GVPT Undergraduate Newsletter

The Government and Politics Advising Office has moved to 3104C and 3104B. Karmin Cortes is now in 3104B and Apitchaya Pimpawathin in now in 3104C.

Karmin Cortes, GVPT Academic Advisor, will be leaving the department. She has accepted a position with the BSOS Advising Center. Please help us congratulate her on this new and exciting opportunity! Her last day will be Friday, August 31, 2007. She will be available during walk-in advising hours through September 12, 2007.

If you would like to meet with an advisor at a time not listed as walk-in, you can email advising@gvpt.umd.edu to schedule an appointment. Please include times you are available to meet in the request email.

The advising office will conduct walk-in hours from 1-4pm next Thursday, September 13th.

The last day for schedule adjustment is coming up next Wednesday, September 12th. Make sure to complete your dropping and/or adding of classes before this deadline.

The Government and Politics Advising Office would just like to remind students of the following three major policies:

Government and Politics majors may only register for three (3) GVPT courses for fall and spring semester. All other majors are restricted from taking no more than one (1) GVPT course per semester. The advising office makes no exceptions to this policy.

In accordance with BSOS College policy, the Government and Politics department does not oversubscribe students to any GVPT course. Students are encouraged to sign up for all courses on their registration date, and must complete any other registration blocks before there registration appointment. Students should remain on waitlists and remember to check in every day during schedule adjustment to ensure they do not loose their spot on the waitlist.

The Government and Politics Department enforces all pre-requisites. Student must have successfully completed a pre-requisite the semester before registering for any class. The Government and Politics Department reserves the right to drop students who are missing the pre-requisite from the course without notice.

Mock Trial

Do you want to part of a National Championship Team? Join UMD's Mock Trial Team!

Interested in law? Public speaking? Want to meet people? Then Mock Trial is for you. The 4 time National Championship team is recruiting new talent to join our mock trial program for another victorious year in tournaments around the country, traveling from New York City to California.

Join our mock trial team and you will learn trial techniques, the rules of evidence and develop an understanding of law. It serves as a great foundation for law school and public speaking. You will also meet great people and make connections in the legal field.

If it sounds like Mock Trial is the team for you, email the Administrative Coordinator, Katrina Self, at info@marylandmocktrial.com. Or visit our website at www.marylandmocktrial.com.

Parliamentary Debate Team

Like to argue? Want to improve your public speaking skills? Interested in competing against students from schools across the country? If you answered yes to any of these questions, come check out the Maryland Parliamentary Debate team! Our first meeting of the semester will be Monday, September 10th at 7 pm in Jimenez 1226. We welcome everyone from seasoned veterans to absolute beginners.

Contact John Mathias at jmathias@umd.edu for more information or visit http://debate.student.umd.edu/

LSAT Prep

The National Black Law Student Association is pleased to announce an initiative aimed to reverse the decline in minority law school applications. NBLSA is offering a low-cost LSAT preparatory class, aimed to help minorities increase their LSAT scores. It is our hope that this initiative will assist in increasing minority law school applications. NBLSA will offer a three hour class once a day for seven consecutive weeks. The LSAT preparatory course curriculum has been developed by a partnership between the NBLSA education committee and Griffon Prep. Griffon Prep will also provide instructors for the LSAT course.

The LSAT course is a pilot program, with aspirations of becoming a permanent program of NBLSA. The course is intended to assist minority students with LSAT preparation that do not have the opportunity to purchase expensive commercial preparatory courses. Students interested in applying for the pilot course should send an email to nblsalsatprep@gmail.com. Please include your name, undergraduate institution and contact information in order to receive an application packet.

For more information, please contact Levi Christian Pearson at communications@nblsa.org.

Workshop with Professor Whittman

The University of Maryland Collective Choice Center, The University Program in Politics, Philosophy and Public Policy (CP4) and the Departments of Economics and Department of Government and Politics are proud to sponsor a workshop by:

DONALD A. WITTMAN, Professor of Economics, Univ. of Calif. Santa Cruz.
UTILITY WHEN THERE IS A PREFERENCE FOR BELIEFS
WITH APPLICATIONS TO POLITICS
Download the paper at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/umccc/wittman.pdf
Date: Sept. 11, 2007
Time: 3:30pm
Location: 4105 Tydings Hall, University of Maryland

To join us for a noon time lunch or a post discussion dinner: (the charge will be faculty $7.50, students $4 for luncheons; and $15 and $8 for students for dinners); please contact Joe Oppenheimer by email: joppenheimer@gvpt.umd.edu.

