Coveredell Chair Work Programs

2018 Activities Report of the Coverdell Chair

Introduction

This report provides details of the continuing work program of the Coverdell Endowed Chair of Public Policy for the period July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, and beyond. The Coverdell Endowed Professorship Program of Work has been designed to: enhance and expand the Coverdell name’s visibility at Georgia College and the Coverdell affiliation with the university; fulfill the official mandate of the Coverdell
Chair endowment; promote Georgia College’s role as the premier public liberal arts university in the state of Georgia; and augment Georgia College’s standing as a leading liberal arts university—private or public—in the United States.

The mandate is challenging but extremely important: “The Coverdell Chair will be the focal point for the university’s multifaceted initiatives in public policy studies, bring faculty and students from various disciplines together in analyzing the various dimensions of major public problems. The Coverdell Chair will also engage the university and broader community to propose innovative, workable policy solutions for such problems.” This mandate encompasses crucial scholarship/knowledge creation, programmatic, and prescriptive roles related to public policy studies and practice.

 

Executive Summary and Highlights

The year 2017 and the early months of 2018 were active and productive for the Coverdell Chair Endowment. Special emphasis continued to be placed on promoting diversity in all Coverdell Chair activities. Constitution Week in September at Georgia College was led off by a special Coverdell Chair event featuring Dr. Charlotte Ku, former Executive Director of the American Society on International Law, and leading legal scholar on law and the Constitution. The Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series hosted two distinguished speakers. In the fall, Dr. Peter Brookes, Heritage Foundation Senior fellow for national security affairs, addressed the university community on “U.S. Security, China, and the North Korean Nuclear Threat.” This was followed in Spring semester by an address by Chilean Ambassador Jorge Heine on “A Chinese Garden in America’s Backyard: China, Latin America, ad the Future World Order.” Dr. Heine is currently Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He is former Ambassador of the Republic of Chile to the People’s Republic of China, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, and a former cabinet minister in the Chilean Government.   

 

Dr. Coate, the Coverdell Chair, was awarded the Government and Sociology “2016 Excellence in Scholarship” Award. Coate has also been elected as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). ACUNS is the premier global professional association of educational and research institutions, individual scholars, teachers, and practitioners active in the work and study of the United Nations, multilateral relations, global governance, and international cooperation.  He shall serve the position as Chair for a three-year term from June 2018 to June 2021.

 

Ongoing Special Initiative: Coverdell Chair Diversity Promotion Initiative

The Coverdell Chair has established the special Coverdell Chair Diversity Promotion Initiative to support enhancing diversity at GC. The goal is support the university’s commitment to facilitate opportunities for the development of cultural competence and awareness to ensure that diversity and inclusion is recognized, valued and understood. The initiative seeks to enhance the university’s efforts to empower our campus community to achieve the goal of inclusive excellence by providing leadership and opportunities for development and growth. For 2017 and 2018, the initiative integrated special focus on important public policy issues related to equal access to affordable health care, equitable and just treatment under the law, same-sex marriage, and women’s rights. It also is designed to make special outreach to insure inclusion in all the areas of work of the Coverdell Chair, including the Coverdell Chair Constitution Week Special Event, the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series, and the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program.

 

Building Awareness of Major Public Policy Issues and Enhancing the Visibility of the Coverdell Affiliation with Georgia College:

Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series 2016‒2017 

As part of Georgia College’s commitment to foster an intellectual environment for teaching and scholarly excellence and intellectual engagement, the Coverdell Chair has initiated and sustained the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series to expand student learning beyond the classroom by bring leading national and international public policy figures to Georgia College and providing students the opportunity to interact both formally and informally with them. The 2017-2018 colloquium series opened with the Fourteenth Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture presented by Peter Brookes, a senior fellow for national security affairs:

 

 

 

 

Special Event: Constitution Week Special Lecture 

 

Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program

The Coverdell Chair designed, initiated, and oversees the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Award Scholars (PPSRS) Program. The main purpose of the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program is to strengthen GCSU’s mission as the premier public liberal arts university in Georgia and to attract and retain the highest caliber-young scholars. The program was created to enrich the academic experience of our undergraduates through research opportunities in public policy studies in all disciplines from the social and physical sciences and the humanities to information and communication technology, nursing, and business. The Coverdell Chair is especially interested in promoting policy-relevant research to develop innovative, workable policy solutions for crucial international problems. By providing access to faculty mentoring relationships and professional research experience, the PPSRS program enables students to creatively explore their interests at a more in-depth level than can be attained in the classroom. The Coverdell Student Research Scholar program provides opportunities for undergraduates to build a competitive edge in the job market. The PPSRS Committee awards research scholar grants up to $2,000 each on a competitive basis. Faculty mentors receive $500 in Faculty development funds. The PPSRS Selection Committee brings together GC faculty from seven disciplines: Roger Coate, Chair; Karen Berman, Theatre; Scott Butler, Health and Human Performance; Sam Mutiti, Biological and Environmental Sciences; Steve Elliott-Gower, Government & Sociology/ Honors College; Holly Roberts, Early Childhood Education; Doreen Sams, Marketing; and Ken Farr, Economics & Finance. For academic year 2016–2017, the Coverdell Chair PPSRS joined forces with MURACE and made one award of $2,500 with MURACE covering the stipend for the faculty mentor at a rate of up to $2,500 to be granted

 

Two awards were made in Spring 2015, carried out in Fall 2015–Spring and Summer 2016

 

Mr. Sean Grimes, Marketing Major, with mentor Dr. Doreen Sams, Department of Marketing, “Georgia College Utility Database: Understanding Interest and Developing a Model for Development”

 

As an institution of higher education and a large user of natural resources, Georgia College has an obligation to comprehend and reduce its environmental impact. Georgia College uses close to $2.5 million of electricity per year, but lacks the reporting infrastructure necessary for reduction. This proposed research will use a two pronged approach to lay the groundwork for a campus-wide utility information system. I will analyze currently implemented energy data systems at other universities, and survey 3 categories of stakeholders at Georgia College. This will produce a decisional model to assist future development of a system, and an understanding of whether students, faculty, and administrators would utilize it. The first step to reducing Georgia College’s future impact is grasping its current impact. In order for this to occur, data needs to be organized, current and accessible. The purpose of this research is to pave the way for that to happen.

 

Mr. DeMichael Winfield, Environmental Science Major, mentor Dr. Samuel Mutiti, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, “An Investigation into the Water Quality of a Middle Georgia Water System and Possible Sources of Contamination”

 

The main objective of this project is to investigate the type and source of water contamination at Salamander Springs Farm. The key parameters to be tested are dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and pH. The parameters being tested are the presence of available chlorine ions, phosphate ions, nitrate ions and fecal coliforms. Secondly, a general site map and a groundwater flow map will be created for this site. Dye tracing will be used to determine the connectivity of the watershed on the client’s property and to create a contaminate transport model. Salamander Springs Farm is a permaculture farm that grows organic produce for sale. The owner is concerned about water contamination. The farm is used by many students in the community to learn about sustainability, agriculture and permaculture farming techniques. The farm is also a part of the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOF) program. This volunteer program sends volunteers to work on organic farms in exchange for housing, food and experience. Monitoring the quality of the water system is key to not only the farm financially, but for the people and community that relies on it.

 

One award was made in academic year 2016–2017 to be carried out in Summer 2017.

[photo not available]

 

Ms. Sungmee Kim, Economics Major, mentor Dr. J. J. Arias, Department of Economics, “Does Government Spending on Secondary Education Affect the PISA Mathematics Score?”

