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Paving the Path for a Future Diplomat
By Meredith Harris Ever since taking a UCF honors diplomacy course at The Burnett Honors College, Amanda Fleming ’15 dreamed of working as a diplomat. Armed with a 4.0 GPA and international work experience, the political science major (and psychology minor) took steps to make herself competitive for a position in the U.S. Foreign Service, […]
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Venezuelan Background Helps Alumna Help Others
Having lived through an almost 11-year separation from her parents after they were denied re-entry into the United States, UCF alumna Raquel Fernandez knows firsthand the difficulties of the immigration process. Now, as the community relations coordinator for the Orange County Tax Collector’s Office, she helps support and educate others going through the same process […]
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UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country
Thirty years before he became the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington D.C., Luis Aparicio was an international student waiting to graduate from high school. His biggest dream was to attend college in the United States and study journalism. “I remember I requested over a dozen catalogs from U.S. […]
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New Data Shed Light on the Dramatic Protests in Iran
by Peyman Asadzade, security studies Ph.D. student The swift spread of Iran’s protests through small cities is perhaps their most notable feature. Of the cities where at least one protest rally took place, 73 percent had a population of less than 380,000. The population size for 25 percent of cities was lower than 105,000. These […]
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Ph.D. Student Wins Research Award
The Florida Network for Global Studies (FNGS) held its 2018 Florida International Summit on January 30, 2018, at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. As part of the summit`s program, FNGS organized its first undergraduate and graduate student research poster competition on the topic of Transatlantic Security. Sandor Fabian, a first-year Ph.D student […]
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The India Center Helps Send Debate Team Around the World
The weather in Orlando was chilly during the winter break, but the UCF Debate Team continued to heat up. Not only did the team compete at the Hurricane Debates hosted by the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, some of the team also traveled to India and participated in Calcutta’s Festival of the Spoken […]
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Alumna Andrea Otero Connects With Community
The first in her family to graduate from college back in 2009, Andrea Otero understands the importance of hard work when crafting dreams into reality. Now, as the community outreach and communications specialist for the Orange County Clerk of Courts, she is leading the efforts in promoting the many services the Clerk’s office provides in […]
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National Coastal Center Launches at UCF
UCF has launched a national research center focused on finding big-picture solutions to threats facing coastal communities. In 2017, federal and local governments in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico spent more than $284 billion to deal with the impact of hurricanes and flooding, according to NOAA. “There’s a perfect storm coming,” said Graham Worthy, UCF biologist […]
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Loving People at the Local Level
Kelly Quintero has always had a love for helping people at the local level. Before graduating in 2013 with her bachelor’s degree in political science, Quintero was eagerly involved with the school community. She was the president of the NationalOrganization for Women at UCF. She participated in the UCF College Democrats club. She helped plan, […]
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The India Center at UCF Honors Distinguished Professor
The India Center at UCF hosted an event to honor the retirement of Narsingh Deo, Ph.D., Charles N. Millican Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Computer Science and Director of the Center for Parallel Computation in the College of Computer Science and Engineering. The evening of celebration was made possible by Sharad Mehta, Anil Deshpande and Ajit […]
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The Dynamics of Buying Peace
Security Studies Ph.D. candidate Christopher Faulkner recently published an article in the journal Civil Wars. Faulkner’s article titled “Buying Peace? Civil War Peace Duration and Private Military & Security Companies,” explores the dynamics and implications of private military and security company (PMSC) involvement in civil conflicts. Suggesting that scholarship has paid scant attention to the […]
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The India Center Sponsors Trip for Students
The India Center at UCF, housed in the Political Science Department in the College of Sciences, co-sponsored four undergraduate students to travel to India during summer 2017. The trip was organized by Phil Peters, Professor of Film and Animation in the College of Arts and Humanities. The four-week long trip to India was part of […]
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Alumnus Connects With American People
UCF alumnus Michael Taylor ’13 took his degree in international and global studies to the White House, working as the letter writer engagement and events coordinator in the Office of Presidential Correspondence during the Obama administration. His job connected him with Americans on a daily basis, requiring him to read the presidential mail looking for stories […]
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Kurdish Aspirations, Geopolitical Realities
On November 16, the Kurdish Political Studies Program (KPSP) sponsored an event about contemporary Kurdish politics in the Middle East with an audience of more than 30 people. Güneş Murat Tezcür, Ph.D., opened up the event and invited Kerstin Hamann, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Political Science, to present the Dr. Najmaldin Karim Fellowship […]
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Saudi Crown Prince Bets on Economy
by David Dumke, director of Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Program This week marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bill Clinton’s victory over George H. W. Bush, a notable presidential election that familiarized the political world with the mantra, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Coined by Clinton’s famed political strategist James Carville, it stated the simple truth that […]
