Alumni and Friends
Alumni Updates
Doug Goodman (PhD 2002) is an associate professor of public affairs at The University of Texas at Dallas. He has been at UTD since August 2010.
Robert "Bob" Bennett (BS 1957), U.S. senator from 1992 to the present (leaving office in January 2011), will be honored as a University of Utah Founders' Day recipient for 2011. Senator Bennett has served as a senior member of significant Senate committees and helped obtain funding for ventures including the University Telemedicine Outreach Program, the TRAX spur to the U, and the U's new National Center for Veterans' Studies.
Mahmoud Hamad (PhD 2008), assistant professor at Drake University, offers 'eye-opening' look at Islam's complexities. Read article...
Judge J. Thomas Greene (BS 1952), was honored as a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Thomas Greene earned a juris doctorate from the S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1955 where he participated on the Utah Law Review and practiced law for 30 years before his appointment as a U.S. District Judge in 1985. He continues to serve as a senior judge 25 years later.
Paul Y. Hammond (BS 1949), was honored as a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. After earning his master's degree and PhD from Harvard University, Professor Hammond taught at Harvard University, the U.S. Naval Academy, Columbia University and Yale University. Professor Hammond retired from the University of Pittsburgh after 27 years and returned to Salt Lake City, UT, in 2004.
Samuel Grover Rich, Jr. (BS 1942), Professor Emeritus passes away at age 91 on December 25, 2009. Sam Rich received his B.A. degree in political science from The University of Utah and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from Stanford University. A well-beloved teacher and colleague, he served on The University of Utah Political Science Department's faculty for thirty-one years and has been internationally recognized for his research and teaching in foreign policy and international security. Professor Rich was the founder and driving spirit behind The University of Utah's international relations major and certificate programs.
Professor Paul Watanabe (BS 1972) Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts & /Director of the Institute of Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, featured in 2010 Census. Read article...
Dan England (BS 1971), was honored as a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dan England earned a bachelor's in political science in 1971 and a juris doctorate in 1974 from the University of Utah. While attending Utah he was a member of Beta Epsilon chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1974 Dan began a private law practice specializing in insurance litigation and transportation. In 1977 he joined C.R. England, a family owned trucking firm, as in-house legal counsel. Dan became general manager in 1982 and was promoted to chief executive officer in 1988. In 2005, he was elected chairman of the board.
Professor Douglas Goodman (PhD 2002) accepts a position at the University of Texas - Dallas in the Public Affairs Department.
Professor Hasan Kosebalaban (PhD 2006) Lynne Rienner Publisher "Choice Outstanding Academic Titles" award recipient 2009 for Religion and Politics in Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the State. Dr. Kosebalaban is currently an Assistant Professor in Politics at Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois.
Cory Duckworth (MA 1983, JD 1985) William Sederburg, commissioner of higher education, has enlisted the expertise of Cory L. Duckworth, vice president of student affairs at Utah Valley University (UVU), to oversee the transition of the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) in becoming a comprehensive regional college of Utah State University (USU) next year. Full Story...
Professor Murhaf Jouejati (PhD 1998) accepted a position as a professor at the National Defense University (NESA center) at the beginning of this year after two years of directing the Middle East Studies Program at the George Washington University where he was a visiting assistant professor in political science and international affairs. He continues to teach at George Washington as an adjunct professor.
Wayne Gledhill (1968) was appointed as a Foreign Service Officer immediately upon graduation and, after spending a year in Washington, D.C., was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Iran, where he spent the next five years. His second posting was as the Director of the U.S. Cultural Center in Vienna, Austria, and also as the Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer and a member of the Fulbright Commission in Austria. He has been back in Utah since the mid-seventies. He was the Director of the Salt Lake Art Center for two years and currently owns and operates his own insurance business.
Jeff Bingham (1971) met Senator Jake Garn through the Hinckley Institute when Senator Garn was Salt Lake City Commissioner. After graduating, he worked with Senator Garn in the Office of the Mayor and moved with Garn to Washington, D. C., where he served as his Chief of Staff when Garn was elected into the U.S. Senate. During Garn's senate service, Bingham became very interested in Senator Garn's work for the Appropriations Subcommittee on NASA appropriations. After attending the first launch of the space shuttle in 1981, Bingham was "forever 'hooked' on the space program." He left his position with Senator Garn in 1990 to work for NASA. In 1999 he commenced a writing project for the NASA History Office to detail the "policy/political history" of the space station project, and he left NASA in 2004 to devote his time to this manuscript. While engaged in this effort, he was persuaded to delay his manuscript commitment to accept the position of Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Science and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate. The Committee produced the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, which was signed into law on December 30, 2005, and is now engaged in an oversight of that law's implementation and of NASA's overall activities.
Joel W. Marcus (1993, Cum Laude) was a teaching fellow (comparative politics and political theory) in the Department after graduation. He moved to the San Francisco Bay area seven years ago after finishing his MA coursework and has been working at Schwab Institutional Strategic Client Group for 6 years as an Account Manager.
Michael A. Thomas (1999) attended law school at the University of Oregon and received his J.D. in May of 2002. His studies in our department encouraged him to pursue a career in public service. He was a Presidential Management Fellow with the Social Security Administration in Denver from July 2002 to December 2003 and joined the Agency's Office of the General Counsel in Denver as an attorney in January 2004. His work there consists primarily of disability program litigation in the Federal District Courts in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, and South Carolina, and the Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits.
Melissa Winberg (2003) worked in Marketing for a year and half after graduation, after which she began attending Vanderbilt University Law School. She also interned for FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. She says that her years in the Political Science Department helped prepare her for her life now, and especially acknowledges Professor Jim Gosling for his Politics and Economics course and its information on the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III (PhD 1992) most recent book, Filipino American Faith in Action: Immigration, Religion, and Civic Engagement, was just released by New York University Press. Dr. Gonzalez is the Mayor George Christopher Professor of Public Administration at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California. He is also cross affiliated with the University of San Francisco's Department of Politics and is Director of their Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. When Dr. Gonzalez is not teaching, he is at city hall presiding as Commissioner of Immigrant Rights for the City and County of San Francisco.
Raymond Cunningham (BA 1976) and his wife, Christine, were able to take the rare opportunity to visit North Korea in October of 2008. An account of his travels was published by the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette, and Ray has posted his exploits on the internet.
Douglas Goodman (PhD 2002) receives promotion to Associate Professor at Mississipi State University. Dr. Goodman is also the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
Kevin W. Scroggin (1979) says that his studies in the Political Science Department prepared him well for his graduate studies and numerous industry positions. He received his Masters in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University and is currently working as General Director of Corporate Risk Management at the General Motors Corporation in Detroit, Michigan.