 

Project description: The quantity and quality of education are fundamental elements of economic performance and social wellbeing. Formal education is an important factor in developing human capital which in turn affects the productivity of labor and the standard of living. A variety of factors can potentially affect students’ educational achievement, such as GDP per capita, the level of government education spending, family structures, teacher quality, demographic variables, socio-economic status, et cetera. The primary research question is: what is the effect of government spending on secondary education on student performance as measured by the mathematics score in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)? Using international data, the study proposes to estimate the effect of government educational spending on PISA math scores while controlling for the other potential relevant factors. Although there has been research on this topic for the United States and other specific countries, there is a lack of research using international date.

 

Public Policy Fellowship, 2015–2016 and 2016–2017

Public Policy Fellowship, 2015–2016, Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology.

The Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology Public Policy Fellowship is a 12-month appointment designed to allow a departmental faculty member to conduct original public policy-related research. The fellowship will run for a period to end on June 30 of each calendar year. It includes a summer stipend of $2000 and a one-course reduction (Spring semester). Applications consist of a two-page description of the proposed research and a resume. The proposed research may be in any area of public policy, but preference is given to projects that have explicit implications for Middle Georgia and involve community engagement. The research should be of publishable quality, and the proposal should include the names of some possible journals or other places where the research might be published. The fellow will ultimately present the research as part of the Government and Sociology First Friday Faculty Colloquia series. The Department’s Public Policy Initiative Committee reviews applications.

 

Dr. Min Kim, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, was selected as 2015–2016 Public Policy Fellow.

 Dr. Amanda Reinke, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, was selected as 2016–2017 Public Policy Fellow.

 

Special Event: Constitution Week 2016 Coverdell Chair Special Lecture:

Justice Hugh P. Thompson, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia “Access to Justice and Expansion of the Georgia State Supreme,” September 19, 2016.

 

Chief Justice Thompson opened Constitution week with a lecture on the importance of the judicial branch and the need to ensure those accused of crimes get fair legal representation. Thompson, who planned to retire at the end of the year and return to his residence in Milledgeville, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1994 by former Georgia Governor Zell Miller, and, in 2013 he was elected by his fellow justices to serve as the highest judicial officer in the state. The chief justice was introduced by former state senator and GC’s Director of Community Engagement and Economic Development, Johnny Grant, who detailed and praised Thompson’s 45 years of service on the bench. Justice Thompson began his career in Milledgeville in 1971 as both judge of Milledgeville Municipal Court and judge of the Baldwin County Court.

 

Coverdell Undergraduate Student Public Policy Research Presentation Awards

The Coverdell Public Policy Undergraduate Student Research Presentation Awards provides limited funding for students to present their original and free-standing research on public policy issues in the form of a formal paper at regional or national professional association conferences. For 2015–2016, up to four awards of $250 each may be awarded. Student research papers must be independent and not co-authored with faculty. However, papers may be co-authored with other students, but only one award of $250 may be made for any single paper. Funding will be on a reimbursable basis, following established USG guidelines. Although awards may be announced well in advance of the conference, to receive actual funding, the paper must be completed and submitted to the Coverdell Chair at least three weeks prior to the actual conference presentation date. The Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology Student Research Committee will review applications and submit recommendations to the Coverdell Chair for oversight and awarding of funds.  The committee did not award any student research funding under this special program for 2016. The Coverdell Chair has discussed this matter with the acting department chair and hopes rectify this situation in the future.

 

Coverdell Chair Undergraduate Research Assistantships

The Coverdell Chair sponsors one part-time undergraduate research assistantship for each academic year. The assistant works directly with the Coverdell Chair. Applicants are screened and applicants interviewed by the Coverdell Chair Research Assistant Selection Committee. There was no Coverdell Chair undergraduate research assistant for academic year 2016-2017

 

Mr. Timothy Smith [RA, 2013-2016] graduated from Georgia College and State University in May 2016. He was an economics major with both a minor in marketing and a minor in health education. In 2016, he was chosen as the Outstanding Economics Senior by the Department of Economics. Serving as the Coverdell Chair of Public Policy’s research assistant for three years, Tim was involved in several policy relevant research projects. He also presented an individual research paper titled, “Does Skipping or Repeating a Grade Affect Self-Assessed intelligence?” at the Academy of Economics and Finance conference.  Timothy is now a Ph.D. student with an assistantship in the Department of Economics at the University of Georgia.

 

 

News on Former RAs:

 

Jeffrey A. Griffin [RA, 2011-2013], a Ph.D. candidate and ABD in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno, is an Instructor at UNR. He published a co-authored article in 2015, “Interdependence in International Organization and Global Governance,” In 2016, he presented two co-authored papers: “The Macro-Micro Nexus and Constraints on Effectiveness in International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS: Southern Africa in Retrospect,” [2016 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta] and “Thinking and Teaching about Peace beyond the Great Debates: The Key Roles of Interdependence and Systems logic,” 2016 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta].

 

 

Atanas Sabev{RA, 2012], a former international exchange student at Georgia College and a mentee of Dr. Roger Coate, graduated in May from Harvard Law School with the LL.M degree. A native of Bulgaria, Mr. Sabev’s main concentration at GC was pre-law.  While here, he served as the Coverdell undergraduate research assistant under Dr. Roger Coate, Paul D. Coverdell Professor of Public Policy.  After returning to Bulgaria, Dr. Coate continued to mentor Mr. Sabev.  He earned a degree in Legal Studies from Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria.  Since graduation, he has been employed by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PwC), the largest professional services firm in the world.

 

Coverdell Chair Internship: At the initiative of the Georgia College’s School of Health and Human Performance (SHHP), the Coverdell Chair was provided with and supervised an undergraduate student intern for Spring Semester 2014. The program has continued every spring semester since. This is a full-time, 480 hour/semester position. The Department of Government and Sociology provides office space in the graduate-assistant office to house the intern. The intern selection process is initiated in SHHP and conducted in consultation and approval by the Coverdell Chair. The internship is not paid. In addition, interns are required to present a research paper at the annual GC Student Research Conference. There was no Coverdell Chair intern for academic year 2016–2017.

 

Coverdell Chair as “the focal point for the university’s multifaceted initiatives in public policy studies”

The Coverdell Chair’s motto is to lead by example. And the Coverdell Chair’s mandate is to be “the focal point for the university’s multifaceted initiatives in public policy studies,” enhancing Georgia College’s visibility in the local community, the State, nation, and internationally. Dr. Coate plays major leadership roles in two of the most important international professional associations in the public policy field: the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) and the International Studies Association (ISA). Georgia College is an institutional member of ACUNS, which, as explained above, is the world’s leading scholarly professional association for United Nations studies. Dr. Coate serves as Georgia College’s liaison to ACUNS.  GC’s institutional membership provides the entire Georgia College community with free electronic access via the library to award-winning leading UN-studies academic journal, Global Governance, as well as individual memberships in the association for Drs. Coate, Elliott-Gower, and Rudkevich. Dr. Coate is Chair-elect of the Board of Directors of ACUNS, serves on its Executive Committee, and as the Chair of the Governance Committee. He also serves as: Chair of the Forward Planning Committee to find a new administrative headquarters for the association and a new editorial office and editors of Global Governance, as well as other major roles. Dr. Coate is Past-President of the International Studies Association’s International Organization Section (ISA-IO) and serves as Chair of the ISA-IO Conference Workshop Planning Committee and is Past-President of ISA-South.

 

Enhancing the Visibility of Georgia College and the Coverdell Affiliation with Georgia College:

 

Dr. Coate was invited to deliver the Hilliard Endowment Lecture at the University of Nevada, Reno. The title of his lecture was “The United Nations System at 70: Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance when Leadership Wanes?”  The talk, presented in April 2016, reflected on the past seven decades of the UN system and looked toward the future, discussing the Report by the Commission on Global Security, Justice, and Governance, entitled “Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance” and whether the suggested reforms can make a real difference. 

