Summer Research Update

Emily Knudsen (IPE '06) has created a website for her Summer 2006 research project on immigration in Denmark. You can read the report at
http://asups.ups.edu/students/eknudsen/default.htm
We are looking forward to progress reports from IPE students doing research this summer!

Study Abroad Report: Jessica Bruce in Europe

Jessica Bruce reports on her study abroad experience (the photo shows Jess in Berlin with a piece of the famous wall):

After four months in Europe, I have returned to the U.S. on Saturday and am beginning the re-adjustment process. Part of this is collecting all of my memories and sending updates to everyone who I promised to stay in touch with (including writing a summary of my experience for the IPE blog).

I spent the semester in Europe with the IES European Union program (http://www.iesabroad.org). The program is based in Freiburg, Germany, which is within biking distance of both France and Switzerland and is the unofficial capital of the Black Forest (think Hansel and Gretel). Freiburg is a beautiful, quaint city—my first impression was that Disneyland must have been designed based on it. It features a medieval Münster, the original towers from the city wall, several beer gardens, and the Bächle—a network of small streams that run along the city streets (supposedly if you fall in, you will marry a Freiburger—I managed to stay out, however).

About a month of the semester is spent traveling throughout the EU. This occurs mostly through two ten-day trips, one focusing on the institutions of the EU (in Western Europe) and one focusing on new member states (in Eastern Europe). These two trips are packed with lectures at institutions ranging from the Hungarian Parliament to NATO. Though the lectures were rather exhausting, I learned a great deal from them, and I was able to get a personal perspective on many of the issues facing the EU as a result. (I also stood in an elevator with the former president of the EU Parliament and watched German Chancellor Angela Merkel make a red carpet entrance and present Germany’s agenda for its presidency of the European Council.) There are also a few shorter trips, and each class is required to have a field trip (mine: the Freiburg water works, Alsace, Staufen--the city where Faust lived, and a winery in Offenburg). The travel is what drew most students to the program and was certainly the highlight. (You will not find a study abroad program that incorporates more travel.) In all, I visited the following cities as part of my academic experience:

• Strasbourg, France
• Colmar, France
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• Paris, France
• Brussels, Belgium
• Berlin, Germany
• Budapest, Hungary
• Krakow, Poland
• Somewhere in Slovakia...
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Riga, Latvia (half the program visited Tallinn, Estonia, instead)

My Favorite Commencement Photo

Commencement 2007

Commencement Weekend 2007 was a wonderful parade of events for IPE students. It started with the IPE reception on Friday, where Honors in IPE and the Susan Strange Awards were presented (see below for details) and all our graduates learned the significance of the thesis cords they wore proudly on Sunday. The academic convocation on Saturday featured our Daniil Davydoff as student speaker and retiring professor history Suzanne Barnett as faculty speaker. Many IPE students were recognized at the ceremony including Adrienne Parrish and Mieko Matsumoto (Kathy Phibbs award from the History department), Spencer Thanhouser and Johanna Wallner (university writing awards) and Daniil Davydoff (Slater Research Award). IPE students were also elected to the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi (Casey Dillon, ) and Phi Beta Kappa (Daniil and Katherine Ketter).

Here are some photos that I took on Commencement Day. If you have photos to add to the blog (just a few of the best ones, please!), email them to ipe@ups.edu

President Thomas introduced Professor Dillman, who read the honorary degree proclamation for our commencement speaker, Elizabeth Cousens.Elizabeth Cousens (UPS Class of 1987) gave what was perhaps the most serious and meaningful commencement address ever. Professor Veseth nominated her to be our commencement speaker, which might explain the IPE cords that you can see in the photo.Lea, Devin and Chrissy adjust their thesis cords.Diana and Maggie are happy graduates. Maggie ran a half-marathon before commencement!Daniil, Mike and Daniil's mother.The requested caption for this photo is "Blood Brothers." It is probably best that I don't explain!Joel Higa and Kathleen Tokuda. Dean John Finney, who has been in charge of commencement for three decades, was given a special, surprise diploma by President Thomas. He is retiring, and so "graduates" with the class of 2007 exactly 40 years after his real graduation from Puget Sound.The future looks bright for our graduates. We are very proud of you. Congratulations!

IPE Seniors Honored

The IPE Program was pleased to present the awards for Honors in International Political Economy and the Susan Strange Award at its annual reception on Friday, May 11, 2007.

Honors in International Political Economy

Many people believe that the most challenging event in the Olympic games is the decathlon. In the decathlon, each athlete must run races at distances of 100 meters, 400 meters and 1500 meters, long jump, high jump, pole vault, heave the 16-pound shot, hurl the discus, toss the javelin and run a 110 meter race over 42 inch hurdles. It is a challenging test of athletic technique, physical stamina and versatility.

International Political Economy is the academic equivalent of the Olympic decathlon. IPE majors must master economics, unravel statistics, interpret foreign languages and encounter foreign cultures. IPE majors must apply history to politics and philosophy to current events and then, at the end of the contest, race to complete a senior thesis while overcoming intellectual hurdles that make the steeplechase look like a walk in the park. And, unlike the Olympic decathlon, they must learn to do it all at once, not one event at a time.

The award for Honors in IPE is given to top ten percent of this year’s graduates who have demonstrated the highest level of overall performance in all of these difficult subjects as indicated by their grade point average in the major. These are the top IPE decathletes.

