West Virginia University Department of Political Science

Welcome to the
Department of Political Science
in the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences

Faculty

Neil Berch (Ph.D., Washington 1990), Associate Professor. Dr. Berch teaches courses in state and local politics, economic policy, and economic models of politics. His publications include articles on women candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, tax progressivity in the states, and the effects of challenger spending in U.S. House elections. His articles have appeared in American Politics Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, and Southeastern Political Review. Since 1997 he has served as coach of the University 's nationally ranked Debate Team.
Email: berchnorto@aol.com
vita

Richard A. Brisbin, Jr. (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins 1975), Associate Professor. Dr. Brisbin teaches and conducts research in the areas of American constitutional development, civil liberties, federal and state judicial behavior, law and public policy, and criminal justice. His published research encompasses issues related to freedom of expression, the politics of American appellate courts, constitutional and administrative law, the legal history of American political institutions, and the politics of disputing. He is the author of A Strike Like No Other Strike: Law & Resistance During the Pittston Coal Strike of 1989-1990 (Johns Hopkins, 2002) and Justice Antonin Scalia and the Conservative Revival (Johns Hopkins, 1997), and co-author of West Virginia Politics and Government (Nebraska, 1996) and School Desegregation and Defended Neighborhoods (Lexington, 1982). His work has appeared in such political science journals as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Political Science Quarterly, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Studies in American Political Development, and the Western Political Quarterly, as well as in academic journals in law, history, and social psychology. Additionally, he has published numerous chapters in edited volumes, including The Institutions of American Democracy: The Judicial Branch (Ed. Kermit L. Hall and Kevin T. McGuire), and studies of West Virginia politics for the West Virginia Institute for Public Affairs. In 1997, he won the Franklin L. Burdette Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper presented at the 1996 American Political Science Association, and in 2003, he was recipient of the Benedum Distinguished Researcher Award, West Virginia University's highest research award. He previously served as editor the Law & Politics Book Review of the Law and Courts Section of the APSA and as president of the West Virginia Political Science Association.
Email: Richard.Brisbin@mail wvu.edu
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R. Scott Crichlow (Ph.D., Louisiana State U. 2001). Assistant Professor. Dr. Crichlow teaches and conducts research on international relations, U.S. foreign policy, political psychology, and Middle Eastern politics. His current research focuses on how group decision-making dynamics and the beliefs and personality traits of political leaders affect foreign policy. He has published articles in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, International Studies Quarterly, and Political Psychology . In 1997 he won the Alexander George Award for the best graduate student paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, and in 1998, he was a nominee for the best paper award in the Domestic Sources of Political Science section at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.
Email: Scott.Crichlow@mail.wvu.edu
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Robert E. DiClerico (Ph.D., Indiana University-Bloomington, 1974). Eberly Professor of Political Science. Dr. DiClerico teaches and conducts research on the presidency, political parties and elections, and the politics of agenda-setting. His primary research areas are the president and presidential elections. He is the author of Voting in America (ABC-CLIO, 2004) and The American President 5 th ed. (Prentice-Hall, 2000); and co-author of Choosing Our Choice (Rowan and Littlefield, 2000) and Few are Chosen (McGraw-Hill, 1984). He is editor of Campaigns and Elections (Prentice-Hall 2000) and Analyzing the Presidency (Dushkin, 1990) . His scholarly articles have appeared in Presidential Studies Quarterly , Society , and South Atlantic Quarterly . In 1996, he was named Eberly Professor for Outstanding Teaching, and has previously been named West Virginia Professor of the Year, CASE Professor of the Year, WVU Foundation Outstanding Teacher, Danforth Fellow, and Amoco Outstanding Teacher. He is Director of Undergraduate Studies of the department and the Campus Representative of the Rhodes and Truman Scholarship Foundations.
Email: Robert.DiClerico@mail wvu.edu

Robert D. Duval (Ph.D., Florida State 1984), Associate Professor and Director of Computer and Information Services. Dr. Duval teaches and conducts research on international politics, national security policy, quantitative research methods, and computer applications in political science. He is co-author of Bootstrapping (Sage, 1993), and has published articles in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution . He also authors/edits “Poly-Cy:Internet Resources for Political Science, ” an extensive guide to political science on the World Wide Web. He formerly served as the Resident Faculty Leader for Braxton Tower from 1998-2005.
Email: Bob.Duval@mail.wvu.edu
vita

Christina Fattore (Ph.D., Florida State 2006) Professor Fattore’s research interests are in the area of international relations, specifically international political economy, European Union politics, and preferential trading arrangements. She has taught courses on international political economy, international organizations, the European Union, research methods, and comparative politics. Her current research is related to the Structural Funds of the European Union and their effects on subnational regional convergence.