Coverdell Chair Program Research/Creative/Scholarly Endeavors

A main mandate the Coverdell Chair Endowment is for the Coverdell Chair to bring faculty and students from various disciplines together in analyzing the various dimensions of major public problems.” In fulfilling this mandate, the Coverdell Chair in consultation with the Chair of the Department of Government & Sociology launched several ongoing scholarly initiatives in 2013. These included the: the “International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS” project; the “Finding Workable Policy Solutions to the U.S.-UNESCO Relations Crisis” project; and the “Education and Gender Empowerment through Sports: Giving Youth a Sporting Chance” project. Each project integrated local-global foci and dimensions. Each project was designed to integrate teaching and research and to yield demonstrable outputs and outcomes, such as scholarly volumes, professional conference papers, new courses. Due to lack of positive faculty response, the “Education and Gender Empowerment through Sports: Giving Youth a Sporting Chance” project and the “Finding Workable Policy Solutions to the U.S.-UNESCO Relations Crisis” project have been discontinued.

In place of these two discontinued programs and to fulfill the Coverdell Chair endowment mandate to bring faculty and students from various disciplines together in analyzing the various dimensions of major public problems and to engage the university and broader community to propose innovative, workable policy solutions for such problems, the Coverdell Chair revived and relaunched a previous very successful initiative. This revitalized initiative, the “Transnational Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Partnership Program” is described in detail below.

It should be noted that Dr. Coate, who has been involved for over thirty years conducting research on U.S.-UNESCO relations and advising the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Organization, the U.S. National Academic of Sciences, and UNESCO on UNESCO reform, continues this scholarly track as a major part of his policy-related work as Coverdell Chair. This work is important for Georgia College in its role as public liberal arts university and for enhancing GC’s visibility in this regard. UNESCO is the sole UN agency that is most directly related to liberal arts education. It is the one UN agency that focuses most expressly on the disciplinary areas of our public liberal arts university: education, science, culture, and information/communications. This is especially important regarding the Coverdell Chair’s mandate to engage and create awareness in the university and broader community to propose innovative, workable policy solutions for such problems.

Ongoing initiative: International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS and Other Health Pandemics Program

This multidisciplinary scholarly initiative focuses on the processes of local, national, and international cooperation to control the spread of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is aimed at deepening our understanding of the conditions and limitations of cooperation and especially the roles of government institutions [at all levels], nongovernmental organizations, social movements, and other diverse elements of society in policy processes. These insights, it is expected, will contribute to policy-relevant theoretical and practical understanding of the processes of cooperation and to the epistemological and methodological development of the study of international health and human security issues. Simultaneously, our research will seek to develop specific understanding of how global efforts against HIV/AIDS have been mounted, how and to what extent it has proceeded, and what specific interorganizational processes and structures have been involved and to what ends. During 2016, the project continued to expanded engagement with colleagues around campus, including Professors Scott Butler, Sallie Coke, Monica Ketchie, Sandra Gangstead, Jim Lidstone, Kirsten Rodgers, Emily Simonavice, Vicky Robinson, and the Coverdell Chair. We are reaching out to others, including Dr. Sunita Manian, as well as endeavoring to identify other colleagues and students who pay wish to participate. Beyond GC, we are putting together a larger transnational research team, which will include: Dr. Christer Jönsson, University of Lund, Sweden; Dr. Robert Oestergard, University of Nevada, Reno; Mr. Jeffrey Griffin, University of Nevada, Reno; and Mr. Calle Almedal, Senior Advisor UNAIDS [retired] and former Coordinator for Health and AIDS, Norwegian Red Cross.

Demonstrable outputs to date:

“Epidemics, Security, and the Politics of Global Health: Why Securitization Matters,” with Robert Ostergard and Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Baltimore, February 2017.

“Development and the Politics of the SDGs,” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, New York, NY, June 16–18, 2016.

“The Macro-Micro Nexus and Constraints on Effectiveness in International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS: Southern Africa in Retrospect,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 18, 2016.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Security in the Changing World Conference, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, June 18–20, 2015.

“Gender, Justice, and the Securitization of AIDS: International versus Traditional Norms and Practices,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, The Hague, Netherlands, June 11–13, 2015.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New Orleans, February 18–21, 2015.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin, and Matthew Shelden. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association South, Richmond, Virginia,October 25–26, 2014.

“Civil Society Organizations and IO Linkages: Transnational AIDS Politics Upside Down,” with Jeffrey Griffin, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, Canada, March 26–29, 2014.

Jared Brumbeloe, “UNAIDS and the Global AIDS Campaign: International Cooperation at Bay?” Seventeenth Annual Student Research Conference, Georgia College, April 4, 2014.

Jared Brumbeloe,, “International Cooperation for Eradicating AIDS: Creating an Effective Global Partnership,” with Roger Coate, public lecture/paper presentation at the GC College of Health Sciences, April 23, 2014.

Matthew Shelden and Jeffrey Griffin, “Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Roger Coate. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association South, Richmond, Virginia October 25–26, 2014.

Revived and reinvigorated initiative: Transnational, Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Partnership Program

The very first activity of the Coverdell Chair upon arriving in January 2009 was to reestablish here at Georgia College a very successful transnational teaching, learning, and professional development partnership initiative that Dr. Coate had directed for ten years from 1998 to 2007. This program was the “Creating Effective Partnerships for Human Security” program in cooperation with the United Nations University (UNU), the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General, the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), the Central European University/Open Society Institute, and the Walker Institute of International Studies at the University of South Carolina. This was a $3,064,000 initiative, anchored by a $1.2 million grant received from the Central European University/Open Society Institute, Budapest.

The 2009 initiative endeavored to bring together a partnership among Georgia College, the Central European University (CEU), and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) at the University of Waterloo (Canada). It involved holding of a special two-week “Summer University” workshop at CEU in Budapest from July 13-24, 2009. The workshop substantive focus and title was “New Regionalism, Emergent Powers and the Future of Security and Governance.” It was designed as an intensive learning, teaching, and professional development experience for 28 students and young faculty and professionals from around the world, including especially Georgia College. The program and workshop aim was to contribute to the advancement of new cross-disciplinary knowledge by introducing participants to and immersing them in cutting-edge research utilizing new perspectives for explaining and understanding the dynamic and interdependent processes of social, economic and political change and transformation at play in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world. Through examination of substantive regional cases and informed interdisciplinary and international research and debate, the course explores alternative theoretical perspectives and conceptual devises for analyzing and understanding the evolving world order.

As had been the case with the “Creating Effective Partnerships for Human Security” program, the Central European University/OSI’s Summer University would provide the vast majority of funding for the program. The University of Waterloo’s CIGI pledged to provide a grant of $5,000 plus pay all expenses for Dr. Andrew Cooper, a CIGI-based primary resource person/instructor in the workshop; and GC’s Coverdell Endowment account would cover only the cost of the Coverdell Chair’s flight to Budapest plus food while there. The CEU/OSI funding that year did not materialize, so the initiative was placed in abeyance.

In recent years, the political climate around the world has changed and populism and nationalism have come to dominate the political stage in the United States, Hungary, Russia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. One of the most pressing policy issues of today is what impact such inward-looking retrenchment has on promoting international cooperation for solving the major problems that confront people of Georgia as well as elsewhere around the rest of the world. In this regard, the current heads of government in the United States and Hungary are too of the most nationalist oriented of all. The time seems ripe to revision and reengage this former partnership program with this new substantive policy focus.

