In
fact, it will probably always be under construction.
Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
I am currently at work, designing this page. In
fact, it will probably always be under construction.
Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
My schedule for Spring 1998 is two sections of Introduction to American National Government (PLSC 1)and one section of Politics and Govenment of the American States.
Introduction to American National Government
Section One of Introduction to American National Government will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8)00am to 9:15am. Section 2 will meet on Tuesdays and Thursday from 9:30am to 10:45am to 3:15pm.
Click on Section 1 to see the syllabus for Section 1 of PLSC 001, Introduction to American National Government. Click on Section 2 to see the syllabus for Section 2 of PLSC 001, Introduction to American National Government.
Click on Politics and Government of the American States to see the syllabus for PLSC 425.
The Politics of Education
To see the syllabus for PLSC 497, the Politics of Education, click here.
To learn about a top-quality professional in the field of managed care who is interested in locating in the environs of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Altoona, or State College, learn about Sonya Mouzon-DiLeo.
Pennsylvania Commerce and Government
One of my interests is economic development. I am doing some research on this topic. I am also interested in providing useful information to people interested in what Pennsylvania is doing in the area of economic development. This information should be useful to people who are doing business in the state.
Some good sources of information about Pennsylvania government and how it relates to people doing business in Pennsylvania are The Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Data , Pennsylvania Government Information , and reports from the Auditor General's office on the budgets of Pennsylvania's state agencies and local governments
For information on economic policy, banking, and the economy of the region, see Philadelphia Fed
For information on state and local governments and how they are dealing with economic development issues, see Governing the States and Localities and state and local government.
Recent and Ongoing Research
My main research interest is in state politics, especially in relation education policy, economic development, governors' agendas and governors' rhetoric.
The following is a list of projects that I have completed in the past year or that I am currently working on:
1. "Education." This is a chapter in GOVERNING PARTNERS, forthcoming from Westview Press of Boulder, Colorado. It summarizes the current state of public education policy and politics and their relationship to the growth of state power at the expense of school districts. This book will come out in the spring of 1998.
2. Likely Effects of Devolution on the Redistributive Character of Policy Agendas. This paper compares the Governors' agendas in health care, welfare and education as presented in the state-of-the-state speeches from 1991 through 1995 to those of the Presidents as presented in state-of-the-union speeches from 1990 through 1995. I find that the governors' agendas place less emphasis on policies that redistribute resources from the rich to the poor. I also find that welfare policy is more concerned with subsidizing labor costs than with transferring resources from the more affluent to the less affluent. This article was published in the Winter 1996 edition of SPECTRUM: THE JOURNAL OF STATE GOVERNMENT, volume 69, number 3, pages 6-15.
3. Dynamic Representation in the American States. This paper assesses the impact of the ebb and flow of public opinion liberalism on governors' agendas as presented in the state-of-the-state speeches. Controlling for several other factors, I find that the governors' agendas are indeed responsive to the public mood as calculated by James Stimson. It was published in "STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW," vol 29, number 2, pages 98-109. This paper sets the stage for my next project, an attempt to model all the factors that influence governors' agendas.
There is a group of Penn State Altoona students that meets weekly on Wednesday evenings to debate current public policy topics. Contact me by e-mail dxd22@psu.edu or call me at x-5284 to learn the time and place of the meetings.
If you are interested in learning about some current issues in American politics, click here.
How do we decide whether information that we get from a website is reliable? How does a student or a researcher know whether it is reasonble to use for a paper? Click for criteria developed by UCLA's Library.
I have decided to include a link to Altavista on my web page because people occasionally ask me how to find some kind of information on the web. I tell them to use the Altavista search engine and type in a few good key words. For access to this search engine, click on ALTAVISTA
If you have any questions concerning these courses or suggestions for future courses please email me at dxd22@psu.edu.
Last updated December 5, 1997