ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
An Annual Publication of the Political Science Department
Cal Po!J- Sa11 Luis Obispo

Fall 2006

From the Department Chair ...
Hello alumni!
The Political Science Department is in the midst of a
number of exciting changes. First, I began a three-year
stint chairing the department this year. I look forward to
serving the department; it should be an enjoyable
challenge. Second, we hired four new faculty members
in the past two years, and we are beginning recruitment
efforts to hire three more faculty who will join us in Fall
2007. As you can see from their remarks below, our
new faculty members are excellent teachers and
scholars, already very professionally active and
contributing significantly to the department in their
fields of expertise in the discipline.
In terms of curriculum, our new Master in Public Policy
program is in place and has attracted impressive young
scholars from across the country. Our undergraduate
program continues to thrive. We persist in our desire to
teach small classes and provide opportunities for
students and faculty to work together both in and out of
the classroom, on faculty research projects, student
senior projects, and community projects.
While these changes and ongoing priorities invigorate
the department and provide new learning opportunities
for our students, they also come with challenges. Our
faculty members engage in meaningful and important
research_,and have enjoyed success in publishing their
work, bringing that knowledge to the classroom and
providing · students the chance to work on various
research projects alongside faculty. Yet these activities
are not funded by the university. We have to struggle to
find funding to support faculty travel to conferences to
present papers, to pay students as research assistants
when they want to work with faculty on various projects,
and to give our faculty time to write so that they may
publish their research.
To get a better idea about our activities, I hope that you
enjoy reading the entries from individual faculty in this
newsletter. The three new faculty who joined us this fall
are Dr. Chris Den Hartog (Ph.D. 2004, University of
California, San Diego,) who teaches courses in
American politics, including presidency and Congress
courses ; Dr. Anika Leithner (Ph.D. 2006, University of

Colorado at Boulder), who is teaching in International
Relations, particularly European government; and Dr.
Matthew Moore (Ph.D. 2004, Johns Hopkins
University), who teaches courses in political theory. Dr.
Ron Den Otter joined us last year. He earned a J.D. from
the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1992 and
a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 2003 and
teaches pre-law courses.
The full-time tenured faculty include Drs. Arceneaux,
Doan, Long, Settle, Shepherd, and me. We are pleased
that Drs. Gooden and Lutrin continue to teach for us part
of the year as part of the Faculty Early Retirement
Program.
Our Master of Public Policy program is doing very well ;
we have begun to graduate students from the program
who have gone on to rewarding positions in government
agencies and the nonprofit sector. Our MPP degree
focuses on teaching the practical skills of policy-oriented
research. You can check out developments in the MPP
program, as well as our undergraduate internships
program, student clubs, and the like, on the Political
Science department website.
On behalf of the Department, I send you sincere thanks
for your kind words and generous gifts. The state
provides minimal support and it is important for us to
seek external funds for recruitment efforts, faculty
development, student assistance, clubs, and hospitality
events. Instructions for donating and for designating
Political Science as the recipient of your gift are
available at http ://www .giving.calpoly.edu/. Click on
"Ways to Give" or "Donate On-line Now."
Best wishes from Political Science faculty, staff, and
students.
Cordially,
Jean Williams
Associate Professor and Chair

Opportunities to Get Involved .. .
As always, we deeply appreciate any contribution that
you can provide. In addition to financial assistance, we

are hoping to involve alumni more closely with the
department. We are forming an advisory board that will
work with the department on such issues as student
excellence and faculty professional development. We
would appreciate your input and assistance. Please let us
know if you would be interested in serving on the board.
Email Jean Williams atjemwilli@calpoly.edu.