After discussing and reviewing the matter by phone with the Executive Director of the External Relations/Summer University Office at the Central European University, Ms. Eva Gedeon, it was determined that we needed to meet face-to-face to lay out the groundwork for reestablishing a special relationship modeled similarly to the previous one. The Coverdell Chair touched based with the acting department chair and made a brief, targeted, and low-cost visit to CEU in early March. Based on this meeting, planning is progressing for moving toward a more formalized relationship and seeking external funding. It should be noted that the political climate in Hungary has worsened since March, which reinforces the significance of this program and its timing and focus.  Less than a month after the meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban’s government enacted a new higher education law aimed at closing CEU, which is one of the leading universities in Hungary. The new law was aimed exclusively at CEU and was an attack on CEU’s Western connections, especially with billionaire George Soros. Under this Higher Education Act, CEU would be unable to award diplomas because it is registered in the US. Since Hungary is a member of the EU, in early April, the European Commission launched an investigation into the matter. Later that month, the Commission ruled that the law was not compatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. For the time being, the situation remains uncertain. Early in Fall Semester 2017, the Coverdell Chair proposes to host a special university-wide forum on this topic.

Summary from Dr. Coate’s Individual Faculty Report for 2016.

Awards and recognitions:

As was the case in 2014 and 2015, Dr. Coate received the highest overall combined evaluation score—teaching, scholarship, and service—in the Department of Government and Sociology for 2016. He received the highest rating, “Excellent,” in all three categories.

Dr. Coate was awarded the Government and Sociology “2016 Excellence in Scholarship” Award.

He has also been elected as Chair-elect of the Board of Directors of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). After serving for a year as Chair-elect, beginning in June 2017, he will assume the position as Chair for a three-year term from June 2018 to June 2021. ACUNS is the premier global professional association of educational and research institutions, individual scholars, teachers, and practitioners active in the work and study of the United Nations, multilateral relations, global governance, and international cooperation.

Curriculum Development and Teaching

The Coverdell Chair serves as a senior member of the core faculty for Georgia College’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program as well as a core member of the Political Science faculty. A major goal of the Chair has been to expand and internationalize the curriculum of the program. During 2016, Dr. Coate revised and taught the following courses:

POLS 4603:  International Organization and Cooperation, Spring 2016.

This course explores the nature and roles of international organizations and cooperation in global governance. It is organized around one of the early 21^st century’s most challenging intellectual and practical puzzles, a puzzle that challenges the core of the interstate legal order’s foundations in state sovereignty.

PUAD 5625: International Organization and Administration, Spring 2016 – Online

The course explores the meaning and nature of international organization and administration in the highly globalized world of the 21^st century. It focuses on the role of an ever-expanding international public sector and an even faster growing international civil society in governance processes. The effective administration and management of these institutions is now a key aspect of global governance. In the international arena, results-based management has become a dominant theme and benchmark, and we will explore its application as related to many organizational functions and processes. Participants are asked to draw on their own practical experiences and compare and contrast international public and NGO management with national and local management practices and processes.

PUAD 4950: Politics According to South Park – May Semester 2016 – Online

Comedy Central’s award-winning television show “South Park” has been both hailed for its biting satiric treatment of social and political issues and criticized as “politics for stupid people.” This special on-line course challenges students to make their own determinations. Over the course of four weeks, the course explores and analyses political and social concepts and issues in the context of their treatment in selected episodes of “South Park.” The course has been designed to challenge students to think critically about their own values as well as the moral, ethical, and legal norms and values prevailing in contemporary American society. 

POLS 4611: Contemporary International Problems, June Session 2016 – Online

This special course probes critical controversies, issues, and challenges in 21^st century international affairs. Go behind the scenes to explore and analyze some of the most provocative issues in international relations today. Substantive topics concentrate on: genocide and the evolving international norm of responsibility to protect (R2P); civil wars and the so-called Arab Spring; U.S. wars on Iraq and in Afghanistan; terrorism and counterterrorism; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; international human rights and wrongs; humanitarian crises; and global environment.  We will seek to identify and analyze the constellation of factors and forces that have conditioned the evolution of contemporary international affairs—exposed to the American people and the world.

PUAD 5615: Nongovernmental Organizations and Non-Profit Management, Fall 2016 – Online

This research seminar explores the nature, role, and management of nongovernmental organizations’ engagement in local, national, transnational, and global political and policy processes. The main focus is on not-for-profit agencies with a special focus on transnational actors. It examines the challenges they encounter, their relationships with other entities (government agencies, inter-governmental organizations, civil [and uncivil] society, and the private sector), and the changing contexts in which they operate. It also explores the emerging important role of NGOs/Civil society in global and local society. The main requirement for this course is to participate effectively in individual and group research projects.

POLS 4611: Contemporary International Problems, Fall 2016

This special course probes critical controversies, issues, and challenges in 21^st century international affairs. Go behind the scenes to explore and analyze some of the most provocative issues in international relations today. Substantive topics concentrate on: genocide and the evolving international norm of responsibility to protect (R2P); civil wars and the so-called Arab Spring; U.S. wars on Iraq and in Afghanistan; terrorism and counterterrorism; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; international human rights and wrongs; humanitarian crises; and global environment.  We will seek to identify and analyze the constellation of factors and forces that have conditioned the evolution of contemporary international affairs—exposed to the American people and the world.

Other Learning beyond the Classroom

During 2016, Dr. Coate directed student research which led to three student paper presentations at professional association conferences and supervised research of two additional students:

Jeffrey Griffin, “The Macro-Micro Nexus and Constraints on Effectiveness in International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS: Southern Africa in Retrospect,” with Roger Coate. International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 19, 2016.

Mary Eve Spirou, “Gender in the Georgia Assembly 2009-2015,” Georgia Political Science Association 2015 Annual Conference, Savannah, November 12-14, 2015. and 2016 Georgia College Student Research Conference.

Hillary Hunnings, “From Potential to Peril: Analysis of the Obama Administration’s Peacemaking Processes,” Georgia Political Science Association 2015 Annual Conference, Savannah, November 12-14, 2015, and 2016 Georgia College Student Research Conference.

Courtney LeBeau, “Gender, Regional Representation, and Political Party Affiliation,” Government and Sociology Department, Fall 2016.

Benjamin Greenoe, “International Conflict and War,” Government and Sociology Department, Fall 2016.

In addition, Dr. Coate advised and directed preparation of the Model United Nations student delegation, consisting of: Sam Bishop; Nick Laudenslayer; Sarah McCann; Meghan Sandal; Cameron Watts; and Ruby Zimmerman to the Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) Conference, Atlanta, GA, November 17-19, 2016. He also mentored Mr. Timothy Smith, Coverdell Chair Research Assistant, and worked closely with him on several of the Coverdell Chair’s research initiatives. 

Scholarly Publications and Activities:

Publications:

Book:

The United Nations and Changing World Politics, Eighth Edition, with Thomas Weiss, David Forsythe, and Kelly-Kate Pease. Westview Press, Boulder, 2016.

 Keynote Address:

“The United Nations System at 70: Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance when Leadership Wanes?”  The Hilliard Endowment Lecture at the University of Nevada, Reno, April 6, 2016.

 Conference Activity:

“Epidemics, Security, and the Politics of Global Health: Why Securitization Matters,” with Robert Ostergard and Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Baltimore, February 2017.

“Development and the Politics of the SDGs,” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, New York, NY, June 17, 2016.

“The Macro-Micro Nexus and Constraints on Effectiveness in International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS: Southern Africa in Retrospect,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academic International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 19, 2016.

Service to the University, Community, Nation, and Profession

University

At the university level at Georgia College, Dr. Coate served in the following capacities during 2014:

• Chair and Organizer, Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series;
• Chair, Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Award Program Committee;
• Member, International Education Committee;
• Liaison, Georgia College Institutional Membership in the Academic Council on the United Nations System, (ACUNS), Waterloo, Canada;
• Advisor, Model United Nations Organization
• Advisor, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity;
• Advisor, College Republicans; and
• Member, GAMU Fraternity Alumni Advisory Board.

