Alum Jeffrey Selingo Authors College (Un)Bound

MA in Government alum (2001) Jeffrey Selingo is the author of College (Un)boud: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students.  The book examines the value of a four-year degree in the United States and argues that the higher education system is broken.  Mr. Selingo worries that universities have evolved into big businesses that fail to provide students with concrete, competitive skills.

Mr. Selingo is currently an editor at large for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

This morning, Mr. Selingo gave an interview about the book on NPR.  You can listen to the interview here.

Prof. Robert Guttman's TransAtlantic Magazine

Prof. Robert Guttman is the founding editor and frequent contributer at the TransAtlantic Magazine, an online magazine in conjunction with the Center on Politics and Foreign Relations (CPFR) and the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.

Check out Prof. Guttman's latest pieces on President Obama's second term so far, and on how history will judge President George W. Bush:

• Looking Ahead: Is Obama Already a Lame Duck President
• How Will History Judge President George W. Bush

 Prof. Guttman teaches courses on campaigns and politics in the MA in Government.

Ryan Emenaker in SCOTUSblog

Ryan Emenaker, an MA in Government student and Assistant Professor of Political Science at College of the Redwoods, has a new piece on SCOTUSblog.  The post, "Scholarship highlight: The Conversation Has Changed But the Court-Congress Dialogue Continues,"  examines 41 laws passed by Congress that were struck down by the Rehnquist Court.  Emenaker finds that the Supereme Court has been much active in striking down laws in the past fifty year.  At the same time, however, Congress has overridden more of these types of Court decisions in recent decades than in previous eras.  Emenaker writes:

The number of successful overrides during the Rehnquist Court highlights only part of the post-judicial review interaction between the Court and Congress. In fact, of the forty-one federal laws nullified by the Rehnquist Court, only fourteen failed to generate an override bill. Thus, even in cases where override legislation failed to become law, Congress was expending effort on overriding Court decisions that nullified federal law.

Reproduced from Ryan Emenaker, Scholarship highlight: The conversation has changed but the Court-Congress dialogue continues, SCOTUSblog (May. 3, 2013, 12:52 PM), http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/05/scholarship-highlight-the-conversation-has-changed-but-the-court-congress-dialogue-continues/.

Read the full post here.

GSS student Jeremiah Foxwell in The Small Wars Journal

Congrats to MA in Global Security Studies student Jeremiah Foxwell for his recent publication in the Small Wars Journal.

Jeremiah is writing his MA thesis on social and cultural issues surrounding the use of improvised explosive devices.  

As he was writing his case studies for his Research and Thesis I paper--on the Irish Republican Army (IRA)'s use of IEDs in 1982--he also submitted his analysis to The Small Wars Journal, where it was published last week.

Jeremiah argues,

Both of these attacks share the same formula for execution - spectacular IEDs, with culturally aware emplacement and precision targeting and triggering. So an analysis of the technology that IRA network had access to, the organization’s motivations, and of the pattern-of-life sequences on July 20, 1982 in Hyde and Regent Parks may have predicted the IEDs’ likely emplacements and designs.

More here.

Jeremiah is a US Navy EOD veteran, and currently works at the Joint IED Defeat Organization as an analyst. 

Congressman Joaquin Castro speaks at Hopkins

Last week, we were honored to welcome Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who spoke at our Spring 2013 symposium series.  

Thanks to Mario Stylianou (http://www.mariostylianou.com) for taking this photo of Rep. Castro speaking at JHU last week.Representative Castro spoke about the major issues Congress is currently considering--comprehensive immigration reform, gun reform, and a balanced solution to the nation's fiscal deficit. He was upbeat in his analysis that immigration reform will pass, in part because of the results of the 2012 Presidential Election. Rep. Castro also explained his vision to create "An Infrastructure of Opportunity" where, for example, even poor students receive a quality education and can succeed in their chosen careers.

Students had the chance to ask questions and brought up a variety of topics, including cyber security, protecting critical infrastructure and the possibility of Texas becoming a swing state in the Electoral College.  One student asked about the differences in partisanship between the U.S. Congress and the Texas House of Representatives in Austin, where Rep. Castro previously served for five terms.

Rep. Castro's talk was engaging, and he engaged in conversation candidly and openly.  We thank him for spending time at JHU and offering his fascinating persepctive on policy.  Also thanks to GSS student Merrick Garb for initiating the event and offering introductory remarks.