Faculty Professional Activities . . .
Craig Arceneaux
I arrived at Cal Poly in September 2001, in the
midst of national tragedy and at the onset of a wide­
ranging make-over in US foreign policy (though most do
not realize how much more continuity than contrast there
is). As a comparative politics and foreign affairs
specialist, I' ve had no shortage of grist for my mill. In
my International Relations Theory class we address the
challenges and pitfalls of empire. In my Collective
Political Violence class we assess the threats posed by
tenorism, real and imagined. And in my Model United
Nations class we evaluate the workings of this world
body in the face of US unilateralism. This year I will
introduce a new course, Peace and War, to more closely
examine the nasty and brutish ways of mankind.
Throughout my time at Cal Poly, I have
especially enjoyed participation in extra-curricular
activities with students. Within the department, this
includes conference attendance for our Model United
Nations program. Last year I accompanied the students
in a visit to Ottawa for the Canadian International MUN,
and this year I plan to bring the group to the Harvard
MUN - previously, students only attended conferences
within California.
The UN committee simulations
required by this program clearly incorporate our
university mantra of "Learn by Doing," and offer student
the oppqvtunity to debate and to develop collaborative
responses to diverse problems and issues such as
genocide, environmental degradation, indigenous rights,
global patent rights, and responsible uses of technology.
I strive to ensure that our students compete with the best
of them- because that's where they belong. Beyond the
department, it has been my pleasure to participate in our
university Study Abroad programs- first in Cuernavaca,
Mexico, and soon in Cusco, Peru, in a program that Jim
Keese (Social Sciences) and I will inaugurate in Summer
2007. On the research front, I continue my writing on
Latin American politics. I have an article on democratic
protection by the Organization of American States slated
for a 2007 release in the journal Latin American Politics
and Society. My book, Transforming Latin America (co­
authored with David Pion-Berlin - UC Riverside), was
published in 2005, and at about that same time I began
work on a new project, a supplementary text on Latin

American political economy. Research for this project
has thus far taken me to Cuba, Chile, Argentina, and
Bolivia. If I can legitimate yet more travel, I will - all
for the benefit of the book itself, and my frequent flyer
account.
In all, I have seen the learning opportunities for
our students grow substantially since my anival. We
have new classes, the MUN program now travels out-of­
state, and the Peru program will add South America to
the list of travel abroad offerings. I am certain that the
arrival of new faculty this year and next will bring yet
more opportunities. It is an exciting time to be here at
Cal Poly!

Chris den Hartog
Most of my current and recent research deals in
one way or another with congressional procedures and
the ways in which such procedures simultaneously give
some members of congress opportunities to influence
policy making, and deny other members the opportunity
to influence policy making. I focus especially on the
question, "how does the interaction between political
parties and congressional procedures affect the policy
decisions made by Congress?" Because procedures often
fundamentally empower or disempower some members
of Congress, I also study the ways in which procedures
can be (and often are) reshaped by some members so
that the legislative process will be more likely to
produce certain kinds of outcomes. My two main current
projects center around the role of the majority party in
the contemporary Senate, and the development of the
modern legislative process in the House of
Representatives across the 19th century.
I study these topics in both historical and
contemporary periods. A theme running throughout my
work is that under some circumstances congressional
rules limit the ability of the majority party to pursue its
goals, while under other circumstances the majority
party is able to change the rules in ways that allow it to
ensure that Congress adopts the types of policies the
party wants. Related research interests include the
presidency, courts, and state legislatures-and the ways
in which interactions among these institutions (along
with Congress) produce policy decisions and policy
outcomes.
Ron Den Otter
Let me introduce myself. I received my J.D.
from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1992
and my Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 2003. I
then taught political theory and public law courses as a
lecturer at UCLA and Pepperdine University for two
years before joining the political science faculty at Cal
Poly in 2005.
Last year, I taught courses in

Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and
American Government, and this year I will also be
teaching Jurisprudence.
In my law courses, I u se the Socratic Method to
encourage active learning on the part of my students and
to improve their respective abilities to argue for a
conclusion. I try to prepare them for law school by
teaching them how to read carefully, to break down
arguments, to anticipate and respond to objections, and
to draw inferences from the cases that they read. My
exams are designed to force the students not only to
memorize holdings and details, but also to apply abstract
holdings to new facts and to explain complicated legal
concepts in plain English.
Unlike a large research institution like UCLA,
the students at Cal Poly should have close relationships
with their professors. As such, I try to learn all of my
students' names as soon as possible and make myself
available during scheduled office hours and by
appointment. I always tell them that they should not
leave this institution without acquiring the reading,
writing, and critical thinking skills that will enable them
to be successful professionals and good citizens. I doubt
that many of the political science undergraduates have
reflected upon what they expect to get of their education
or how what they do (or do not do) during this stage of
their life may affect their future. I am convinced that
one of the most effective ways of motivating them to
work harder is to show them that they will have been
cheated if they leave this university without having
learned as much as they could have learned.
This summer, I gave a paper entitled "How Not
to Argue Against a Right to Same-Sex Marriage," at the
annual Law and Society Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland. I am currently working on a book on
constitutional judgment and public justification. During
my first quarter at Cal Poly, I was a speaker at
Constitu~ion Day, which sponsored by the Office of the
President, the Office of the Provost, and the College of
Liberal Arts. As part of the faculty lecture series,
sponsored by Women' s Studies, I gave lecture entitled
"The Controversy over Roe v. Wade: Much Ado about
Nothing?"
I am also the faculty advisor of the
Undergraduate Law Association (ULA). The ULA is
designed to provide its members with information about
law school, the admissions process, and the legal
profession. Last quarter, we had two local lawyers as
guest speakers. Recently, with the deadline for law
school admissions drawing near, I have been helping a
number of students with their personal statements. I am
very pleased to be a member of the political science
department here at Cal Poly.

Reg Gooden
After thirty-six years teaching at Cal Poly I bid
adios to you all and thank you for the wonderful
opportunity to share thoughts and good times. I am
indebted of the friends I have made among students and
colleagues. Our political science department, although
smaller in number than in times past, is in very capable
hands. I am proud of the replacements we have hired to
continue with the improvement of our curriculum and
hope that future students will be up to the task. As a
former CSU academic senator I can attest to the esteem
with which this campus is held in the eyes of colleagues
from the other Cal State universities. Good luck to all
and maybe we'll see each other from time to time at a
Mustang football game.

Cheerio
Anika Leithner
Originally I am from Bavaria, Germany, where I
did my undergraduate work in political science,
linguistics & literature, and history. I recently finished
my Ph.D. in International Relations at the University of
Colorado at Boulder. The title of my dissertation is:
"Rhetoric of Responsibility: German War Rhetoric in
the 21 st Century." My research focuses on the role
language/rhetoric plays in foreign policy decision­
making. My work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing
not only on political science, but also on psychology,
sociology, and linguistics.
Currently I'm working on several projects,
including the publication of my dissertation, a paper on
the rhetorical creation of a common European identity,
and a guide for foreign graduate students at American
universities (as well as for advisers of foreign graduate
students). My general areas of interest are: Foreign
policy decision-making, foreign policy rhetoric, political
psychology, European (identity) politics, military
interventions, etc.
I'm very excited to be at Cal Poly, and look
forward to my work here!
Dianne Long
Greetings Friends:
London Study Program calls me this fall to
work with a group of very eager Cal Poly students who
are exploring the City of London and some of Europe's
Cities . We are discussing global issues and there is
certainly a lot to talk about ! Joe Weatherby's edited
book, The Other World, is out in its seventh edition and
my colleague Craig Arceneaux is our newest contributor.
On the curricular front, I have been teaching in the new
Master of Public Policy Program that is in its third year.
Many of the courses formerly in the public
administration and policy sequence have been reframed

for this curriculum and I am making new friends among
those entering public careers. Administration needs
called once again, and I finished another stint as
Department chair at summer's end. In that capacity, I
have sent many expressions of appreciation to alumni for
donations that have help us to do what we do. Hearty
thanks for your gifts and for news of your
accomplishments. Do stop by to say hello when you are
in the area.

Carl Lutrin
In the last few years I have been studying
gambling. I have teamed up with a friend who I was with
in Grad School at the University of Mi ssouri. We have
been fortunate enough to have gotten a few of our papers
published in j ournals. Last year we were fortunate
enough to present our most recent paper at the annual
meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association in
Chicago. T he meetings are widely attended, and a good
forum for useful feedback. As a FERP now I am off
during Spring Quarter. My wife and I went to Norway
and the Baltics. It snowed in Norway on May 16th! I
had been in Norway in 1972, when it was still poor. It is
not that way now. We cruised the Fiords--very
impressive. The Baltics are doing quite well. My
grandfather was from Lativa. We ended our trip in
Iceland. I am one of the people who cared about the fact
that Iceland had the worlds first parliament.