Email: Christina.Fattore@mail.wvu.edu

Joe D. Hagan (Ph.D., Kentucky 1980), Barnette Professor in Political Science and Department Chair. He also serves as the director of the International Studies Program, an interdisciplinary major closely affiliated with the Political Science Department. Dr. Hagan teaches courses in foreign policy and international relations, including a core undergraduate class on the "The Politics of War and Peace” and undergraduate and graduate courses on comparative foreign policy analysis. His research examines the domestic political sources of foreign policy as they relate to war, peace, and change in international politics. He is the author of Political Opposition and Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective (Lynne Rienner, 1993), co-editor of Foreign Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global Change (South Carolina, 1994), and Leaders, Groups, and Coalitions: Understanding the People and Processes in Foreign Policy (Blackwell Press, 2001). His research has appeared in such journals as Cooperation and Conflict, Foreign Policy, International Organization, International Studies Review, International Interactions, Mershon International Studies Review (ISQ supplement), as well as in several edited volumes on comparative foreign policy analysis. He has received both the WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award and the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award, the top teaching and research awards at the University. Dr. Hagan was a recipient of a 1993 Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs at Harvard University, and he served as program chair of the 1999 annual conference of the International Studies Association, Washington, DC. .
Email: jhagan@wvu.edu

Allan S. Hammock (Ph.D., Virginia 1972), Associate Professor. He is the co-author of West Virginia Politics and Government (Nebraska, 1996), the co-editor of Points of View: Readings in American Government and Politics 9 th edition (McGraw-Hill, 2004), and has written book chapters on West Virginia interest groups and parties. His published articles have appeared in Politics and Policy and SouthNow . He has received outstanding teaching awards from the department, college, and university. He also is Chair of the West Virginia State Election Commission.
Email: ahammock@wvu.edu

Susan Hunter (Ph.D., Ohio State 1984), Associate Professor. Dr Hunter's teaching and research fields are contemporary political theory, public policy evaluation, and environmental and energy policy. Her current research focuses on comparative land-use policy and the politics of civic engagement. She has published articles in Policy Studies Journal, Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Review, International Studies Quarterly and PS: Political Science and Politics, among others. She is co-author of EPAs Regulatory Style: The Case of Water Quality Enforcement (M.E. Sharpe, 1996). She formerly served as the University's Director of Service Learning.
Email: libertree@aol.com

Jamie Elizabeth Jacobs (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh 1997), Assistant Professor. Dr. Jacobs teaches courses on global political issues, international politics, Latin America, and political economy. Her research interests include political participation, social movements, the environment, and the international politics of Latin America, including environmental politics in Brazil, public opinion about the environment in Peru, and MERCOSUL. Her research has appeared in Latin American Politics and Society . She is the recipient of numerous department, college, and university teaching awards and is faculty advisor to the Model OAS.
Email: jjacobs@labyrinth.net

John C. Kilwein (Ph.D., Ohio State 1992), Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair. Dr. Kilwein's teaching and research interests include judicial politics, public law, and public policy. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Judicature, Southern Political Review, and State Constitutional Commentaries and Notes, and in the books, Lawyering on the Left: Causes, Politics, and Professional Responsibility (Oxford, 1997), and The Transformation of Legal Aid: Comparative and Historical Studies (Oxford, 1999). In 1995 and again in 1999 and 2003, he was the recipient of the Pi Sigma Alpha Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2000, he received the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award, and in 2001, the West Virginia University Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award, the University ' s highest award for teaching.
Email: John.Kilwein@mail.wvu.edu

Hong N. Kim (Ph.D., Georgetown 1965), Professor. Dr. Kim teaches comparative politics, with emphasis on East Asia. Formerly editor of Asia Pacific Review and currently editor of International Journal of Korean Studies , he has contributed more than 100 articles to such journals as Asian Survey, Pacific Affairs, World Politics, Korea and World Affairs, Journal of East Asia Studies, and Current History. He is co-editor of six books, including Korean Reunification: New Perspectives and Approaches (Kyungnam University Press, 1984), and author of Japanese-Korean Relations in the 1990s (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1994). He was named Outstanding Researcher in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in 1985, and has been a Fulbright scholar at Tokyo's Keio University (1979, 1982) and Seoul National University (1990).
Email: hongkim@wvu.edu

