Meet the Majors! Political Science Drop In

Today the Political Science Club hosted a "Meet the Majors" drop in, with support of the Political Science Department. For about 2 hours we had the conference room open and filled with food. Political Science majors, or people who are considering a major in Political Science were free to come and meet with department professors. Most of the professors made an appearance for sometime and students took the opportunity to discuss upcoming classes, or even current classes. Later, everyone ended up pulling up chairs and discussing current issues and then eventually discussed Tocqueville (with Dr. Albert taking the reins on that discussion!) It was a great opportunity for students to get to know their professors and each other outside of a classroom setting. Everyone had a good time and we had a good showing!

Photos under the cut!

Meeting 10/21/10

First off I want to say thank you for those that attended the fun run for the boys and girls club of Augusta. There are more volunteer opportunities with this company, if you or anyone you know is interested in this contact Amanda Jones (president). The only requirement is that the applicant must be 18 years old.

*Coming Up Events*

Brown Bag Discussion: Midterm Elections

We had our second Brown Bag Discussion. 


This time the topic was on Midterm elections.

Some things that came up

Our Rights and Beliefs

As our goal with this blog is to give our members a platform for expressing political opinion, we have opened up to students who wish to write "op-ed" pieces about political issues that are important to them. These pieces do not reflect official views of our club, but rather help to demonstrate the diversity of ideas and opinions our members have.

Feel free to leave comments and discuss

Thoughts on our rights and beliefs
Matt Miklas
mmiklas@aug.edu


As many people know here at Augusta State University, the Ku Klux Klan will rally in support of Jennifer Keeton, a student who sued the university because she felt the university was trying to change her beliefs on homosexuality and invading her freedom of religion.

Meeting on October 7, 2010

***if you missed the meeting on oct. 7, 2010 these are a couple things that were discussed***

• APSA (American Political Science Association) Membership- being a member of the APSA gives you a head up on all political issues that are occuring. For a fee of only $43.00 a year one could be a member of this association. Since we are a group, we found out that if enough of us join then it will only be $21.50 per year. The APSA prepares citizens to be effective citizens and political participants. There are also many different journals that you could purchase at additional cost. These journals focus on more specific issues such as political methodology, urban politics, women & politics, etc. If anyone needs anymore information contact Carrie Shoultz via e-mail at cshoultz@aug.edu.
• Sponsorship Packets- We are now going to be searching for sponsors for this year. Our sponsors help us do things such as materials for volunteering, our social events, and our BIG TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC. There are three levels of sponsorship including gold, silver, and bronze. The minimum for these levels is $150.00 but we do however accept donations. If one would like to see a brief descriptions of the levels of sponsorship that we have and the advertisements limited to these levels contact Amanda Jones in the main political science office. If you obtained one of these fliers at the meeting and have company interested Amanda will also be the person one would need to contact for the official sponsorship packet.
• Fundraising Committee- The main thing we focused on for this event was the book raffle. This is where we sell raffle tickets and at the end of the semester whoever wins the political science club will buy their books for them. Jordan Pruner will be the one to contact if one has any further questions.
• Volunteering-

A Note from a Political Science International Student

As our goal with this blog is to give our members a platform for expressing political opinion, we have opened up to students who wish to write "op-ed" pieces about political issues that are important to them. These pieces do not reflect official views of our club, but rather help to demonstrate the diversity of ideas and opinions our members have.

Our second piece comes from Irina Melnic.

Feel free to leave comments and discuss

A Note From a Political Science International Student

Irina Melnic

Imelnic@aug.edu

 My career choice is an outcome of my life experience. I was born in Ukraine during the Soviet Union and two years later, when it fell apart, my parents moved back to their home country, Moldova, because they were worried that their children will grow up without learning their native language. I grew up listening to horrifying stories from my grandparents about subversion of cultures and people during the Soviet Union. I had to teach my parents the Romanian alphabet because they were forced to write with Cyrillic’s. I grew up confused about my country’s history. The language I was speaking home was spoiled Romanian with intrusion of Russian words. At school and public areas I had to speak pure Romanian, in order to be considered literate. I was forced by the circumstances to speak Russian because a large population of Russians in Moldova never learned Romanian, and communication was impossible. Growing up in a country that struggles to recover after political and cultural suppression, I became interested in discovering different cultures and political systems.