Department

At the unit level in the Department of Government and Sociology at Georgia College, Dr. Coate served as:

• Chair, Faculty Evaluation Committee;
• Member, Political Science Program Committee;
• Member, Core MPA Faculty Program Committee;
• Member, Public Policy Committee;
• Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee.

National/International/Professional

In regard to professional service, Dr. Coate served as:

• Vice Chair and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, ACUNS;
• Chair of the Governance Committee, ACUNS;
• Chair of ACUNS’ Global Governance journal Editorial Office Oversight Committee;
• Chair, Forward Planning Committee for locating a new headquarters site for ACUNS;
• Member, Dissertation Awards Committee;
• Member, Programming Committee;
• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of International Organization Studies;
• Member, Editorial Board, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organization;
• Book manuscript review for Lynne Reinner Publishers, The United States and Multilateral Treaties: A Policy Puzzle;
• Manuscript Review, “The Global AIDS Regime and Transnational Experimentation,” Global Governance journal;
• Chair, “Education and Communication: The UN, Human Dignity, and Development” panel, 2016 ACUNS Annual Meeting.

2015 Activities Report of the Coverdell Chair

Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series

As part of Georgia College’s commitment to foster an intellectual environment for teaching and scholarly excellence and intellectual engagement, the Coverdell Chair has initiated and sustained the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series to expand student learning beyond the classroom by bring leading national and international public policy figures to Georgia College and providing students the opportunity to interact both formally and informally with them. Since we recently hosted the Eleventh Coverdell chair Public Policy Lecture [technically in 2016], let me begin by highlighting it:

Eleventh Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture: Dr. Ramesh Thakur, “Three Minutes to Midnight: Is the World Sleepwalking into a Nuclear Disaster?” March 14, 2016.

 

Dr. Ramesh Thakur, Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament at Australian National University and former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University.

 

Dr. Thakur is Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (CNND) in the Crawford School, Australian National University and Adjunct Professor in the Institute of Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith University. From 1998–2007, he was Vice Rector and Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. Educated in India and Canada, he was a Professor of International Relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand and Professor and Head of the Peace Research Centre at the Australian National University, during which time he was also a consultant/adviser to the Australian and New Zealand governments on arms control, disarmament and international security issues. He was a Commissioner and one of the principal authors of The Responsibility to Protect (2001), and Senior Adviser on Reforms and Principal Writer of the United Nations Secretary-General’s second reform report (2002). He was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo (2007–2011), Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (2007–2010) and Foundation Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario. The author or editor of over thirty books and 300 articles and book chapters, he also writes regularly for quality national and international newspapers around the world.

Tenth Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture: Dr. Jean Garrison, “Obama’s East Asia Security and Energy Game,” November 16, 2015

Dr. Jean Garrison, director of the Center for Global Studies and professor of political science and international studies at the University of Wyoming.

Dr. Garrison is director of the Center for Global Studies and professor of political science and international studies at the University of Wyoming.  Garrison is the past recipient of a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship and has worked in the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in the U.S. State Department. She also was a visiting fellow with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington, DC. Her research interests focus on U.S. foreign policy with an emphasis on U.S.-China relations, leadership, small group dynamics, and energy security. She holds a PhD from the University of South Carolina.

Ninth Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture: Dr. Robert L. Ostergard, Jr., “When Being Second Class Kills: Human rights and Women’s Rights in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic,” October 8, 2015

 

Dr. Robert L. Ostergard, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

 

Dr. Robert L. Ostergard, Jr. is currently Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics in 1992 from the University of Massachusetts and his M.A. (1996) and PhD (1999) in Political Science from the State University of New York, Binghamton. He served as the Associate Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York, Binghamton from 2000-2006. His research is in the areas of the political economy of intellectual property rights (patents and medicine) and human and international security issues, particularly of sub-Saharan Africa and he has been published in various journals ranging from the Journal of Modern African Studies,
the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of World Intellectual Property, onto Third World Quarterly and Human Rights Quarterly. His current research projects include projects on the global health and human rights, the impact of women’s rights on the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, and state responses to global health crises. He previously served as series co-editor of the Ashgate book series Global Health and has previously served as a consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), the Council on Foreign Relations, UNAIDS, as well as various academic institutions.

 

Eighth Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture: Dr. Andrew Cooper, “The Contested Nature of the ‘Afterlives’ of Former Leaders,” April 20, 2015

Dr. Andrew Cooper, Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and an Associate Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research.

 

Dr. Cooper is a leading world expert on conventional and unconventional forms of international diplomacy; national perspectives on global governance and rising powers, middle powers, and small states; Canadian and comparative foreign policy; and international political economy. He received his D.Phil from Oxford University and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, the Australian National University and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. A former Canada-US Fulbright Research Chair at the University of Southern California, he is the author or editor of 30 books, including notably: Diplomatic Afterlives; Africa’s Health challenges: Sovereignty, Mobility of People, and Healthcare Governance; Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy; Internet Gambling Offshore: Caribbean Struggles over Casino Capitalism; Inter-American Cooperation at the Crossroads; Rising States, Rising Institutions: Challenges for Global Governance; The Diplomacies of Small States: Between Vulnerability and Resilience; Innovation in Global Health Governance; Emerging Powers and Global Governance: Lessons from the Heiligendamm Process; Global Governance and Diplomacy: Worlds Apart?; and Celebrity Diplomacy. His numerous articles have been published in publications such as International Organization, World Development, International Studies Review and many others, and has served as a member of the editorial board of several International Studies Association journals. His work has been profiled by Good Morning America, The Independent, Canada Broadcasting Corporation’s Q, Variety Magazine and many others and he has led training session on policy issues in Canada, South Africa and at the WTO in Geneva.

 

Seventh Coverdell Chair Public Policy Lecture: Dr. Peter Brookes, “U.S. Security and Terrorism: Understanding the Challenges,” March 10, 2015.

Dr. Brookes is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow for national security affairs. 

Dr. Brookes has also served four terms as a congressionally-appointed member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Dr. Brookes is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense He has also been a Capitol Hill staffer, CIA officer, State Department officer and naval officer, retiring with the rank of Commander from the reserves. He is an author and has published more than 500 articles for various newspapers, journals and magazines. Aside from print media, Dr. Brookes has also appeared more than 2,500 times as a foreign policy and national security commentator on TV and radio news networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, and MSNBC. Dr. Brookes received his doctorate from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the Johns Hopkins University, the Defense Language Institute, and the Naval War College.

 

Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program

The Coverdell Chair designed, initiated, and oversees the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Award Scholars (PPSRS) Program. The main purpose of the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program is to strengthen GCSU’s mission as the premier public liberal arts university in Georgia and to attract and retain the highest caliber-young scholars. The program was created to enrich the academic experience of our undergraduates through research opportunities in public policy studies in all disciplines from the social and physical sciences and the humanities to information and communication technology, nursing, and business. The Coverdell Chair is especially interested in promoting policy-relevant research to develop innovative, workable policy solutions for crucial international problems. By providing access to faculty mentoring relationships and professional research experience, the PPSRS program enables students to creatively explore their interests at a more in-depth level than can be attained in the classroom. The Coverdell Student Research Scholar program provides opportunities for undergraduates to build a competitive edge in the job market. The PPSRS Committee awards research scholar grants up to $2,000 each on a competitive basis. Faculty mentors receive $500 in Faculty development funds. The PPSRS Selection Committee brings together GC faculty from seven disciplines: Roger Coate, Chair; Karen Berman, Theatre; Scott Butler, Health and Human Performance; Sam Mutiti, Biological and Environmental Sciences; Steve Elliott-Gower, Government & Sociology/ Honors College; Holly Roberts, Early Childhood Education; Doreen Sams, Marketing; and Ken Farr, Economics & Finance.

Two awards were made in Fall 2014 to be carried out in Spring/Summer 2015:

Mr. Creighton Perme, Business Management Major, with mentor Dr. Doug Oetter, Department of History and Geography, “Exploring the Potential for Solar Installation at Georgia College.”

