professor and chair of political science, 308.865.8039
Civil disobedience, the Constitution, conflict in the Middle East and television’s role in politics are just a few of the topics up for discussion during Political Science Week, which begins Sunday, Sept. 17, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Community for Active Citizenship, Political Science Week features a series of activities that are free and open to the public.
Kicking-off Political Science Week on Sunday is a 2 p.m. showing of the film “The Milagro Beanfield War” in Copeland Hall Room 142.
Dr. Joan Blauwkamp, UNK associate professor of political science, said that “Milagro Beanfield War” and the two other films that are being presented during the week “depict ordinary people who work and sacrifice to try to make their communities or their world a better place.”
Dr. Blauwkamp also said that the messages of the films match the concept behind the Community for Active Citizenship, which is a student organization that encourages members to identify a public problem and then devise a course of action to address that specific situation.
Monday, Sept. 18, is Constitution Day which features a lecture by Steve Wilborn, who is dean of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln College of Law and the Dean and Schmoker Professor of Law.
Before joining the UNL campus, Dean Wilborn was a Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London; a visiting scholar at the Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Toronto and Lincoln College, Oxford University; and a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School. At UNL, he currently teaches employment law, labor law, legal control of discrimination, and pension and employee benefits law.
Dean Wilborn’s topic will be “Thinking About the Constitutionality of Constitution Day.” He will speak beginning at 3 p.m. in the Nebraskan Student Union Sandhills Room.
Those who are unable to attend Dean Wilborn’s presentation can watch his speech on a live Webcast. A link with the address to the Webcast will be posted on the UNK homepage at 2:45 p.m. on Monday.
After the Constitutional Day lecture, there will be a showing of “Norma Rae,” a movie about a Southern mill worker who revolutionizes a small town and its labor force. The film showing will begin at 7 p.m. in Copeland Hall Room 142.
Events for Political Science Week continue on Tuesday, Sept. 19, with the Issues Forum on Conflict in the Middle East, which takes place from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
in Copeland Hall Room 140.
During the issues forum, Dr. Moshe Gershovich, an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, will give a presentation on Arab-Israeli relations. After his presentation, there will be question-and-answer session.
The last activity scheduled for Tuesday is a showing of “Hotel Rwanda” beginning at 7 p.m. in Copeland Hall Room 142. The premise of the film is a Rwandan man, amid the holocaust of mutually destructive tribal fighting in Rwanda, tries to save more than 1,000 helpless refugees by sheltering them in the hotel he manages.
Thursday, Sept. 21, is host to the ninth annual Jerome Warner Evening, which will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room A. The featured speaker for the event is William Kelly, senior producer of NET Television. Kelly will deliver a keynote address titled “Media and Nebraska Politics.”
After Kelly finishes his presentation, audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions.
Concluding events for Political Science Week on Friday, Sept. 22, will be a Career/Graduate Study Panel and an Alumni Careers Discussion Panel.
The Career/Graduate Study Panel will feature Dr. Kevin Smith, graduate chair of the UNL Department of Political Science. The panel will be held from 11 a.m. through lunch in the Lincoln Conference Room, located on the second floor of Founders Hall.
The final event of Political Science Week is the Alumni Careers Discussion Panel, which will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. in Founders Hall Room 2210. Scheduled speakers include UNK alums Shon Lieske, Amber Brown and Melissa Willis.
Dr. Blauwkamp said that the panels on Friday were created to “give our majors and prospective majors some ideas about what they can do with a political science degree and how to prepare for post-graduate study.”
As for the goal of Political Science Week, Dr. Blauwkamp said, “The purpose of Political Science Week is to give the campus community a smorgasbord of events to choose from that demonstrates the breadth of issues and interests that are relevant to the study of politics.”