Healthcare Reform Legislation

As our goal with this blog is to give our members a platform for expressing political opinion, we have opened up to students who wish to write "op-ed" pieces about political issues that are important to them. These pieces do not reflect official views of our club, but rather help to demonstrate the diversity of ideas and opinions our members have.

Our first piece comes from Matt Miklas, about Health Care legislation. Feel free to leave comments and discuss.

Healthcare Reform Legislation

By: Matt Miklas

Mmiklas@aug.edu

Nearly seven months ago, President Obama signed the most historic piece of legislation in the history of the U.S. with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

What Can I Do With a Degree in Political Science

Today, the Political Science club sponsored a presentation from the ASU Career Center about career planning. For those of you who were not able to attend here are a few important points brought up.

• The ASU Career Center is a major specific model. Meaning, there is a counselor that specializes in only a few majors, that way you get assistance tailored to your specific needs.
• Our career center counselor for Political Science majors, is Amanda Boland (aboland@aug.edu).
  
• The career center helps with resumes, mock interviews, full and part time job placement, and much more. It's best to meet with the career center early in your academic career so they can provide you the most assistance.
  
• A few upcoming career center events that may be of interest to Political Science majors (these will also be added to the calendar)
• October 14 - Community Involvement Fair 11am-1pm, meet with local non-profits about volunteer opportunities. Volunteering really helps to obtain new skills, as well as looks great on a resume (especially if you are lacking in job experience)
• October 19 Speed Networking Event - 2:30-4:30 Learn how to network at career related events, business etiquette, how to start conversations in group settings. You will need to preregister for this via the career center website
• There are free skills assesments available via the career and counseling center to help address your strengths and weaknesses
• A great resource for Political Science students is the American Political Science Association the website offers many career resources. (I will be adding the APSA as a permanent link on this blog in the near future) In addition, consider joining the APSA with a student membership (only $43/year). Belonging to a professional organization always looks good to future employers!

Thanks to everyone who came! Hope you were able to get something out of it!

Meeting Notes 9/23

Meeting notes from the September 23, 2010 meeting.

• If you are not receiving emails, or are receiving duplicate emails, please contact Amanda

Blog Discussion

• The new blog was demonstrated
• We need club members who are willing/wanting to write "op-ed" pieces for the blog, contact Carrie or Amanda if you are interested.
• It will be a platform for any club member to discuss current issues or issues that important to them that they may/may not get a chance to do in the classroom
• Facebook page was also shown

Dues were due at this meeting. If you still need to pay your dues, you need to contact Carrie to arrange to do so.

Brown Bag Discussion: Illegal Immigration

We held our 1st Brown Bag discussion of the semester today. The topic was Illegal Immigration. It was a lively, active, and respectful discussion.

Students shared a range of opinions on the issue and many aspects of the issue came up including:

Meeting Notes 9/09

Meeting Notes from the September 09, 2010 Meeting

• If you are not receiving emails OR if you are receiving duplicate emails, please let Amanda Jones know. You can reach her at polsciclub@aug.edu
• Dues were collected, they are due by the next meeting (September 23, 2010) - $15 for the semester or $25 for the year. Contact Carrie Shoultz (polsciclub@aug.edu) if you have any questions about dues.
• Those who paid dues received their Political Science Club T-Shirts
• SPECIAL ELECTIONS - next meeting (September 23) we will be holding a special election for the position of Vice President and Secretary. If you are interested be prepared to give a short speech to the club. Email Amanda or Carrie if you have questions about either of these positions (polsciclub@aug.edu)
• Student Leader Workshop - Next Saturday (September 18, 9am-3pm) we will need a club member to attend the Leader Workshop put on by the Student Activities Committee. Jordan volunteered to go, but if you are also interested, let Amanda know.

Umm...is this thing on...

Yup..sure is :)