University of Iowa Department of Political Science

09/05/2026

👏 Alumni News!

Congratulations to Barrett Anderson (BA ’08), University of Iowa Political Science alumnus and Alumni Advisory Board member, on receiving the 2026 Recent Graduate Award as part of the University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Awards. Anderson's impressive career in public service, law, and advocacy has taken him from leading student organizations at Iowa to serving as a senior trial attorney with the Federal Trade Commission. We are especially grateful for his continued service to the Department of Political Science through his leadership on our Alumni Advisory Board. Join us in celebrating this well-deserved honor! 💛🖤

🔗 Read the full story: https://www.foriowa.org/daa/daa-profile.php?namer=true&profileid=626

08/31/2026

👏 Graduate News!

Congratulations to our 2026 Best Graduate Student Paper Award recipients!

🏆 Best Conference Paper Award
• Brody DeBettignies – “Adjusting the Thermostat: Anti-Transgender Policy Introduction and Feelings of Warmth”
• Taylor Tokos – “The Substance and Style of Lawmaking: Linguistic and Compositional Bill Complexity in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993-2024”

🏆 Best Seminar Paper
• Olive Kuester – “Transgender Issues in Congressional Communication”
• Brendan Mapes – “Does Mixed-Regime Interaction Really Cause Systemic Conflict?”

We are proud to recognize these exceptional scholars for their outstanding research and contributions. Congratulations on this well earned honor! 👏🎉

08/28/2026

08/28/2026

👏 Faculty News!
Congratulations to Professor Fred Solt on his new publications in the European Political Science Review, Political Studies Association, and Political Science & Politics

The article "Macrodiscontent Across Countries", uses survey data from 136 countries spanning 1968 to 2023, researchers created a new measure of public political discontent. The study finds that political discontent has generally increased across advanced democracies, with economic challenges such as low incomes, weak growth, and unemployment emerging as key drivers. The dataset offers a powerful new resource for understanding democratic stability, governance, and public attitudes worldwide. https://tinyurl.com/EPSR-2026

The article "Trust in Civil Servants: A Cross-National Dataset for Public Policy Research, 1986-2022", examines a new study introduces the first large-scale cross-national dataset tracking public trust in civil servants across 98 countries from 1986 to 2022. The findings show that while economic performance and public safety can boost trust in the short term, long-term trust is driven most strongly by effective, high-quality governance. This new dataset provides valuable opportunities to study how institutional trust shapes policy outcomes and public cooperation. https://tinyurl.com/PoliStudiesAssoc2026

The article "A TAO for Data Wrangling: A Practical Routine for Getting Past the 'Janitor Work'", examines that for research that requires data from dozens or even hundreds of surveys, Teamwork, Automation, and Open-sourcing the whole procedure are crucial to getting done right the dirty job of pulling all those data together in the first place—that’s the TAO of data-wrangling. (link for article not available)

08/26/2026

Our UI Political Science graduate students took on the Iowa State Fair last week! 🎡 Ahmed Bulbul, Adam Lappe, Madeline O'Brien, and Chase LaSpisa captured the moment with a photo in front of the Iowa mural while enjoying a day of fair traditions, exploration, and plenty of steps.

08/24/2026

After a summer spent studying goose-vernment, reviewing public policy, and perfecting her parliamentary honk-cedures, Gertie is excited to get back to campus for another semester of Poli Sci adventures.

Gertie's Fall 2026 Schedule:
🕗 8:00 AM — Introduction to Goose-vernment
🕙 10:00 AM — Comparative Pond Politics
🕛 12:00 PM — Lunch & Lobbying for Extra Breadcrumbs
🕑 2:00 PM — Constitutional Honk Law
🕓 4:00 PM — Advanced Migration Policy

Gertie is also excited to welcome all her new followers! Whether you've been part of the flock from the beginning or just joined, thanks for following along with her campus adventures.

🏛️🪿 Here's to a semester of learning, leadership, and keeping the goose-vernment in session!

🍁📖🪿

08/21/2026

How does a place become a symbol of history?

As preparation for his Outliers course (POLI:3426), Professor Ron McMullen traveled to Bosnia this summer to explore how history, memory, and identity shape political life.

📍 In Sarajevo, he visited the corner where Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, an event that sparked World War I (Photo 1). He also visited Princip's burial site, where he and his co-conspirators are memorialized as "Heroes" in a Serbian Orthodox chapel and mausoleum (Photo 2).

📍 McMullen also explored Sarajevo's 1984 Winter Olympic bobsled track overlooking the city (Photo 3). Just a decade later, during the Siege of Sarajevo, nearby positions were used by Serb forces to target the city. He visited the market where a 1994 mortar attack killed more than 60 civilians, now marked by a red-painted memorial at the impact site (Photo 4).

📍 In Banja Luka, capital of the Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, McMullen examined how competing historical narratives continue to shape the region (Photo 5). He visited a memorial honoring 26,000 Army of the Republika Srpska soldiers who died during the Bosnian War of the 1990s (Photo 6).

Through firsthand experiences at these historic sites, McMullen brings complex questions of conflict, memory, and political identity into the classroom.

08/20/2026

✨ Student Spotlight: Sean Keene

Sean Keene has made the most of his University of Iowa experience, studying abroad in Spain, Chile, France, and Italy while pursuing degrees in political science, journalism and mass communication, and Spanish. His recent internship in Rome reinforced a simple lesson: the best learning happens when you step outside your comfort zone and immerse yourself in new experiences.

As Keene puts it, "Do it. Plain and simple. Do it." His advice to students considering study abroad: explore boldly, embrace challenges, and discover the growth that comes from experiencing the world firsthand. 🌍✈️

https://tinyurl.com/CLAS-StudyAbroad

08/17/2026

Congratulations to Professor Seongjoon Ahn on his impactful research!

Professor Ahn spent the summer conducting research in South Korea and Taiwan, examining how citizens understand and give meaning to democracy in societies shaped by historical memory and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Specializing in American politics, democracy, and public opinion, his work advanced understanding of how democratic values are interpreted and experienced across different political and cultural contexts.

We congratulate Professor Ahn on this important work and look forward to the insights and contributions resulting from his research.

https://tinyurl.com/CLASHumanities-2026

08/14/2026

👏 Faculty & Graduate News!
Congratulations to Professor Sara Mitchell, Professor Elise Pizzi, and Graduate Student Adam Lappe on their new publication in International Studies Quarterly.

This article examines how border locations and territorial disputes affect disaster response, finding that disasters in contested border regions receive more aid from governments, militaries, and international actors, while disaster assistance often declines after border disputes are peacefully resolved.

https://tinyurl.com/IntStudQuarterly-2026