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Idaho Public Television, in conjunction with the League of Women Voters and the Idaho Press Club, continues the more than 30-year tradition of broadcasting statewide political debates. During May, IdahoPTV handles the production for the debates among candidates for congressional and Idaho state offices that have primary contests. The Idaho primaries are Tuesday, May 25.

During the televised debates, candidates face questions from a panel representing the Idaho Press Club. Thanh Tan is the IdahoPTV moderator. All debates will take place in the auditorium on the Senate side of the underground expansion wings of the Idaho Statehouse.

The 2010 primary debate schedule is tentative and may change before the telecasts. Check idahoptv.org for additional information on the debates and the final schedule.

Supreme Court Justice
Airs Tuesday, May 4, at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT

U.S. House of Representatives, District 2: Republican
Airs Sunday, May 9, at 7:00 p.m. MT/PT

U.S. House of Representatives, District 1: Republican
Airs Tuesday, May 11, at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT

Governor: Republican
Airs Tuesday, May 18, at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT

Students, faculty, staff, and members of the general public are invited to attend all debates. If you would like more information, OR to volunteer, please contact Chris Blanchard at the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs cblanch@boisestate.edu

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David Walker, a special lecturer in the Boise State Department of History, has been named an academic fellow by the Foundation of Defense of Democracies and will travel to Israel in June for an intensive course in terrorism studies and how democracies can defeat the worldwide terrorist threat.

Walker teaches classes in military and diplomatic history as well as world history. His current research investigates the links between military innovation and imagining future war.

The FDD Academic Fellows program provides a 10-day learning experience to U.S.-based teaching and research professionals to provide them with cutting edge information about defeating terrorist groups. FDD is a non-partisan policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C.

You can read the whole story in the Idaho Statesman.

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This Fall, in combination with the Political Science course on campaigns and elections, students will also be able to register for a one unit course that provides hands-on experience interning with the Idaho Statesman. Political Science Professor Gary Moncrief describes the course as follows:

This one-credit course (to be designated as POLS 297; HONORS 297; POLS 497; HONORS 497) is an “add-on”, like a lab, to POLS 302 (Campaigns and Elections). The student takes the regular 3-credit course and also enrolls in the one-credit special topics “add-on.” The special topics component involves a series of about 8 seminars held at the Idaho Statesman offices, and an average (longer some weeks, shorter others) of about 3 hours per week working with a designated member of the Statesman’s staff.

The purpose of the Special Topics course is to give the student an overview of the role of the media in covering elections, and to give the student hands-on research experience by assigning the student to work with a specific reporter, editor or other staff member of the Idaho Statesman. Potential activities include:

• Helping a reporter cover a specific campaign (e.g., governor, congress, state legislature)
• Fact checking campaign statements made by candidates
• Analyzing campaign finance reports
• Attending candidate interviews
• Conducting interviews “in the field” of voters

The special topics course begins the week of August 30 and ends by Friday, November 5 (10 weeks). Enrollment in this special topics course will be limited to 6 students. Students may indicate their interest in this program by sending a copy of their transcript and a one-page resume to Dr. Gary Moncrief, Department of Political Science by March 15.

The seminars at the Statesman offices will be held from 1:45 to 3:00 pm on Tuesdays.

Note: students who have already completed POLS 302 are also eligible to apply for the special topics course.

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Following the smash-hit success of last summer’s “Investigate Boise” class series, the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs will again offer the urban field school in June, and July. The two course series held in downtown Boise offers students 6 units in 10 days. Both courses have an urban focus and will be crosslisted in history, political science, sociology, and social work The courses may be take for graduate, or undergraduate credit.

The first course, “Boise Part I: History, Politics, and Policy” runs June 21-25. The five day, forty-five hour course studies the city’s function and form. Topics include housing, transportation, commerce, preservation, public art, and brownfield reinvestment. Evening activities include a Boise-noir back-alley walking tour.

The second course, “Boise Part II: City, Suburb, and Region” runs July 5-09. Like the first course it is intensive covering five days and forty-five hours of class time. This course explores the regional dynamics of annexation, conservation, and urban impact zones. Bus tours through the Boise Valley contemplate the suburban future of prime agricultural land.

Students can earn undergraduate lower division, undergraduate upper division, or graduate credit for these classes. Credit can be earned in History, Political Science, Sociology, and Social Work. Area II credits can be earned by registering in the SSPA (Social Sciences and Public Affairs) course numbers. The SSPA 597 courses may count toward a graduate degree in certain degree programs. In either case - area II credit or SSPA graduate credit - please consult your academic advisor.