Matthew J. Moore
I'm delighted to be joining the department
starting Fall of 2006. For the past three years, I have
been a visiting assistant professor of Political Science at
the University of Vermont. Before that, I was finishing
up my Ph.D. work at the Johns Hopkins University. My
area of specialty is political theory, with special focus on
questions of value, pluralism, and moral epistemology. I
am currently at work on revisions to my dissertation on
Ludwig Wittgenstein and the problems of pluralism. I
also teach and do research in the area of public law, and
recently had an entry published in the Oxford
Companion to the U.S . Supreme Court.
My wife and I have settled in Atascadero, with
our 2 cats, 2 alpacas, and 5 chickens. We love the area
so far, and look forward to getting to know it better.

Allen Settle
I continue to get my charge out of serving in
public office. I am vice mayor for San Luis Obispo and
recently joined the Airport Land Use Commission and
the Local Agency Formation Commission. It is election
season and I' m a candidate for re election to the city
council. I finds this creates great flavor to teaching
urban government and constitutional law. With all that
is going on in Sacramento and Washington D.C. there is

not shortage of sensational discussion items to cover in
class: Abramoff buying access to Congress, the pile of
new federal laws and California baJlot measure covering
over 40 billion in debt and taxes. Be sure to vote since
most depend on only a few votes to win or lose.

Linda Shepherd
Over the last several years I' ve been busy
creating a new Institute for Policy Research on the Cal
Poly campus and serving as its first Executive Director.
The Institute is playing an active role in helping
community organizations to conduct research and in
assisting Cal Poly faculty with curricular and grant
assessment. Special thanks to students who provided
excellent service as research assistants in the Institute for
Policy Research - Rob Fitzroy, Jeff Porto, Jr., Phil
Alonso, and Jonathan Changus!
This year, after
having finished the
implementation of the new Institute, I returned as
Director of the Master of Public Policy program. My
graduate seminars have specialized in research methods,
quantitative analysis, and public policy; I count myself
fortunate to be able to assist and support students in the
process of discovery as they design and complete their
own original research projects. Each quarter is filled
with new opportunities for students who embark upon
the path of research in politics and public policy .
My own research has proceeded in the
interdisciplinary field of political psychology, with
specific focus on formal modeling and terrorism group
formation and behavior. Within the last two years I have
presented my research at international conferences in
Barcelona, Toronto, and Bucharest as well as the NATO
Advanced Research Workshop on Terrorism held in
Castelvecchio Pascoli, Italy. This summer I served as
Section Head for the Social Theory and Political
Psychology Section of the International Society of
Political Psychology and was elected President of the
Psycho-Politics Research Committee of the International
Political Science Association.
My publications for 2006 include the manuscript
Suicide Terrorism: Modeling Group Dynamics and
Individual Behavior which will appear in the NATO
Proceedings, the edited volume Political Psychology
with chapters from leading authorities in the field, and
the manuscript Reclaiming Public Life: Relationships
among Economic Threat, Community Involvement, and
Racial Trust, which appears in Political Culture,
Socialization, and Education: Interdisciplinary and
Cross-National Perspectives f or a New Century (Russell
Fam en, Editor).
I look forward to continuing to build our MPP
program and to supporting the process of research
among students and faculty. I also look forward to
hearing from our students as they move forward in their

Ji ves and contribute in a variety of ways to enhancing
political understanding!

John Culver, Professor Emeritus
I'm in the last stages of my mo ve to Walla
Walla, W A. This is where William 0 . Douglas grew up
before heading east. D urango is a hard place to leave;
great area, but getting pricey. I hope to be active in the
Walla Walla S weet Onion Festival after I do my part to
assist rational minds regain control of national politics.
It's frightening to be on the sidelines as politics gets
dumbdowned with each passing year. I'm hopeful for a
turnaround before long.
I'm always delighted to run into former
students and to hear of the activities of our graduates. I
am sorry to leave Durango before getting to
Albuquerque to see Mike Rocca, one of our stellar grads
who earned his Ph.D. at Davis. Mike is now an assistant
professor of Political Science at the University of New
Mexico, the j oint where I spent some time in the seminar
rooms a hundred years ago. Best wishes to all grads.