Kevin M. Leyden (Ph.D., Iowa 1992), Associate Professor and Director of WVU's Institute for Public Affairs and the West Virginia State and Local Government Internship Program. Dr. Leyden ' s teaching and research interests include public opinion, political parties, elections, interest groups, and land-use planning. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, The British Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Policy Studies Journal, among others. He received the Pi Sigma Alpha Outstanding Teacher award in 1997 and again in 2000. His current research focuses on the relationship between suburban sprawl, social capital and health.
Email: kleyden@wvu.edu

Philip A. Michelbach (Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 2006), Assistant Professor. Professor Michelbach's research interests are in the area of political theory and include German political thought, democratic theory, and distributive justice. He has taught introductory courses in political theory as well as more specialized classes in ancient, modern, and American Political Thought. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science. He is currently revising a book manuscript on the tradition of German political thought beginning with Martin Luther in the 16th century and extending to contemporary democratic theory through G.W.F. Hegel in the 19th century.
Email: Philip.Michelbach@mail.wvu.edu
vita

Sophia L. Peterson (Ph.D., UCLA 1969). Professor Emerita. Retired in 1997, Dr. Peterson continues to teach in her specialty area of international relations. Her research has appeared in Public Opinion Quarterly, Comparative International Development, International Interactions , and Journalism Quarterly . Winner of numerous teaching awards, she was a Gold Medal Finalist in the 1987 National CASE Professor of the Year Award Program. In 1984, she received the Hebink Award for Distinguished State Service, the University ' s highest service award, for her work in promoting a statewide program in Faculty and Course Development in International Studies (FACDIS).
Email: WVUSophia@aol.com

Donley T. Studlar (Ph.D., Indiana 1975), Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Dr. Studlar is an internationally recognized scholar who teaches and researches the comparative politics of Western democracies, especially comparative public policy. His current research includes work on the comparative politics of tobacco control, voting turnout in European Parliament elections, and what influences differences in gender representation in legislatures. His four books include Tobacco Control: Comparative Politics in the United States and Canada (Broadview Press, 2002) and Britain: Decline or Renewal? (Westview, 1996). He has authored or co-authored over 100 articles in most of the major journals in political science. For eleven years he served as Executive Secretary of the British Politics Group, and has been on the editorial boards of several international journals, including the American Review of Canadian Studies, Australian Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Politics and International Affairs, Political Research Quarterly, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. He is a two-time Fulbright award winner and has been a Visiting Fellow at several universties, including the Research School of Social Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies, The Australian National University, and the Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Email: Donley.Studlar@mail.wvu.edu
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Jeffrey S. Worsham (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991), Professor and Director of Graduate Studies. Dr. Worsham teaches courses on Congress, regulation, bureaucratic politics, civil rights policy, and social welfare policy. His research interests include principal-agent theory, congressional policy making, and regulation. He is the author of Other People ' s Money: Policy Change, Congress, and Bank Regulation (Westview, 1997) and co-author of Contemporary Regulatory Policy (Lynne Rienner, 2000) and This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land: The Property Rights Movement and Regulatory Takings (LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2002). His articles have appeared in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, American Politics Quarterly, Administration and Society, Governance , and Policy Studies Journal. His current research includes a book length project which seeks to understand the institutionalization of the congressional committee system through an examination of the evolution of energy policy over the course of the 20th century. He has received the Pi Sigma Alpha outstanding teacher award in the department and serves as an advisor to the WVU Young Democrats.
Email: jworsham@wvu.edu

Rodger D. Yeager (Ph.D., Syracuse 1968), Professor Emeritus. Retired in 2002, Dr. Yeager taught and conducted research in the field of comparative politics, with an emphasis on political development, natural resource policy, health policy, and the politics of Africa. He is the author of Tanzania: An African Experiment (Westview, 1989), and co-author of Kenya: The Quest for Prosperity (Westview, 1994) and Wildlife, Wild Death: Land Use and Survival in Eastern Africa (SUNY Press, 1986), and numerous articles on HIV-AIDS policy in Africa and throughout the world.

Staff