• Daniil Davydoff was born in Yekaterinburg, Russia but he now calls Boise, Idaho his home. In addition to IPE he has also majored in Music – he is concertmaster of the university orchestra – and played on the varsity tennis team. Daniil is one of two student speakers you will hear at convocation events this year – he will give the student address at the Academic Convocation tomorrow afternoon. Danill will move to Italy next year to study at the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

• Casey Dillon completed her degree in December and currently lives in Washington, DC, where works for the Center for Sustainable Communities at the National Association of Counties. At Puget Sound Casey majored in IPE and minored in Environmental Studies. Her senior thesis examined the role of non-governmental organizations in promoting corporate social responsibility.

• Diana Hawk came to Puget Sound from Elk Grove, California. She is an IPE major with an Economics minor. Diana studied in London, where she also worked for a Member of Parliament on constituency issues. She has been active on campus and was co-founder, with Maggie Arends, of the University’s Slow Food convivium. She plans to return to Great Britain next year to pursue a Masters degree in Environmental Politics and Policy although she is also considering an executive fellowship sponsored by the Office of the Governor of the State of California.

• Katherine Ketter has majored in IPE with a minor in Environmental Studies. She came to Puget Sound from Minneapolis, Minnesota and studied abroad in Mexico and Chile and received summer grants and internships to study sustainability and environmental issues. Upon graduation Katherine leaves for Red Lodge, Montana to work as an Outward Bound program leader. She then hopes to return to the Northwest to work with the North Cascade Institute for environmental education.

Susan Strange Award

Professor Susan Strange, who taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Warwick University, was one of the founders of the contemporary study of International Political Economy and a good friend of the IPE program at Puget Sound in its early days. Professor Strange, who died in 1998, was a strong woman with strong views.

The Susan Strange award for distinguished achievement in International Political Economy honors her achievements by recognizing a small number of our graduates who also have strong views and who have demonstrated distinct strengths in particular elements of IPE, often although not always through exceptional performance on senior thesis research. They are selected by vote of the IPE faculty.

• Jeff Bale is an IPE and Natural Science Biology double major from Salt Lake City, Utah. Jeff studied in Chile and has been active in many campus organizations. His senior thesis examined the roles of states, markets and non-governmental organizations in environmental policies. Jeff is leaving Puget Sound to become a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, where he will teach science to secondary school children. [present certificate]

• Steve Burckhalter came to Puget Sound from Grand Junction, Colorado. At Puget Sound he has studied IPE and Chinese and earned a designation in Asian Studies. Steve studied abroad in Taiwan and China. His senior thesis examines the domestic and international implications of Malaysia’s unorthodox responses to the Asian Financial crisis. He plans to return work in China next year.

• Spencer Thanhouser came to Puget Sound from Portland Oregon. He has majored in IPE and minored in Spanish. His senior thesis examines the relationship between intellectual property rights regimes and economic development. Spencer will soon leave for London where he has been named a Hansard Research Scholar. Spencer will have the opportunity to study at the London School of Economics and intern in Parliament.

Veseth Named to Albertson Professorship

From President Thomas:

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce that Michael Veseth has been named the next Robert G. Albertson Professor. I have made this appointment after receiving the recommendations of a faculty committee consisting of Barry Anton, Mott Greene, and Ken Rousslang, chaired by Kris Bartanen, and on my own review of Professor Veseth's outstanding record over a thirty-one year career at Puget Sound.

The donors who endowed the professorship wanted to honor members of the faculty "who are personally and professionally committed to undergraduate teaching and teaching excellence." In addition, they wished to recognize a member of the faculty whose work is rigorously interdisciplinary.

During his five-year term, Professor Veseth will contribute new courses to the Core curriculum at the lower division and upper division levels, including both Connections courses and Scholarly & Creative Inquiry Seminars. His particular focus will be on helping students to understand more fully complex tensions of globalization through analysis of ordinary structures of everyday life, including soccer, wine, and the European Union. As the university moves forward to enrich its distinctive disciplinary and interdisciplinary strengths in globally-focused education, Professor Veseth's work on the conflicts and contradictions highlighted by processes of globalization is timely and creative. His selection emerged from an extraordinary pool of nominees for the position that presented a daunting challenge to the committee.

Mike Veseth returned to Puget Sound in 1976, after earning a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics here in 1973, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics at Purdue University in 1974 and 1975, respectively. With the collaboration of faculty colleagues across several departments, he founded in 1994 the International Political Economy program, a program that is now among Puget Sound's five largest in terms of graduating majors. Mike is a legendary teacher and prodigious scholar, having authored or co-authored with Puget Sound colleagues several widely used textbooks in Economics and in IPE and published other scholarly work, including, most recently, the acclaimed Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization. He has been recognized by students with several teaching awards, and has received invitations to lecture for regional, national, and international events; in the summers of 2005 and 2006 he served as Economics Professor for the American Institute on Political and Economic Systems in Prague.

When Mike's term as Albertson Professor begins in 2008-2009, he will be the fifth member of the Puget Sound faculty to be honored as Robert G. Albertson Professor. The inaugural recipients of this significant recognition were Professor of Physics Jim Clifford and Professor of English Frank Cousens, followed by Professor of History Terry Cooney (who vacated the chair during his tenure as Dean) and Professor of History Suzanne Barnett. Having recently celebrated the remarkable life of Bob Albertson and his intense dedication to students and to the enduring power of the liberal arts, we take special pride in what this chair represents about our faculty and offer our warmest congratulations to Mike Veseth on being named to it.

Ron Thomas