by David Hoffman

When individuals think of Simon Stacey, they immediately have positive opinions regarding him. Stacey, former director of UMBC Honors College, who was recently promoted to interim vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Education, has a myriad of responsibilities in his new position and handles them with both poise and compassion.

Some of Simon Stacey’s responsibilities include assisting units on campus such as the Sherman Scholars, Learning Resources Center, Shriver Center, Women’s Center, Honors College, Meyerhoff Scholars Program, FYE: Introduction to a Honors University, as well as undergraduate students in their transition to college.

He also teaches an INDS course called Creative Survey Design, where students “work in teams of creative artists, technical developers and interdisciplinary facilitators to develop fun and imaginative formats for questions that assess effective skills and behaviors (including leadership, tolerance, resilience, teamwork and empathy) in their peers.” This class will be used to help with a research project “underway that studies how and where students are developing these effective skills in their time at UMBC.”  It is supported by the Hrabowski Innovation Grant.

The Hrabowski Innovation Grant invests in faculty “initiatives that fuel creativity and enterprise, challenge students to take an active role in their education and transform classrooms into laboratories of the mind.” The grants, which started in 2013, were given to staff “who proposed novel ways to approach teaching and learning, with a particular focus on helping more students from all backgrounds to not only persist, but to excel.”

Regarding his position, Stacey stated that he applied to the position in order to obtain the opportunity to help students even more so on a higher level. The opportunity was advertised, a search process was employed and he was interviewed. Through his new position, Stacey is able to help students on a deeper level. While the community at the Honors College is different from the community at Academic Affairs, Stacey does find that he misses the multiple one-on-one interactions with students and still keeps in contact with them. While Stacey is no longer the director of the Honors College, he still semi-advises some of them.

Apart from Stacey’s experience within the Honors College, Stacey has taught political science courses at UMBC prior to being the director of the UMBC Honors College and being promoted to his new position of Interim Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education. Some of these political science courses include American Political Thought through the Civil War, Images of Society: Politics, Political Philosophy, Literature, Film, Social and Political Violence, and Ethics and Public Policy. Some of the honors courses he used to teach are Honors Internship, Honors Forum and Honors Independent Study.

Stacey has also published several works, some of which include “Social Justice, Transitional Justice, and Political Transformation in South Africa” in Michael Reisch(ed), “Civil Society, Violence and War” in Helmut K. Anheier and Stefan Toepler(eds.), “Civil Society and Violence: A Research Agenda” in Journal of Civil Society and “A Lockean Approach to Transitional Justice” in  The Review of Politics.

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Carolyn Forestiere, an associate professor of political science, has published a new book that aims to provide a learn-by-doing approach to guide students through their original research projects. The book, titled Beginning Research in Political Science (Oxford University Press 2016), includes data and instructional software tutorials to help guide students through the research process from start to finish.

The text includes recent political science studies to provide context for each research theme outlined in the book and explains how students can best approach writing final research reports as they complete their projects.

“By and large, Forestiere has succeeded in finding that difficult balance between rigor and readability. Very few authors do that well, or are able to sustain the balance through an entire book,”Julio Borquez from the University of Michigan-Dearborn wrote in a review.

In connection with Forestiere’s teaching pedagogy and research, she has recently been nominated to serve on the Pi Sigma Alpha Executive Council of the National Political Science Honor Society. Forestiere is one of just 12 members from around the country selected for the leadership role.

The council meets annually at the American Political Science Association Convention to guide the affairs for the society. Beyond the 12 members, the council consists of a president, president-elect, executive director, newsletter editor, and the three most recent past presidents.

Forestiere researches comparative politics, Western Europe, institutions, and research methodology. She has been heavily involved in promoting student research and civic engagement research and activities through BreakingGround.

Read more about the Pi Sigma Alpha Executive Council on the society’s website, and read more about Forestiere’s new book on the Oxford University Press website.

Image: Carolyn Forestiere. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.