Professor Wittman's research interests range over law, politics, philosophy, and micro economics. He has written on democratic institutions, war, litigation and dispute resolution, externalities, economic contests, and theories of justice. He has co-edited with Barry Weingast, the Oxford Handbook of Political Economy, Oxford University Press, 2006 and his most recent previous volume was Economic Foundations of Law and Organization, Cambridge University Press, 2006. He has published many articles in such journals as Public Choice, American Political Science Review, European Journal of Political Economy, and Journal of Conflict Resolution.

Conference on Women's Labor in the Global Economy

The African American Studies Department, University of Maryland presents a book launch & two-day conference for Women's Labor in the Global Economy featuring the contributing authors: Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Lynn Bolles, Akosua Darkwah, Carole Boyce Davies, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Nandini Gunawardena, Sharon Harley, Nancy Hewitt, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Maria Ontiveros, Mary Osirim and Vicki Ruiz Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 4:30-6:00pm at the Nyumburu Cultural Center and Friday, October 5, 2007 9:00-1:30 pm in the Atrium at the Stamp Student Union.

For more information, contact Sharon Harley (sharley@aasp.umd.edu), Beck Krefting (rkrefting@aasp.umd.edu) or Sharon Anderson (sanderson@aasp.umd.edu) at AASD at 301-405-4470 or 301-405-1158.

Study Abroad Fair

Our annual Study Abroad Fair is just around the corner on Monday, September 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Stamp Student Union! Come learn more about UM-sponsored programs, meet program providers from across the country, discuss our Winterterm programs with Faculty Directors, and join the Traveling Terps, the campus student group devoted to international experiences.

*Don't forget, if you want to spend your winter term or spring semester abroad on a Maryland-sponsored program, the deadline is fast approaching! Turn in your Winterterm applications by October 2 and your semester applications by October 16 for our Maryland-sponsored programs. We also are accepting scholarship applications for our semester and Winterterm programs. Please print out the application and turn it into our office with an official, sealed transcript by September 18.*

Research Opportunities

Interested in working with a GVPT faculty member on his/her research? Consider participating in Maryland Student Researchers (MSR). MSR provides students with an opportunity to work closely with faculty mentors on a volunteer basis for 4-6 hours per week.

Students are encouraged to explore the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research (MCUR) database. Please visit http://www.ugresearch.umd.edu/. Sponsored by the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Studies. GVPT faculty who are currently seeking student research assistants include the following:

Jim Gimple, mailto:jglass@gvpt.umd.edu

James Glass, jglass@gvpt.umd.edu

Frances Lee, flee@gvpt.umd.edu

Scott Kastner, skastner@gvpt.umd.edu

Wayne McIntosh, wmcintosh@gvpt.umd.edu

Website: http://www.uresearch.umd.edu/

Intern at The Interfaith Alliance, on First Freedom First

POSITION SUMMARY: First Freedom First is a national effort to safeguard the separation of church and state by educating the Americans about the influences of religion on public policy. Our interns help promote the project practically and creatively. Work includes collaboration on major projects, help with outreach, community organizing and event planning, and administrative assistance, with plenty of room for creative initiative. Visit www.firstfreedomfirst.org to learn more about the project, or contact Project Manager Eric Shutt at eshutt@interfaithalliance.org or (202) 238-3287 during normal business hours.

QUALIFICATIONS: Minimum Qualifications: Creativity and desire to take personal initiative, ability to multitask, collaborative team player, diligent and independent working style

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Assistance in program planning, marketing, and communications; Help with First Freedom First media and public relations campaign, including social organizing, to generate earned media; Work creatively and collaboratively with First Freedom First manager on projects of personal interest related to the success of First Freedom First; Assistance in creating and sending materials to local affiliates and volunteers, and other efforts related to efficient operation of the project,;Monitor religion and politics in the media and other social outlets; Assistance with website maintenance

Applicants should send resume and cover letter to Project Manager Eric Shutt at eshutt@interfaithalliance.org

The newsletter is sent out each Friday before 12 pm to all current University of Maryland students who have declared and been accepted into the GVPT major. Only information relevant to academic and extra-curricular opportunities for these students will be sent through the newsletter. The government advising office reserves the right to edit and review all submissions to the GVPT newsletter and deny any submissions at their sole discretion.

If you would like to submit information or announcements, please email ADVISING@gvpt.umd.edu. Only those submissions which are denied or delayed will be contacted further.