Jean Williams (Chair)
I continue to teach courses on social welfare
policy , the politics of gender, race, and class, and social
movements for the department. It's a pleasure to be able
to teach courses that are so closely informed by my
researc h, and to do research that I know will inform my
teaching. M y book on homeless women, entitled "A
Roof Over M y Head": Homeless Women and the Shelter
Industry, was published under the name Jean Calterone
Williams and came out in 2003. For the past year, I've
been working on a coauthored book with Alesha Doan
that analyzes sex education policy, critiquing the
abstinence-only curricula that has received so much
attention (and funding) in the past several years. The
book, Abstinence Education and the Politics of Virginity,
will be published by Praeger. Alesha and I were
delighted 'to be able to have several of you work with us
on this p(oject as research assistants during your
undergraduate careers.
My work with many of the local antipoverty and
homeless organizations in SLO has been a most
rewarding experience. Last October, we completed a
first-ever count of the homeless population. We were
able to uncover important demographic information
about the homeless in SLO County that we hope will
improve services for the homeless here. Special thanks
to alumnus Phil Alonso for all the effort he put into
managing and analyzing the data, and assisting in
writing the final re port for the community organizations.
I've enjoyed hearing from many of you about
you r lives since graduation. Keep in touch !

Lecturers
Bud Evans
Over the past two years, I have been working on
a project to link academic courses at universities around
the world through videoconferencing. T he first partner
will be the University of Winneba in Ghana, which is
currently acquiring a videoconferencing facility with
funds from the Carnegie Foundation. We are currently
working to expand this effort through a consortium titled
Universities Fighting World Hunger in association with
the World Food Programme that will include academic
initiatives to create and diffuse knowledge about global
food issues. We are proposing our interdisciplinary
POLSIUNIV 333 World Food Systems course as a
model.
I have just been appointed to a Provost's Faculty
Advisory Committee to help develop a multi-track
certification program in disaster management/homeland
security at Cal Poly. I hope to include in that program a
new interdisciplinary course I recently developed with
Bill Simbieda and Ken T opping in City and Regional
Planning and Chris Dicus in Natural Resource
Management
titled
Building
Disaster-Resistant
Sustainable Communities. The course evolved fro m an
international Symposium on Disaster Response and
Preparedness held at Cal Poly last year.
The Seventh Edition of Joseph N. Weatherby,
The Other World: Issues and Politics of the Developing
World is due out this Fall from Longman Publishers, and
contains my revised Chapter on Political Economy.

Alison Keleher
Fall 2006 finds me beginning my second year
of full-time teaching for Cal Poly. I was fortunate to
spend the two years prior, while working on my
dissertation, as a part-time lecturer fo r the department.
Since filing my dissertation in May of 2005 I have been
working on expanding my dissertation's data set of
congressional campaign finance data, as well as
beginning work on a project which studies the
Republican Party club, the Log Cabin Republicans. Of
course, my research interests have been pursued around
the edges of my full teaching load, where I have taught
classes as varied for the department as the American
Presidency, Jurisprudence, and Political Analysis. T his
year I am excited to have a chance to teach Campaigns
and Elections for the first time, a class previously taught
by the now retired Dr. David George. Again this year I
have had the pleasure of participating as a volunteer
facilitator for the PREFACE program, where I worked
with incoming freshman all of whom were asked to read
the novel The Lovely Bones and then discuss the book
during WOW week. I look forward to working again
this year with Dr. Ron Den Otter as co-advisor to the

