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Political
Science at Providence College
The Department of Political Science is
among the most popular programs at Providence College, with about
330 majors and minors. Yet our classes are small, rarely exceeding
25 students, with many seminars, special topics courses, and undergraduate
research projects. We offer an Honors option for outstanding students,
which includes writing an Honors thesis during the senior year.
We maintain a computer lab, online and other electronic data resources,
an extensive politics-oriented video collection, and a library
of political texts, campaign materials, and memorabilia.
The Political Science Department believes strongly that learning is
not limited to the classroom. The Department encourages community involvement:
we are engaged with the International Institute of Rhode Island in
a series of voluntary projects, we encourage foreign study, and we
support internships, all as part of our academic program. On campus,
the department presents a full range of public events every year, including
lectures, films, and “teach-ins,” for examples. Our students
are actively involved in campus student government and many other organizations.
Our faculty are teachers and scholars
The department has a diverse full-time faculty
of 14 members, who hold Ph.D. degrees from California at Berkeley,
Brown, SUNY at Buffalo, Chicago, Columbia, Kent State, Massachusetts,
Michigan State, North Carolina, and Rutgers. In recent years political
science faculty have directed the College's interdisciplinary programs
in Black Studies, Latin American Studies, and Public Administration,
and also teach in the Women's Studies, Liberal Arts Honors, Global
Studies, Public and Community Service, Asian Studies, and Development
of Western Civilization programs. Our teaching faculty also enjoy strong
scholarly reputations. They write well-regarded academic books and
articles, and are regularly invited to present research in many regions
and fields: the American, Western, Midwest, Southwest, and Northeastern
Political Science associations, the National Conference of Black Political
Scientists, and the Latin American, African, and International Studies
Associations. Our faculty all serve as academic advisors for majors
and minors, and mentors for students who seek admission to some of
the nation's most prestigious graduate, professional and law schools.
We invite prospective students to find additional information about
our program on this website, or to contact us directly.
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Prof. Edward Cleary publishes
new book on Latin American politics
Rev. Edward L. Cleary O.P., professor
of political science and director of Latin American studies
at Providence College, has published Conversion of
a Continent:
Contemporary Religious Change in Latin America. Co-edited
with Timothy J. Steigenga and published by Rutgers University
Press, the book analyzes the role of religion in Latin
America's Indigenous political resurgence. An internationally-recognized
expert on religion and politics in the Americas, Fr.
Cleary has previously published Representing God at
the State House: Religion and Politics in the American
States (Rowman & Littlefield 2005), Resurgent
Voices in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples, Political
Mobilization, and Religious Change (Rutgers 2004),
and The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America (Praeger
1997).
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Dr.
Trudeau presents research at New Mexico conference on
popular culture
Prof. Robert Trudeau recently traveled
to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the annual meeting of the
Southwest/Texas Popular Culture
and American Culture Association. At the conference, held
February 13-16, 2008, Dr. Trudeau presented a paper analyzing
music, popular culture, and politics in the United States,
with a focus on the "Grateful Dead Phenomenon." Dr.
Trudeau's seminar on "The Sixties" has been one
of the Department's most popular courses in recent years.
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ALUM OF THE MONTH:
To read about alumni acknowledged in previous months, click here
May
2009

Roberta (Motherway) Bondurant,
Class of 1982
After her graduation from PC in 1982, Roberta continued
her studies in law school. Since graduating from Washington
and Lee School of Law in 1986, Roberta has enjoyed a
rich and varied practice. She began at a mid-size firm
in Richmond in personal injury and medical malpractice
defense. She developed a passion for the pro-bono work
she'd discovered at the state penitentiary in Richmond,
and found a public defender opening in Roanoke where
she worked through 1992. Since then she has maintained
a small private practice, handling cases for Legal Aid
and as a court-appointed guardian ad litem for children,
while raising her own children--Kate, 18, Jack, 16, and
Nick, 13-- with her husband Tom, a federal prosecutor.
For a decade Roberta has
volunteered in a case of Actual Innocence for a man
wrongfully convicted of arson and
murder in 1988. Following unsuccessful efforts in the
courts, she is now working with lawyers from Cozen O'Connor
on executive pardon and parole requests before Governor
Tim Kaine and the Virginia Parole Board. Though she is
still hoping for a pardon, he was finally released
on parole on April 24, 2009.
Roberta lives on a small farm in Bent Mountain, Virginia
in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her family, pet chickens,
goats and dogs. In her free time, she volunteers as a
tree steward for Roanoke, tending and cultivating its
urban forest.
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