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Security Studies Students Honored
Security Studies Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Schiel won the grand prize in the Jim Winkates Graduate Student Paper Competition, awarded by the International Studies Association’s Southern region. Schiel’s paper, titled “The Conditionality of Vulnerability,” seeks to explain why recent years have seen an increasing number of military coup attempts target democratic regimes rather than non-democratic regimes. […]
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Alumna’s Community Involvement Leaves Impact
Chelsea Daley is passionate about her community. Daley graduated from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in political science and government in 2015, and now works as an email marketer at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. She stays connected to the UCF community through the D.C. AlumKnights chapter and uses the skills she […]
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Student Published in the Washington Post
Peyman Asadzade, UCF student pursuing a doctorate degree in security studies, recently published a blog post in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, which is a leading political blog with national exposure. His piece focused on public opinion and Iran’s involvement in the Syrian civil war. It discusses Iranian public response to Iran’s growing military presence […]
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Professor Advises NATO for the Summer
For the second consecutive year, Associate Professor Eric Merriam (joint appointment to the Political Science and Legal Studies departments) served as a legal advisor this summer to the International Military Committee at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Serving as an active duty judge advocate for the Air Force for 14 […]
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14 Faculty Awarded for International Impact
UCF recognized 45 faculty members Wednesday during the university’s inaugural Luminary Award presentations for making an impact on the world. Fourteen of the recipients are College of Sciences faculty members. The event, themed like Oscar night, honored those who are academic leaders in their field and are making contributions to the world that are having […]
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Lou Frey Institute Honored as National Model for Civics Education
by Steve Masyada, Ph.D. The Lou Frey Institute at the University of Central Florida, in collaboration with partners at iCivics, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University, hosted Democracy at a Crossroads: Our Nation’s Future Needs Innovative Civic Learning Now. The meeting took place on September 21 and was […]
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Tying Your Shoes and Budgets, Too
Brett Jones closed his eyes and tried to remember how to tie his shoes. He looked around the room and decided to go with the bunny ears method. “I realized the best way to answer was to answer it simply, and go for a laugh at the same time,” Brett Jones said. “The whole room […]
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COS Distinguished Alumni Award Winner 2017: Alan Florez
Receiving an education at the University of Central Florida can open many doors for a student. Our renowned faculty and staff pour their resources into students and allow them to reach new heights that seem impossible. For this month’s Outstanding Alumknight, the support he received at UCF allowed him to work to achieve success in both the government and […]
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Silent Guns: Examining the Two-Year Absence of Coups in Africa
Rebecca Schiel, PhD Candidate in Security Studies, and Jonathan Powell, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, recently published a blog post in Political Violence at a Glance examining the two-year absence of Coups d’état in Africa. The blog post addresses the two-year anniversary of the coup in Burkina Faso and the subsequent two-year […]
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James Bacchus Joins UCF Faculty
by Christine Dellert A new center will focus on advancing UCF’s work in economic and environmental issues and fostering links for faculty and others in the UCF community to sustainable development efforts at the local, national and global level. James Bacchus, who joins UCF as Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs, will lead the UCF […]
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UCF Alumnus Speaks up For Underprivileged Youth
Some choose the University of Central Florida because of the location. Others choose UCF because of the amazing Greek life and extracurricular activities. But this month’s Political Science Outstanding Alumnus chose UCF because he needed a broader understanding of the exact tools needed to go back and help his economically depressed community. Codeye Woody spent […]
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Jacques’ Work Highlighted by APSA
The American Political Science Association is highlighting the work of UCF Political Science professor Peter Jacques, Ph.D. His paper titled “Dialectics and the Megamachine: A Critique of Ersatz Education” analyzes the learning environment of students and considers the effects of online ersatz education on human relations and dialectical reasoning. He acknowledges the benefits an […]
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Understanding Food Security & Scarcity
The Global Perspectives Office and the Department of Political Science at the University of Central Florida have partnered with the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research and Studies to sponsor presentations, research and student fellowships in an effort to advance awareness about the United States-Saudi Arabia relationship. This knowledge includes topics of […]
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Back to School in China
UCF alumnus Max Hoffman graduated from the political science department in Spring 2014 – just a year and a half into his collegiate career. Hoffman had his sights set on something else: Shanghai. Hoffman accepted a position as a leader of the foreign teachers at Shanghai Bestway EDU where he teaches English and handles curriculum […]
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A Man Named Qusai
UCF graduate turned international hip-hop star pays a visit to his alma mater before House of Blues concert. By Sam Schiffer I walked into the UCF Fairwinds Alumni Center Wednesday evening expecting to hear an up-and-coming rapper talk about his time at the university. I walked out knowing an artist that sought to make a […]