Political Science majors choose to complete an Honors project on a topic of their interest. Most or all of the work associated with an Honors project is done in the senior year, though it may be begun earlier, and culminates in a research or critical paper or its counterpart in the creative arts.
Here's a recent sampling of honors projects completed by Political Science majors:
Honors 2012-13
- Sarah A. Tanzer: "Swing or Miss: An Analysis of the Evolution of Campaigning, 1980 – 2008"
DeWayne Lucas, adviser
- William H. Abbott: "Good Kid, Mad City: Public Education under Neoliberalism"
Jodi Dean, adviser
2011-12
- Caitlin O’Brien: "Toward a Better Democracy: Non Rational Political Engagement and the American Democratic Structure"
Paul Passavant, adviser
- Gideon Porter: "A Perfect Storm: Why America does not do more to Combat Poverty"
Iva Ellen Deutchman, adviser
2010–11
- Meghan J. Bowden: "The Truth of the Matter: The Practice of Truth-Telling as a Site for Constituting Liberal Democratic Subjects and Community"
Paul Passavant, adviser
- Eleanor M. Chandler: "Complexity: An Emerging Discourse that Bridges the Natural and Social Sciences"
Jodi Dean, adviser
- Zachary C. Kimes: "Politics and Memory: Revolutionary Organization from Lenin to Hardt to Negri"
Jodi Dean, adviser
2009-10
- Julie Boardman-Brann: "Libertarianism: The Ideology that can Save the Conservative Movement"
Iva E. Deutchman, adviser
- Kelsey Lagana: "Los Nuevos Republicanos? – An Analysis of the Latino Cohort and Their Relationship with the Republican Party"
Cedric Johnson, adviser
- Shane Simon: "Political Realignment and Contemporary American Politics: Critical Elections, Partisanship and Polarization in the United States"
Iva E. Deutchman, adviser
2008-09
- Peter M. Van Dellon '09: "The Greatest Success of the Bush Administration"
Paul Passavant, adviser
2006-07
- Peter Jonathan Gregory '07: "Right Like Their Parents: Conservative, Republican Youth Activism"
Iva E. Deutchman, adviser
- Benjamin Wilson Nichols MacDonald '07: "The Invisible Hand and the Hand of God: Libertarians and Evangelicals and the Unraveling of the Conservative Fusionist Consensus"
Iva E. Deutchman, adviser
- Jasmine Yarish '07: "Gifts and the Ghosts of Recognition: On Death and the Politics of Recognition"
Jodi Dean, adviser
2005-06
- Sarah DeGray '06: "Hip Hop and Authenticity: Navigating the Semilogical, Ideological and Commercial Functions of Authenticity in Rap Music and Culture"
Kevin Dunn, adviser
- Amanda Jantzi '06: "The Immorality of Choice: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Abortion Rhetoric of the Christian Right"
Cedric Johnson, adviser
2003-04
- Jared C. Klebanoff '04: "The Reterritorialization of the State: A Critique of Hardt and Negri"
Paul Passavant, adviser
- Anthony J. Patrone '04: "The Prospect of Democracy in the Middle East: The Case of Iran"
Kevin Dunn, adviser