 

The objective of this research is to identify the most cost effective approach to achieve sustainable solar energy production at Georgia College. While our institution has made strides in sustainability initiatives, including energy efficiency and LEED certifications, we have yet to make meaningful investments in producing alternative forms of energy. This research will involve an analysis of three comparable higher education institutions that have successfully installed solar photovoltaic production at their university. By interviewing the key stakeholders involved in the process of effective solar energy projects, we will gain insight into the decisions and actions that can be made to bring solar energy production to our campus. The research will also explore Georgia College students’ general knowledge and interest in renewable energy through questionnaires paired with informational displays. Upon completion of this project, the data collected can be applied to help develop a future large-scale sustainable energy project at Georgia College or a similar institution. A detailed manuscript will be presented to the Sustainability Council and the Campus Green Initiative Fund. There is every indication that this project will greatly accelerate the sustainability efforts of our campus.

Mr. Scott York, Criminal Justice Major, with mentor Dr. Carrie Cook, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, “Abuse of Prescription Pills among Greed and Non-Greek Georgia College Students.”

 

The goal of this research is to probe into the social structure of the Georgia College student body and assess the overall levels of the illicit abuse of prescription pills among students. Then to further break down that rate into the two major social classes among the students (Greek and Non-Greek). Following a base sampling and overall abuse rate analysis, an anonymous focus group will be created in order to discuss the abuse of these drugs among students. This group will provide a more personal and detailed understanding of the abuse of these drugs among students and will allow for a more impactful conclusion to be provided.

Two awards were made in Spring 2015, carried out in Fall 2015

Mr. Sean Grimes, Marketing Major, with mentor Dr. Doreen Sams, Department of Marketing, “Georgia College Utility Database: Understanding Interest and Developing a Model for Development”

 

As an institution of higher education and a large user of natural resources, Georgia College has an obligation to comprehend and reduce its environmental impact. Georgia College uses close to $2.5 million of electricity per year, but lacks the reporting infrastructure necessary for reduction. This proposed research will use a two pronged approach to lay the groundwork for a campus-wide utility information system. I will analyze currently implemented energy data systems at other universities, and survey 3 categories of stakeholders at Georgia College. This will produce a decisional model to assist future development of a system, and an understanding of whether students, faculty, and administrators would utilize it. The first step to reducing Georgia College’s future impact is grasping its current impact. In order for this to occur, data needs to be organized, current and accessible. The purpose of this research is to pave the way for that to happen.

Mr. DeMichael Winfield, Environmental Science Major, mentor Dr. Samuel Mutiti, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, “An Investigation into the Water Quality of a Middle Georgia Water System and Possible Sources of Contamination”

 

The main objective of this project is to investigate the type and source of water contamination at Salamander Springs Farm. The key parameters to be tested are dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and pH. The parameters being tested are the presence of available chlorine ions, phosphate ions, nitrate ions and fecal coliforms. Secondly, a general site map and a groundwater flow map will be created for this site. Dye tracing will be used to determine the connectivity of the watershed on the client’s property and to create a contaminate transport model. Salamander Springs Farm is a permaculture farm that grows organic produce for sale. The owner is concerned about water contamination. The farm is used by many students in the community to learn about sustainability, agriculture and permaculture farming techniques. The farm is also a part of the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOF) program. This volunteer program sends volunteers to work on organic farms in exchange for housing, food and experience. Monitoring the quality of the water system is key to not only the farm financially, but for the people and community that relies on it.

 

Public Policy Fellowship, 2015–2016

Public Policy Fellowship, 2015–2016, Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology.

The Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology Public Policy Fellowship is a 12-month appointment designed to allow a departmental faculty member to conduct original public policy-related research. The fellowship will run June 1, 2015–May 31, 2016 and include a summer stipend of $2000 and a one-course reduction (Spring 2016). Applications are due March 15, 2015, and should consist of a two-page description of the proposed research and a resume. The proposed research may be in any area of public policy, but should have explicit implications for Middle Georgia and involve community engagement. The research should be of publishable quality, and the proposal should include the names of some possible journals or other places where the research might be published. The fellow will ultimately present the research as part of the Government and Sociology First Friday Faculty Colloquia series. The Department’s Public Policy Initiative Committee will review applications. Dr. Min Kim, Assistant Professor of Public Administration was selected as 2015–2016 Public Policy Fellow.

 

Coverdell Undergraduate Student Public Policy Research Presentation Awards

The Coverdell Public Policy Undergraduate Student Research Presentation Awards provides limited funding for students to present their original and free-standing research on public policy issues in the form of a formal paper at regional or national professional association conferences. For 2015–2016, up to four awards of $250 each may be awarded. Student research papers must be independent and not co-authored with faculty. However, papers may be co-authored with other students, but only one award of $250 may be made for any single paper. Funding will be on a reimbursable basis, following established USG guidelines. Although awards may be announced well in advance of the conference, in order to receive actual funding the paper must be completed and submitted to the Coverdell Chair at least three weeks prior to the actual conference presentation date. The Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology Student Research Committee will review applications and submit recommendations to the Coverdell Chair for oversight and awarding of funds.  The committee awarded funding to Mr. Michael Muller, freshman political science major, to attend and represent GC at the National Model UN Conference in Washington, D.C., October 29–November 1, 2015.

 

Coverdell Chair Diversity Promotion Initiative

The Coverdell Chair has established the special Coverdell Chair Diversity Promotion Initiative to support enhancing diversity at GC. The goal is support the university’s commitment to facilitate opportunities for the development of cultural competence and awareness to ensure that diversity and inclusion is recognized, valued and understood. The initiative seeks to enhance the university’s efforts to empower our campus community to achieve the goal of inclusive excellence by providing leadership and opportunities for development and growth. For 2015, the initiative integrates special focus on important public policy issues related to equal access to affordable health care, equitable and just treatment under the law, same-sex marriage, and women’s rights. It also is designed to make special outreach to insure inclusion in all the areas of work of the Coverdell Chair, including the Coverdell Chair Constitution Week Special Event, the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series, and the Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Program.

 

Coverdell Constitution Week Panel:  “The Constitution and the Court,” Thursday, September 17, 2015

Dr. Matt Roessing organized and coordinated with the Coverdell Chair a cross-disciplinary panel of lawyers will discuss and answer questions about recent Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, employment law, and the Bill of Rights.  The event will open with a catered reception, and community artist Brittany Curry will paint a mural of the discussion as it progresses.

 

Case	Topic	Speaker(s)
Rodriguez v. U.S.	4th Amendment / use of dogs at traffic stops	Jennifer Hammack
King v. Burwell	ACA / federal healthcare subsidies	Charles Roessing
EEOC v. Abercrombie and Young v. UPS	Employment Law / religious and pregnancy accommodations	Tex McIver
Obergefell v. Hodges	14th Amendment  / same-sex marriage	Alex Reed
Kim Davis / Obergefell aftermath	1st Amendment / free speech & free exercise clauses	Jehan El-Jourbagy

 

 

Enhancing the Visibility of Georgia College and the Coverdell Affiliation with Georgia College:

 

The Coverdell Chair was invited to deliver a keynote address on “Challenges and Opportunities for the United Nations and Global Governance in the 21^st Century” at the International Seminar on the 70^th Anniversary of the United Nations: “The Seventy Years of the UN: Mission, Responsibility, and Future,” Diaoyutai State Guest House, Beijing, 20 July 2015.

