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MSU PLS wins the 2025 University Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award
May 7, 2025 - Karessa Weir
The MSU PLS PhD program was selected by MSU's Graduate School as the winner of the 2025 Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award.
PLS student’s efforts to unite Jewish-Arab students wins him the Outstanding Student Leadership Award
May 2, 2025 - Karessa Weir
Tyler Pohl, a Political Science and Economics junior, has been awarded the 2025 Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC)’s Outstanding Student Leadership Award.
Michigan Government Semester Program participants celebrate another successful spring
May 1, 2025 - Karessa Weir
Participants in the Michigan Government Semester Program (MGSP) were praised and celebrated for their hard work and dedication to the immersive Lansing internship program at this year’s MGSP Spring Reception.
Detroit’s lack of affordable housing pushes families to the edge - and children sometime pay the price
April 28, 2025 - Meghan Wilson and John Kuk
One important trend is that the number of homeless children in the city reached a record high in 2024. This is true even though the overall numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the city is declining overall.
Master of Public Policy students share their senior capstone research projects
April 23, 2025 - Karessa Weir
From “The Black Detroit Wealth Heist” to the “Brain Drain Dilemma in Ghana,” Master of Public Policy graduating students presented their capstone research projects at this year’s MPP Forum. The 14 students set to receive their MA degrees next month spent their final semesters on individualized research projects based on public policies that interested them. Under the direction of MPP Director Dr. Sarah Reckhow, they created research posters and explained their methods and findings into a packed room in the MSU Union April 17. Among the problems students sought to solve were access to mental health, disability assistance in Michigan, congestion pricing in Chicago, and the burden of administration of Medicare.
PLS students shine at Women's Leadership Institute Capstone
April 21, 2025 - Emily Jodway Patyna
The event featured student leadership testimony from two members of the WLI Student Cohort, second year cohort member and junior student Anjali Konkipudi, and fourth-year cohort member and senior student Katarina Parker. Konkipudi, a political science and pre-law major says that she originally was attracted to the cohort for the professional development opportunities and ended up finding a space to thrive with like-minded individuals harboring goals and aspirations similar to her own.
MSU PLS students win first place prizes in UURAF
April 18, 2025
MSU PLS students Lola Browne and Julia Park won first place awards at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum.
Jerome Hamilton Jr. is named MSU Political Science Outstanding Senior for 2025
April 2, 2025 - Karessa Weir
From his work as a ULA to his unique research projects, MSU Political Science senior Jerome Hamilton Jr. gave the department multiple reasons for naming him as the 2025 Outstanding Senior.
MSU PLS PhD student wins Julian Samora Endowed Scholarship award
March 26, 2025
Sofia Rosales, MSU Political Science PhD student, has been selected to receive the Julian Samora Endowed Scholarship award for the 2025-2026 school year.
Female central bankers face significant gender bias, finds research from two PLS faculty
March 25, 2025 - Karessa Weir
Using a novel experiment to access gender bias, Drs. Cristina Bodea and Andrew Kerner found that female central bankers face significant gender bias.
Alumni Spotlight: Domonique Clemons
March 24, 2025
Domonique Clemons is the Genesee County Clerk Register of Deeds. Previously, he served as director of government affairs for the Flint & Genesee Group. Clemons has also served as a Genesee County Commissioner, director of diversity and staff development, and legislative director at the Michigan House of Representatives. Clemons graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from MSU in 2016 and earned a Master’s Degree in Political Management from George Washington University in 2019.
MSU PLS PhD candidate, faculty named Good Authority fellows
March 3, 2025
MSU PLS PhD candidate Kelechi Amakoh and MSU PLS Associate Professor Eric Gonzales Juenke are among the nine new Good Authority fellows.
Alumni Spotlight: Aaron Stephens
February 21, 2025
Aaron Stephens earned a Political Science degree in 2018. But even as a student, he was already making headlines when he ran for and won a seat on the East Lansing City Council in 2017.
Firing civil servants and dismantling government departments is how aspiring strongmen consolidate personal power – lessons from around the globe
February 20, 2025 - Erica Frantz
With the recent confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – two of the most controversial of President Donald Trump’s high-level administration nominees – the president’s attempt to remake government as a home for political loyalists continues.
Dean's Research Associate Angie Torres-Beltran wins multiple awards for dissertation papers
February 19, 2025
The International Studies Association announced their 2024-2025 awards this week and included three awards for MSU PLS Dean's Research Associate Angie Torres-Beltran.
Alumni Spotlight: Charley Willison
January 31, 2025 - Emily Johnson
Alumna Charley Willison is an award-winning author, with her book, Ungoverned and Out of Sight: Public Health and the Political Crisis of Homelessness in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2021), evaluating supportive housing policies. She received the Dennis Judd Best Book Award in 2022 from the American Political Science Association's Urban and Local Politics Section.
PLS students shine in Diversity Research Showcase
January 29, 2025 - Emily Jodway
Hosted annually by the MSU Honors College, the Diversity Research Showcase features a broad range of work focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion from undergraduate students university-wide. This year’s showcase featured over 60 students across 12 of MSU’s degree-granting colleges.
Diversity Spotlight: Daniel Baum
January 23, 2025 - Emily Jodway
Holocaust Remembrance Day is on January 27, and throughout the month we honor and remember those who were impacted by the Holocaust and its aftermath. Our Access Spotlight this month is on Daniel Baum, an Attorney at the Jones Day law firm in Detroit, and a proud alumnus of the College of Social Science with degrees in Public Policy and Jewish Studies. His maternal grandparents both are survivors of the Holocaust. Baum has spent extensive time researching and documenting their experiences, and frequently works with the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills to pass on the story of their resilience and how we can continue to speak out and stand up for others in the face of injustice everywhere.
Afrobarometer celebrates 25 years at Michigan State University
January 17, 2025 - Karessa Weir
In 1999, MSU Political Science Professor Michael Bratton worked with Robert Mattes and E. Gyimah-Boadi to merge three independent survey research projects to form the Afrobarometer, a survey program designed to give a voice to “ordinary African citizens.”
Students get a glimpse at "real life" in Careers in PLS class
January 15, 2025 - Karessa Weir
A new course this Fall – Careers in PLS (PLS 392) – gave undergraduate students new opportunities to prepare to take on law school, graduate school, the business world, or just "real life" after college.
MSU College of Social Science remembers the wisdom, mentorship and generosity of alumnus Burton Gerber
January 9, 2025 - Karessa Weir
When Burton Gerber earned his international relations degree from Michigan State University in 1955, he signed up for a job that was cloaked in secrecy. But throughout a high profile and influential career with the Central Intelligence Agency, he never hid his love for being a Spartan.
Two Social Science students who "exemplify civility” awarded the Lynch Family Promoting Civility Scholarships
January 9, 2025 - Karessa Weir
MSU PLS senior Jerome Hamilton Jr. and Economics major Sumaiya Imad were recently named the 2024 recipients of the Jon & Tina Lynch Family Promoting Civility Scholarship.
A Spartan fan since childhood, MSU PLS alumnus Jack Katosh endows four new scholarships for Political Science undergraduate students
January 7, 2025 - Karessa Weir
Jack Katosh's experience with studying US politics, expertise in survey research, and participation in ROTC are reflected in the four awards he created for Political Science students.