Message from the Chair

Message From the Chair

September 1, 2020

Leah Stokes Earns Prestigious Plous Award

UCSB Political Science Scholar Leah Stokes Earns Prestigious Plous Award

Noozhawk
By Jim Logan for UCSB
August 31, 2020

Leah Stokes, an assistant professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, has received this year’s Harold J. Plous Award.

Olivia Quinn, Amanda Brush & Eric Smith: “A simple forecast suggests a Democratic sweep in 2020” Monkey Cage

Olivia Quinn and Amanda Brush, political science graduate students, and Professor Eric R.A.N. Smith recently published an election forecast at The Washington Post's Monkey Cage. They build a parsimonious, historically accurate model for predicting the upcoming House, Senate, and Presidential elections.

A simple forecast suggests a Democratic sweep in 2020
By Olivia Quinn, Amanda Brush and Eric R. A. N. Smith
July 7

Jeff Feng receives the Bailey Award for his paper "Eco-queer: queering environmental politics and greening queer politics"

Our graduate student Jeff Feng has just received the Bailey Award from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for his paper "Eco-queer: queering environmental politics and greening queer politics" presented at the 2019 APSA meeting.

The Bailey Award recognizes the best paper on LGBT issues at the previous year's annual conference. Congratulations and way to go, Jeff!

Benjamin Cohen will present a free public lecture in Summer Sessions' GRIT Talks

Summer Sessions presents a new season of GRIT Talks, a series of free public lectures by notable faculty members, as reported by The Current.

Benjamin Cohen, a professor of political science and an expert in international political economy, will speak on “Currency Wars: How National Currencies Compete,” Monday, July 6.

2020 Political Science Awards

The Department of Political Science has the honor of recognizing the following undergraduate and graduate students receiving department awards for the 2019-2020 academic year. 

Undergraduate Awards

Casier Scholarship

Casey Hozven

Ryan Ishii

Megan Yeager

Costigan Scholarship

Amanda Mobley

Kevin Patrick Moran Memorial Scholarship

Adalis Rojas

Sara Rubin

Paasha Mahdavi's new book explores the link between natural resources and political power- The Current

Leah Stokes: "Michael Moore produced a film about climate change that’s a gift to Big Oil" in Vox

Planet of the Humans deceives viewers about clean energy and climate activists.