 

Left to Right: Amb. Jorge Heine, Ambassador of Chile to China;  Pan Guang, President, Shanghai UN Research Association; Roger Coate, Vice Chair, ACUNS, and Coverdell Professor, Georgia College; Wang Yizhou, Vice-Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University; Pang Zhongying, Dean, School of International Studies, Zhongshan University; Amb. Park Soo-Gil, President of World Fed. Of UN Associations/Former Korean UN Ambassador

 

The Coverdell Chair was one of two specially invited non-Asian experts at “The UN at 70 for a Better World: East Asian Partnership in Global and Regional Governance” conference at Fudan University, Shanghai, co-hosted by the China Academic Net for United Nations Studies, Japan Association for United Nations Studies, and Korean Academic Council on the United Nations System, and sponsored by the Shanghai UN Research Association, October 16–18, 2015 [pictured here: Dr. Takeo Uchida, Chuo Univ., Japan; Dr. Roger Coate, Dr.Lee Shin-wha, Korea University]

 

Dr. Roger A. Coate was invited to deliver the Hilliard Endowment Lecture at the University of Nevada, Reno. The title of his lecture was “The United Nations System at 70: Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance when Leadership Wanes?”  The talk, presented in April 2016, reflected on the past seven decades of the UN system and looked toward the future, discussing the 2015 report by the Commission on Global Security, Justice, and Governance, entitled “Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance” and whether the suggested reforms can make a real difference.

 

Coverdell Chair Program Research/Creative/Scholarly Endeavors

A main mandate the Coverdell Chair Endowment is for the Coverdell Chair to bring faculty and students from various disciplines together in analyzing the various dimensions of major public problems.” In fulfilling this mandate, the Coverdell Chair in consultation with the Chair of the Department of Government & Sociology launched and sustains several ongoing scholarly initiatives. These include the: the “International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS” project; the “Finding Workable Policy Solutions to the U.S.-UNESCO Relations Crisis” project; and the “Education and Gender Empowerment through Sports: Giving Youth a Sporting Chance” project. Each project integrates local-global foci and dimensions. Each project is designed to integrate teaching and research and to yield demonstrable outputs and outcomes, such as scholarly volumes, professional conference papers, new courses. Due to lack of positive faculty response, the “Education and Gender Empowerment through Sports: Giving Youth a Sporting Chance” project has been dropped. As discussed below, the two projects are complementary, enable research trips to be combined across projects, and provide synergy for building the capacity for bringing together faculty and students from various disciplines to analyze and respond to major public policy problems and issues. Importantly, both projects involve engagement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO is the sole UN agency that is most directly related to liberal arts education. It is the one UN agency that focuses most expressly on the disciplinary areas of our public liberal arts university: education, science, culture, and information/communications. This is especially important in regard to the Coverdell Chair’s mandate to engage and create awareness in the university and broader community to propose innovative, workable policy solutions for such problems

 

International Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS

This multidisciplinary scholarly initiative focuses on the processes of local, national, and international cooperation to control the spread of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is aimed at deepening our understanding of the conditions and limitations of cooperation and especially the roles of government institutions [at all levels], nongovernmental organizations, social movements, and other diverse elements of society in policy propcesses. These insights, it is expected, will contribute to theoretical understanding of the processes of cooperation and to the epistemological and methodological development of the study of international health and human security issues. Simultaneously, our research will seek to develop specific understanding of how global efforts against HIV/AIDS have been mounted, how and to what extent it has proceeded, and what specific interorganizational processes and structures have been involved and to what ends.

During 2015, the project has expanded and initiated engagement with colleagues around campus, including Professors Scott Butler, Sallie Coke, Monica Ketchie, Sandra Gangstead, Jim Lidstone, Kirsten Rodgers, Emily Simonavice, Vicky Robinson, and the Coverdell Chair. We are reaching out to others, including Dr. Sunita Manian, as well as endeavoring to identify other colleagues and students who pay wish to participate. Beyond GC, we are putting together a larger transnational research team, which will include: Dr. Christer Jönsson, University of Lund, Sweden; Dr. Robert Oestergard, University of Nevada, Reno; Mr. Jeffrey Griffin, University of Nevada, Reno; and Mr. Calle Almedal, Senior Advisor UNAIDS [retired] and former Coordinator for Health and AIDS, Norwegian Red Cross.

Demonstrable outputs:

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Security in the Changing World Conference, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, June 18–20, 2015.

“Gender, Justice, and the Securitization of AIDS: International versus Traditional Norms and Practices,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, The Hague, Netherlands, June 11–13, 2015.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New Orleans, February 18–21, 2015.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin, and Matthew Shelden. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association South, Richmond, Virginia,October 25–26, 2014.

“Civil Society Organizations and IO Linkages: Transnational AIDS Politics Upside Down,” with Jeffrey Griffin, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, Canada, March 26–29, 2014.

Jared Brumbeloe, “UNAIDS and the Global AIDS Campaign: International Cooperation at Bay?” Seventeenth Annual Student Research Conference, Georgia College, April 4, 2014.

Jared Brumbeloe,, “International Cooperation for Eradicating AIDS: Creating an Effective Global Partnership,” with Roger Coate, public lecture/paper presentation at the GC College of Health Sciences, April 23, 2014.

Matthew Shelden and Jeffrey Griffin, “Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Roger Coate. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association South, Richmond, Virginia October 25–26, 2014.

 

Finding Workable Policy Solutions to the U.S.-UNESCO Relations Crisis

The sole UN agency that is most directly related to liberal arts education is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is especially important in the context of the Coverdell Chair mandate to engage and create awareness in the university and broader community to propose innovative, workable policy solutions for such problems. In this context, my long-time policy work with U.S.-UNESCO relations is central. UNESCO is the one UN agency that focuses most expressly on the disciplinary areas of our public liberal arts university: education, science, culture, and information/communications. However, because of a 20-year-old federal law related to the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the United States for two years now has not been able to pay its legally binding dues to UNESCO. This continuing crisis has jeopardized many programs and activities that are of critical important to professionals in UNESCO’s spheres of activities as well as U.S. national security interests. In the context of this crisis, my research project on Unilateralism, Ideology and United States Foreign Policy: U.S.- UNESCO Relations Reconsidered analyzes and explains change in U.S. multilateral foreign policy and U.S. relations with UNESCO over the last two decades (since the publication of my book, Unilateralism, Ideology and United States Foreign Policy: The U.S. In and Out of UNESCO (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988). The project is codirected by Mr. Ray Wanner, a 30-year veteran from the U.S. Department of State’s UNESCO desk. The new volume to be produced from ongoing research will be based on documentary research and elite interviews to be conducted in Washington, D.C., and at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. In addition to its scholarly merit, a goal of this large policy-study undertaking is to produce actionable knowledge to enhance U.S. and Americans engagement with this important world organization. The Coverdell Chair research assistant is engaged primarily to this project.

Demonstrable outputs:

“Interdependence in International Organization and Global Governance, with Jeffrey A. Griffin, and Steven J. Elliott-Gower.” In Renee Marlin-Bennett (ed.) The International Studies Encyclopedia (Chister, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Blackwell Reference Online.

“Multiplex Interdependence and Leadership in Multilateral Relations: Lessons Learned from U.S.-UNESCO Relations,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin. Draft article submitted to Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations.

“UNESCO Directors–General and Organizational Continuity and Change,” with Jeffrey Griffin, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, Canada, March 26–29, 2014.

“UNESCO Directors–General, Global Leadership for Engaging New Norms under Challenge,” with Jeffrey Griffin, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academic council on the United Nations System, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey, June 21, 2014.

 

Summary from Dr. Coate’s Individual Faculty Report for 2015.

As was the case in 2014, Dr. Coate received the highest overall combined evaluation score—teaching, scholarship, and service—in the Department of Government and Sociology. For his work in 2015, he was awarded the Government and Sociology “2016 Excellence in Scholarship” Award.