newly re-invigorated Undergraduate Law Association, as
well as to my new assignment as advisor to the
department's chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha - the political
science honor society.
Nick Theobald
Over the last few years I have graduated from
Cal Poly (Class of 1998), attended graduate school and
taught at Texas A&M University, and taught at the
University of Kansas. Now I am back at Cal Poly and
am excited to be teaching the course that led me to
graduate school, POLS 360-Political Analysis, in
addition to courses on public policy and American and
California governments.
While at Texas A&M, I was the research
director at the Texas Educational Excellence Project
(TEEP). As research director, I was able to direct my
interest in education policy by guiding policy reports on
the state of education in Texas. Of particular interest
were the annual reports on minority education in Texas.
These reports recognized school districts that excelled in
educating African American and Latino children.
In addition to my work on policy reports for
TEEP, I have published several articles in academic
journals and edited volumes. These works include
studies on how organizational factors influence
education performance, the difficulty in using policy
performance measures, and the effect of federal grants
on state budgeting decisions. A chapter from my
dissertation will soon be published in a forthcoming
book on Latino politics, "Latino Politics: Identity,
Mobilization, and Representation." This chapter assesses
the role of Latino superintendents on bilingual program
resources. Currently I am working on a project assessing
how the race of police officers affect citizen evaluations
of police actions.
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is a rewarding
experience.. Learning new research techniques,
improving public speaking skills and working with
students from all over the world to find solutions to
world problems are just some of the benefits.
There is plenty of time for social gatherings and
meeting fellow delegates on a more personal level.
Previous conferences for Cal Poly's MUN team have
included the Far West MUN in Burlingame, CA, the
Berkeley MUN and the Canadian International MUN.
Professor Craig Arceneaux has been working diligently
to prepare for the upcoming Winter 2007 Conference at
Harvard. This will be my third year participating in the
MUN conferences, and I anticipate this year to be the
best yet. Submitted by: Noah Kornblith, Secretary­
General of the MUN Club.

OUR HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS TO
THE FOLLOWING POLITICAL SCIENCE
STUDENT AWARD WINNERS:
Melanie Rhoads (2006)
• Land Family Quest for the Best
Award (College of Liberal Arts and
University-wide).
Dianne Hardcastle (2005)
Rebecca Vasquez (2004)
Robert l. Hodges II (200 1)
Lisa Barnicoat (2000)
• College of Liberal Arts Senio r
Recognition Awards for
Contributions t o the University
Michelle Griffith-Jones (2005)
Brian Orion (2002)
Chantel Boyens (2001)
Sally Lord (2000)
• College of Liberal Arts Senior
Recognition Award for
Contributions to the College
Ruby Moz (2004)
• Cal Poly Student Woman of the
Year
Nubia Lopez (2004)
Susanna Farber (2003)
• College of Liberal Arts Student
Council Student of the Year
Matthew Edling (2002)
• College of Liberal Arts Senior
Recognition Award for Academic
Excellence
Matia Magoulias (2000)
• College of Liberal Arts Senior
Recognition Award for SeNice to
the Community
• President's Award for Service to
the Community

Pi Sigma Alpha
Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science
Honor Society, is the only honor society for college
students of political science and government in the
United States. Pi Sigma Alpha is a member of the

Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) and is
designated as a "Specialized, Upper-Division" society by
ACHS.
There are now over 615 chapters of Pi Sigma Alpha
located on college and university campuses in every
state of the United States and in Guam. Membership is
possible only through local chapters; Cal Poly's chapter
is Omicron Gamma.

Undergraduate Law Association
As faculty advisor to the Undergraduate Law
Association (ULA), I have ambitious plans for this
academic year. Last year, I resurrected the ULA with
the intention of informing undergraduates who might be
interested in attending law school about the law school
application process, law school itself, and the legal
profession. I had hoped that we would have at least ten
or fifteen members. In fact, at the outset, more than
forty undergraduates, most of whom were aspiring law
students, joined the club. This year, so far, more than
fifty students have signed up, and we plan to meet every
other week, four times a quarter. Last spring, two local
attorneys, one who practices Civil Rights law and the
other who is an assistant district attorney, spoke about
the kind of law that they practice and answered
questions from the audience. At one of the other
meetings, I spoke about how to prepare for law school
and what to expect during the first year of law school,
including how to read cases and how to prepare for law
school exams. During this year's first meeting on
October 1Oth, I spoke about letters of recommendation,
the LSAT, and personal statements. For our other three
meetings this quarter, I have scheduled two other local
attorneys and an admissions officer from a law school to
speak. Ultimately, in having a wide variety of guest
speakers, my goal is to ensure that Cal Poly students are
better informed before they decide to attend law school,
that is, better informed about law school and the legal
profession: As such, I am trying to expose them to the
professional opportunities that exist for people with law
degrees and also to make them aware that there are many
different kinds of lawyers and many different kinds of
legal practices. Submitted by Ron Den Otter.