Political Science and Public Policy

An Elon University student with the goal of one day running for public office is taking part this summer in the Virginia Governor’s Fellows Program, a highly selective internship for rising college seniors, recent college graduates or graduate students from Virginia that places them in the governor’s office and other state agencies.

Elon University senior Cedric Pulliam, a political science and international studies double major with aspirations of joining the U.S. Foreign Service, will participate this summer in a highly selective national program that introduces scholars to diplomatic officials and career opportunities in international relations.

What does the future hold for the United States now that Osama bin Laden is dead? And why did Americans feel the need to celebrate someone’s death? A panel of faculty and students addressed those questions and more on May 9 in a community discussion sponsored by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.

Caitlin Clarke, a sophomore International Studies and Political Science major with a minor in German Studies, has been accepted to the Fund for American Studies at Georgetown University this summer.

Historically, North Carolina has voted Republican in presidential elections, but many political observers were surprised two years ago when President Barack Obama won the Tar Heel State. Elon University senior McKenzie Young investigated the factors behind the state’s recent voting behavior, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on Lumen Scholars in the Class of 2011.

Four Elon students presented their research at the 2011 NC Political Science Association meeting at UNC-Charlotte on Feb. 25, 2011.

Thousands of people went into exile when Augusto Pinochet established a military dictatorship in Chile in 1973. Elon University senior Renee Zale is studying how their return home was influenced by memories of the South American nation before Pinochet, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on Lumen Scholars in the Class of 2011.

Professor of political science Laura Roselle was featured April 21 in a column in the Huffington Post about the way Libyan officials chose to present their vision for the future of their country.

Virginia high school students studying American Sign Language can now take comfort in knowing their work will be counted as a foreign language by in-state public colleges and universities – and Elon University freshman Hollis Erickson played a critical role in making that happen.

Four out of five North Carolina residents support the construction of wind energy facilities in both the mountains and along the coast of the Tar Heel State, according to the latest Elon University Poll, though half the state opposes the government promoting the increased use of nuclear power to address America’s energy supply.