Course numbers include:
HIST 297 part one: 42597, part two: 42613
HIST 397 part one: 42596, part two: 42612
HIST 597 part one: 42595, part two: 42611

POLS 297 part one: 42599, part two: 42615
POLS 497 part one: 42598, part two: 42614

SSPA 297 part one: 42606, part two: 42622
SSPA 497 part one: 42605, part two: 42621
SSPA 597 part one: 42604, part two: 42620

SOCWRK 297 part one: 42603, part two: 42617
SOCWRK 497 part one: 42602, part two: 42616

SOC 297 part one: 42601, part two: 42619
SOC 497 part one: 42600, part two: 42618

Want more information? You can check out the syllabus from last year’s class, or watch the short video about the courses.

For more information contact professor Todd Shallat at 426-3701 or Chris Blanchard at 426-1333. You can register for summer classes through BroncoWeb.

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The Director of the Frank Church Institute, Garry Wenske, asked that we pass along notice of a memorial service for Forrest Church. Details are below:

You are invited to attend the Idaho memorial service for Forrest Church at 2:00pm, Saturday, Jan. 16 in the Simplot Ballroom of the BSU Student Union Building. Parking available at the Lincoln Garage across University Ave. In addition to members of Forrest’s family from New York, speakers will include his longtime friends, Peter Fenn, President of Fenn Communications in Wash. D.C. and Pat Shea, former Director of the Bureau of Land Management from Salt Lake City. Both Forrest and his wife, Carolyn Buck-Luce have been speakers at Frank Church Conferences at BSU where Forrest served on the board of the Frank Church Institute.

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The inaugural urban lunch was a big success with well over 100 people showing up to hear City of Boise Economic Development Director Cece Gassner talk about the street car proposal. If you missed it, Nate Hoffman at the Boise Weekly has been doing great work covering the streetcar, including a piece on our Urban Lunch. He also wrote a GREAT piece on the various TIGER grants that Idaho has out there, and another piece on where the City and CCDC plan to get the rest of the dough to build the streetcar in the event that they are TIGER recipients.

We want to thank Sherry McKibben, Lindsay Dofelmier, Ashley Ford, Jenny’s Lunch Line, Idaho TechConnect and Krissa Wrigley, and Dave at Phy.La Design for partnering with us to do this event. It took the work of a lot of dedicated volunteers to make this successful - not the least of who was all the people who showed up. Thanks too to NPR who did a nice story, and Zach at the Idaho Business Review (but where’s the story, man?).

Next month we’re slated for the Urban Lunch January Edition, scheduled for noon on Wednesday January 20th, at the Water Cooler. Tentatively speaking is City of Boise Comprehensive Planning Manager Patricia Nilsson giving an update on Blueprint Boise - or what the City envisions land use and development to look like for the next decade. RSVP to the event on the Urban Lunch Facebook page.

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It’s “Urban Lunch!” What is it? A new monthly lunch where we get together and talk about the urban issues of the day. Brought to you by the University of Idaho Urban Research and Design Center, Boise State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, and friends from ULI Idaho and the USGBC, Urban Lunch is designed to be an easy opportunity for those interested in urban affairs to get together for a quick bite, some conversation, and a short presentation on a pressing topic.

The inaugural Urban Lunch happens Tuesday, December 8 from 12:00 - 1:00 pm at the Water Cooler at 1401 W. Idaho Boise, 83702. Lunch will be available from Jenny’s Lunch Line for $5. If you plan to eat at the event, please RSVP to Sherry McKibben.

Our guest speaker is City of Boise Economic Development Director Cece Gassner who will talk about the proposed streetcar/downtown circulator.

For more information contact Chris Blanchard or Sherry McKibben.

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This past Sunday and Monday Dr. Landrum received some grass roots lobbyist training during the Education Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, sponsored by the American Psychological Association. There, Landrum lobbied for support for an appropriation that will fully fund the Graduate Psychology Education Program - a request of $4 million. Thanks to Dr. Landrum and to Senator’s Risch and Crapo!

Dr. Eric Landrum with U.S. Senator Jim Risch

Dr. Eric Landrum with U.S. Senator Mike Crapo

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The 26th Annual Frank Church Conference happens this year on October 20 from 8:30 - 4:00 pm in the Jordan Ballroom in the Student Union Building. The event is free to attend. The luncheon with keynote speaker William Meadows, President of the Wilderness Society, is $30. Make plans to attend now!

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A new report from the National Governor’s Association shows the number of “green jobs” in the state. Idaho’s largest concentration of green jobs is in the area of air and environment. Idaho also places far ahead of the national average in the green agriculture category. Would have been very interesting for the NGA researchers to come up with some comparative statistics. I guess they had to leave something for the social scientists to do!

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