Awards

Awards in Political Science at the University of Iowa. This page serves as a clearinghouse for news of awards earned by members of the department, including grants and scholarships.

Faculty
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students
Alumni
Teaching Awards

Tom Rice and Cary Covington received the inaugural Lane Davis Award for Honors Team Teaching in recognition of their pioneering work with the Iowa Policy Research Organization.

Tom Rice received the Student Award for Outstanding Honors Teaching. Students presented the award at the annual Honors Recognition Ceremony in April.

John Conybeare and Brian Lai will each be recognized with the 2008 International Studies Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in May. They are being honored for their willingness to devote their time and expertise to working individually with International Studies students.

Joel Barkan, Robert Mattes (University of Cape Town), and Shaheen Mozaffar (Bridgewater State University), were awarded the first of three $100,000 grants from DFID, the British foreign assistance agency, to support the African Legislatures Project (ALP), a comparative study of legislative development in 18 African countries. They also expect co-funding from the World Bank. ALP is based at the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) at the University of Cape Town where Joel has been a research fellow the past three years.

Fred Boehmke's paper "The Influence of Unobserved Factors on Position Timing and Content in the NAFTA Vote" was awarded the Miller Prize for 2007. The prize is given by the Society for Political Methodology for the best article appearing in Political Analysis in the previous calendar year.

Michael Lewis-Beck (with Eric Bélanger and Richard Nadeau) was awarded a SAS-International Institute of Forecasters grant, to “Improve the Forecasting of General Elections in the United Kingdom.”

Sara Mitchell has been named a Faculty Scholar for the years 2007-2010. These University awards are given to mid-career faculty to recognize scholarship that demonstrates exceptional promise. Mitchell will be released from half of her usual teaching, advising, and service for three years, allowing for concentration on research.

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Graduate Students

The University of Iowa Council on Teaching has selected Benjamin Knoll and Brian DiSarro as recipients of an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2007-2008. Each was honored at an awards banquet on May 9, along with the other award recipients, and will receive a $1000 prize. Congratulations to them both!

Some of our graduate students were selected as 2007-2008 Laurence Fairall Scholars: Benjamin Darr, Holley Hansen, and Jill Wittrock. Daniel Bowen was selected as the 2007-2008 Helen Fairall Scholar.

James Krueger has been awarded one of the 2008-2009 Ada Louisa Ballard and Seashore dissertation year fellowships. These fellowships are for doctoral students completing dissertations in the humanities and are awarded by the Graduate College each year.

The Conference Committee, Graduate Student Senate, and the Graduate College named students for outstanding presentations at the James F. Jakobsen Graduate Forum 2008. In Social Sciences and Education, Benjamin Knoll was awarded second place and Benjamin Darr was awarded third place.

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Undergraduate Students

Alpha of Iowa chapter is pleased to announce that the following political science majors have been invited to accept membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

Robert Reza Asaadi
Meredith Joy DeBoom
Brian Patrick Donnelly
Ann Christine Gronlund
Kelsey Lyn Larsen
Adam Christopher Matheson
Lindsey A. Negaard
Robert Michael Pick
Elizabeth Ann Skarin
Colin Clemens Smith
Adam Christopher Stoddard
Joseph Charles Traw

Those who accept membership will be invited to participate in the May 4, 2008, induction ceremony in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Building.

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In April, The University of Iowa honored outstanding students at the 91st anniversary Finkbine Dinner for Representative Student Leaders, one of the University's most prestigious award ceremonies. Two political science students were awarded the Hancher-Finkbine Undergraduate Student Medallion: Barrett James Anderson, from Clive, Iowa, who majored in political science and economics and Meredith J. DeBoom, from Sibley, Iowa, who majored in political science and international studies.

The department held its annual Undergraduate Awards Reception on May 13, 2008, to honor the following departmental scholarship award winners.

2008-2009 Donald Johnson Fellow: Meredith DeBoom
2008-2009 Donald Johnson Scholar: Nicholas Compton
2008-2009 Vernon & Georgia Bender Scholar: McKenzie Hill
2008-2009 Joseph Domke Memorial Scholar: Holly Gutman
2008-2009 James & Patti Murray Scholar: Katherine Morrison
2007-2008 Helen Fairall Scholars: Colin C. Smith and Kate Rose Evans
2007-2008 Laurence Fairall Scholars: Elizabeth Stoycheff, Abigail M. Bartine, Dana M. Merrick, and Mandie Vetter

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The University of Iowa Honors Program held their annual recognition ceremony in April to recognize student accomplishments through merit-based scholarships. Many of the scholarships are endowed by the late Rhodes Dunlap, founder of the UI Honors Program.

Elizabeth Weyer, a first-year student, received the Rhodes Dunlap First-Year Award. Weyer is majoring in political science and pre-law and she is an emergency medical technician with the Mediapolis Ambulance Service.

Virginia McCalmont, a sophomore studying political science and German, received the Rhodes Dunlap Sophomore Award. She will study abroad next year in Freiburg, Germany.

Rob Pick, a junior studying finance and political science, received the Rhodes Dunlap Collegiate Award.

Louis Sloven, a senior, received the Rhodes Dunlap Collegiate Award. Sloven is a psychology and political science major, and he hopes to intern on Capitol Hill this fall.

Clay Baker, a junior, received the Rhodes Dunlap Collegiate Award. Baker is a political science and secondary education major whose certification areas are in American government and history.

Barrett J. Anderson, a senior economics and political science major, received the Collegiate Scholar Award. Anderson recently finished a term as president of the UI Student Government.

Meredith DeBoom, a junior, received the Rhodes Dunlap Collegiate Award and the James D. Robertson Scholarship for a Junior in the Social Sciences. DeBoom is a political science and international studies major, and she is currently an intern for the Environmental Protection Agency. This summer, she will study sustainable development in South Africa.

Jacqueline Leonard, a senior, received the Collegiate Scholar Award. Leonard is a political science major with an international business certificate, and she has been a leader in the mock trial team.

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Meredith DeBoom has been named a Truman Scholar, a national scholarship for students committed to careers in public service. Meredith was also named a Morris K. Udall Scholar, a national scholarship for students who show a commitment to careers related to the environment, tribal policy, or Native American health care.

Amanda Lengsouthiphong received The Dean Scholarship, a merit scholarship given out by the University of Iowa for students planning to study abroad in the fall. Amanda also received the Study Abroad Scholarship from the UI International Studies Program.

Courtney Wilcox received the Mary Goodykoontz Barnes Scholarship from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She plans to use the scholarship to pay for study abroad.

Aly Dolan received three scholarships for excellence in public relations and journalism: the Shafter Family Trust Scholarship, the Gordon B. Strayer Scholarship, and the Cogner-Reynolds Scholarship.

Andrew Henning was a recipient of a Dewey Stuit Award and a Stanley Foundation Research Fellowship for travel to Istanbul, Turkey. While he was in Turkey, he met with Constitutional Court judges.

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