Curriculum Development and Teaching

The Coverdell Chair serves as a senior member of the core faculty for Georgia College’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program as well as a core member of the Political Science faculty. A major goal of the Chair has been to expand and internationalize the curriculum of the program. During 2015, Dr. Coate developed and taught a new MPA course and a new undergraduate course, in addition to his other classes.

New courses developed and taught:

Designed and Co-taught PUAD 6601: Public Policy with Dr. Costas  Spirou  – online, Spring 2015. This course provides an introduction to policy analysis for public administration and other professionally oriented masters-level students. It builds on Weimer and Vining’s conceptualization of policy analysis as “client-oriented advice relevant to public decisions and informed by social values.” Policy analysis is in essence applied social science, aimed to assist policymakers by providing sound, well-informed, and well-reasoned advice to serve as a foundation for action. It is at the same time an art and a craft. The course is designed to provide students with experience in policy analysis. In doing so, the aim is to develop the requisite set of skills: identifying problems and frame issues; formulating and assessing possible strategies and alternative responses; mastering analytical tools; designing and recommending policy actions; communicating policy advice effectively; designing and evaluating policy implementation plans; and understanding the ethical implications of doing all the above.

POLS 4611: Contemporary International Problems, June Session 2015 – Online

This special course probes critical controversies, issues, and challenges in 21^st century international affairs. Go behind the scenes to explore and analyze some of the most provocative issues in international relations today. Substantive topics concentrate on: genocide and the evolving international norm of responsibility to protect (R2P); civil wars and the so-called Arab Spring; U.S. wars on Iraq and in Afghanistan; terrorism and counterterrorism; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; international human rights and wrongs; humanitarian crises; and global environment.  We will seek to identify and analyze the constellation of factors and forces that have conditioned the evolution of contemporary international affairs—exposed to the American people and the world.

Other courses redesigned and taught:

POLS 2401 Spring and Fall 2015

This is an introductory course intended to acquaint students with the study and practice of international relations. Given that Fall 2015 began the 2016 presidential election cycle, the course was redesigned to focus on issues that will be central topics in presidential debates, political party platforms, and campaigning. In this context, the course explores world politics in a highly globalized and multicultural world. It is designed to challenge you to simultaneously think globally and locally, and to understand how and why global events, processes, and structures affect our daily lives. It seeks to instill a multicultural understanding of contemporary world order and all its complexities and to awaken inside a desire to delve deeper into the processes and structures that comprise the world around us.

POLS 4603:  INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND COOPERATION, Spring 2015

This course explores the nature and roles of international organizations and cooperation in global governance. It is organized around one of the early 21^st century’s most challenging intellectual and practical puzzles, a puzzle that challenges the core of the interstate legal order’s foundations in state sovereignty.

PUAD 4950: Politics and Society According to South Park – Online, May Semester 2015

Comedy Central’s award-winning television show “South Park” has been both hailed for its biting satiric treatment of social and political issues and criticized as “politics for stupid people.” This special on-line course challenges students to make their own determinations. Over the course of four weeks, the course explores and analyses political and social concepts and issues in the context of their treatment in selected episodes of “South Park.” The course has been designed to challenge students to think critically about their own values as well as the moral, ethical, and legal norms and values prevailing in contemporary American society.

Other Learning beyond the Classroom

During 2015, Dr. Coate directed student t research which led to three student paper presentations at professional association conferences and in other capacities:

Mary Eve Spirou, “Gender in the Georgia Assembly 2009-2015,” Georgia Political Science Association 2015 Annual Conference, Savannah, November 12-14, 2015

Hillary Hunnings, “From Potential to Peril: Analysis of the Obama Administration’s Peacemaking Processes,” Georgia Political Science Association 2015 Annual Conference, Savannah, November 12-14, 2015

Matthew Shelden, “Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Islamic State—the Caliphate and the Brand,” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association-South, Tampa, October 23-24, 2015.

Dr. Coate also mentored Mr. Timothy Smith, Coverdell Chair Research Assistant, and worked closely with him on several of the Coverdell Chair’s research initiatives.

Dr. Coate hooded his final Ph.D at the University of South Carolina Graduate School commencement in December 2015.

Dr. Xi “Joe” Chen. Dissertation: “Holding International Public-Private Partnership Accountable.”

 

Scholarly Publications and Activities:

Publications:

“Interdependence in International Organization and Global Governance, with Jeffrey A. Griffin, and Steven J. Elliott-Gower.” In Renee Marlin-Bennett (ed.) The International Studies Encyclopedia (Chister, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Blackwell Reference Online.

“The Iraq Invasion and U.S.-UN Relations,” in Ramesh Thakur and Jack Cunningham, eds., Australia, Canada, and Iraq: Perspectives on an Invasion (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2015).

“United Nations,” Encyclopedia Britannica 2015 Book of the Year, Chicago. IL:. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2015.

Academic professional conference activities:

“Challenges and Opportunities for the United Nations and Global Governance in the 21^st Century.” Keynote address presented at the International Seminar on the 70^th Anniversary of the United Nations: “The Seventy Years of the UN: Mission, Responsibility, and Future,” Diaoyutai State Guest House, Beijing, 20 July 2015.

“The United Nations at Seventy and Global Governance in the 21^st Century.” Roundtable presentation at “The UN at 70 for a Better World: East Asian Partnership in Global and Regional Governance” Conference, Shanghai UN Research Association, October 16–18, 2015

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Security in the Changing World Conference, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, June 18–20, 2015.

“Gender, Justice, and the Securitization of AIDS: International versus Traditional Norms and Practices,” with Jeffrey Griffin. Paper presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, The Hague, Netherlands, June 11–13, 2015.

“Interorganizational Theory and International Cooperation in Response to AIDS,” with Jeffrey A. Griffin. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New Orleans, February 18–21, 2015.

 

Service to the University, Community, Nation, and Profession

University

At the university level at Georgia College, Dr. Coate served in the following capacities during 2014:

• Chair and Organizer, Coverdell Chair Public Policy Colloquium Series;
• Member, Georgia College International Education Committee;
• Chair, Coverdell Chair Public Policy Student Research Scholar Award Program Committee;
• Member, Study Abroad Sub-committee (Curriculum Committee), International Education Committee;
• Member, Faculty Grant Curriculum Sub-committee, International Education Committee;
• Liaison, Georgia College Institutional Membership in the Academic Council on the United Nations System, (ACUNS), Waterloo, Canada;
• Academic/Scholarship Advisor, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity;
• Academic Advisor, College Republicans; and
• Member, GAMU Fraternity Alumni Advisory Board.

Department

At the unit level in the Department of Government and Sociology at Georgia College, Dr. Coate served as:

• Chair, Faculty Evaluation Committee;
• Member, Political Science Program Committee;
• Member, Core MPA Faculty Program Committee;
• Member, Public Policy Committee;
• Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee;
• Member, Subcommittee for Dr. Min Kim Promotion Committee;
• Member, Search Committee for IR/Comparative Politics Position.

National/International/Professional

Dr. Coate represents Georgia College and serves as a leader in the primary international professional association in United Nations Studies, the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). Georgia College is an institutional member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), which is the leading scholarly professional association in the world for United Nations studies. Institutional membership provides the entire Georgia College community with free electronic access via the library to leading UN-studies academic journal, Global Governance, and memberships in the association for Drs. Coate, Elliott-Gower, and Rudkevich. The Coverdell Chair is the Georgia College liaison with ACUNS. Moreover, in ACUNS in 2015, he served as:

• Vice Chair and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Chair of the Governance Committee;
• Chair of ACUNS’ Global Governance journal Editorial Office Oversight Committee;
• Chair, Dissertation Awards Committee;
• Member, Programming Committee; and
• Member, Development and Partnership Committee.

Also, during 2015, Dr. Coate served as:

• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of International Organization Studies; and manuscript reviewer for McGraw-Hill Press.
• Member, Editorial Board, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organization