Faculty
Department of Politics
and International Relations
Drake University
Rachel
Caufield
Renee Cramer
Debra DeLaet
Dennis Goldford
Mary McCarthy
Joanna Mosser
Arthur Sanders
David Skidmore
Eleanor Zeff
Rachel Caufield, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations
Curriculum Vitae
Office: Meredith 211
Office phone and voicemail: 515/271-1924
E-Mail Address: rachel.caufield@drake.edu
Rachel Paine Caufield joined the Politics Department in the fall of 2001. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at The George Washington University and her B.A. in Mathematics and Political Science from Hood College in Frederick, MD. Her teaching and research interests focus on American political institutions, including judicial politics, legislative politics, and the American presidency as well as inter-branch relationships and empirical research methods. She has served as a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She also currently serves as the research and program consultant to the Hunter Center for Judicial Selection at the American Judicature Society and principal organizer for an effort to educate citizens about issues and processes related to the 2008 Iowa Caucuses.
Renee Cramer, Assistant Professor of Law, Politics and Society
Office: 225A Meredith Hall
Office phone and voicemail: (515) 271-2870
E-mail address: renee.cramer@drake.edu
Renee Ann Cramer is an assistant professor
of Law, Politics, and Society. With a PhD in Politics from New York University, earned
in 2001, Her research and teaching are at the intersections of those topics. Her
courses include: Race, Politics and the Law; the Junior and Senior Law, Politics,
and Society Seminars; a First-Year Seminar titled: Your Life in the Law, Narrative
Approaches to Law, Politics, and Society; The Law and Politics of What You Drink;
Food, Law, and Politics; Reproductive Politics: Beyond the Abortion Debate; and American
Indian Law and Politics. Her first book, published in 2005 by the University of Oklahoma
Press, is titled Cash, Color, and Colonialism. The book, as well as two articles
published in 2005 and 2006, examine the politicization of federal tribal recognition.
She is currently conducting research for a book length project on the politics of
homebirth and midwifery in America.
Debra DeLaet, Professor of Politics and International Relations
Personal
Home Page
Curriculum
Vitae
Office: 210 Meredith Hall
Office phone and voice mail: 515/271-1844
E-Mail Address: debra.delaet@drake.edu
Debra DeLaet received her B.A. in Political
Science from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University
of Notre Dame. She teaches courses on world politics, human rights, international
law, the United Nations, gender and world politics, and peacebuilding and post-conflict
justice. DeLaet has published one book on U.S. immigration policy and one on human
rights, along with one edited volume. She has also published numerous journal articles,
book chapters and reviews. DeLaet is co-director of a 2006-2008 Title VIa grant project
on the theme of "Ethics in a Globalizing World." Her current research projects
focus on justice in war-torn societies. Professor DeLaet supervises Drake's participation
in the Model United Nations simulations.
Dennis Goldford, Professor of Politics and International Relations
Personal
Home Page
Curriculum Vitae
Office: 208 Meredith Hall
Office phone and voice mail: 515/271-3197
E-Mail Address: dennis.goldford@drake.edu
Dennis Goldford has been at Drake since 1985. He received his B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan, an M. Litt. in philosophy from Oxford University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. Prof. Goldford teaches in the areas of political theory and constitutional law, and his recent research deals with the originalism debate in contemporary constitutional theory. He has published numerous articles in the areas of political theory and constitutional interpretation, and a new book entitled The American Constitution and the Debate Over Originalism (Cambridge, 2005). His current research deals with politics and religion, and with the theory of federalism. Professor Goldford is a frequent commentator on Iowa and national politics through both local and national media outlets.
Mary McCarthy, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations
Office: 226A Meredith Hall
Office phone and voicemail: (515) 271-2083
E-mail address: mary.mccarthy@drake.edu
Marcy McCarthy joined the Politics Department in the Fall of 2007. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science, as well as her B.A. degree in East Asian Studies, from Columbia University. Her research and teaching interests include the influence of domestic politics on foreign policymaking, the interaction between the state and the market, the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians, the role of the media in the political system, and the impact of environmental degradation and resource depletion on international and national security. Her regional focus is East Asia.
Joanna Mosser, Assistant Professor of Politics and International
Relations
Office: 209A Meredith Hall
Office phone and voicemail: (515) 271-5422
E-mail address: joanna.mosser@drake.edu
Joanna Mosser joined the Politics Department in Fall 2006. She received her B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Portland (OR) and her M.A., MPhil., and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. Her research and teaching interests include American political development, public policy, contemporary political theory, and the intersection between law, politics, and society. She serves on the governing council for LPS and is the faculty advisor for the Drake Environmental Action League and the Drake chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honors society.
Arthur Sanders,
Professor of Politics and International Relations and Department Chair
Curriculum
Vitae
Office: 212 Meredith Hall
Office phone and voice mail: 515/271-3172
E-Mail Address: arthur.sanders@drake.edu
Arthur Sanders received a B.A. degree from Franklin and Marshall College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Prior to coming to Drake in the fall of 1990, he taught at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. His areas of research include the formation and dynamics of public opinion, the role of the media and the impact of money, political parties and interest groups on our political processes. Sanders has published four books on American politics, the most recent in 2007 titled Losing Control: Presidential Elections and the Decline of Democracy, as well as numerous articles and book chapters. He teaches the American political process, public opinion, elections, media and politics, women and politics, and comparative political parties and interest groups. Professor Sanders is a past winner of the Arts and Science Teacher of the Year Award and was selected to give the 2004 Stalnaker Lecture. In 2005 he was named the Centennial Scholar in recognition of his achievement in scholarship. He currently serves as Director of Drake's Honors Program and Chair of the Department of Politics and International Relations. He is a frequent commentator on Iowa and national politics through both local and national media outlets.
David Skidmore, Professor of Politics and International Relations
Personal Home Page
Curriculum
Vitae
Office: 213 Meredith Hall
Office phone and voice mail: 515/271-3843
E-Mail Address: david.skidmore@drake.edu
David Skidmore received his B.A. from Rollins College and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He taught at Hamilton College and the University of Notre Dame before arriving at Drake in 1989. While on leave from Drake during the 1996-97 academic year, he taught courses at the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. Skidmore is a past Director of the Drake Curriculum and First Year Seminar programs. He currently serves as Director of Drake's International Relations program and the Center for Global Citizenship. His research and teaching interests lie in the areas of American foreign policy, international political economy, international relations theory and Latin American politics. He has authored, co-authured, edited or co-edited five books on international politics and published numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Eleanor Zeff, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations
Personal
Home Page
Curriculum
Vitae
Office: 209 Meredith Hall
Office phone and voice mail: 515/271-3102
E-Mail Address: eleanor.zeff@drake.edu
Eleanor Zeff received her B.A. from Tufts University and her M.A. and Ph. D. from the Graduate Faculty of the New School University in New York City. She has taught at Central College and at Iowa State and Drake Universities. Professor Zeff has several publications on African and European Union politics. She also has done research and published on women and politics and on individual European governments. Zeff has co-edited two books on policy-making in the European Union and in its member states; the most recent appeared in 2006 (The European Union and the Member States). She is active in the European Union Studies Association. Her comparative politics courses examine topics including the democratization process, nationalism, politics in developing areas, European politics and integration and comparative parliamentary systems. Professor Zeff has supervised several teams of Drake students at Model European Union simulations in Indianapolis and in Europe. Professor Zeff is currently on sabbatical leave.