"This is obviously a really dynamic area of the law," says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs. "It’s a rapidly changing area of policy and law in states. It’s challenging for legislatures to keep up with the changes in technology — what you can do with your telephone or your gadget that’s hardly visible."

"Theoretically, cash back should be the best rewards currency, since the rewards can be used practically anywhere," says Don Dutkowsky, professor of economics. "But that only holds when the value of the rewards (for a given amount of purchases) of cash back and product/service-based rewards (e.g., airline miles, automobile discounts) are the same." 

Logan Strother '13 M.A. (PSc)/'17 Ph.D. (PSc) describes the NFIP as "a classic moral hazard, where people are shielded from the consequences of their actions and taxpayers pick up the burden."

"It was clear from the circumstances that the framework we had been using in the West and in Israel was ineffective because the fighting was of a new kind," says Professor Emeritus William C. Banks.

Sarah Pralle, associate professor of political science, talks about why Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps don’t tell the true story of where floods are happening now and in the future.

“My research on political violence and the drug war allows me to bring greater attention to how these issues impact U.S.-Mexico relations and showcase it within Maxwell and the greater community,” says Gladys McCormick, an associate professor of history who has taught at Maxwell since 2010.

Tanner Day at Maxwell is a series of lectures and panel discussions focused on the “Future of Citizenship and Public Service” in partnership with the National Academy of Public Administration.

Scholarship recipient and CCE student Kennedy Patlan will provide peer mentoring of student ventures, with a special focus on social enterprise and civic ventures. The goal is to encourage more students to think about developing for-good, not-for-profit and for-profit enterprises as part of the entrepreneurial landscape.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says it's too early to discount potential candidates' chances in the 2020 presidential election.

Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history, has been announced as the recipient of the Montgomery Gruber Professorship. Additionally, the O’Hanley Faculty Endowed Fund for Faculty Excellence, which serves to help recognize, reward and retain excellent teachers at the school, announced three new scholars: Azra Hromadžić, associate professor of anthropology; Natalie Koch, associate professor of geography; and Rebecca Schewe, assistant professor of sociology. 

“Shannon Monnat is committed to disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship that informs, benefits, and influences public policy and the public good,” says David M. Van Slyke, dean of the Maxwell School. “She brings timely and important research, a public orientation and unbounded energy to the intellectual leadership of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion."

"Many people want the National Flood Iinsurance Program (NFIP) to make flood insurance 'affordable.' And so, Congress will almost certainly continue kicking the NFIP can down the road," writes Logan Strother '13 M.A. (PSc)/'17 Ph.D. (PSc).

"He [Jeff Sessions] has set DACA in his sights and this is likely not the last anti-immigrant gesture he will make as Attorney General," says Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science.

"And while the militia movement has largely rejected its once–prevalent anti-Semitism, virulent Islamophobia has replaced it. Militias often list Islam (or “radical Islam”) as one of the three biggest threats America faces...which could lead to tyranny," writes Sam Jackson '16 M.A. (PSc), a Ph.D. candidate in social science.

John P. White '64 M.A. (Econ)/'69 Ph.D. (Econ), deputy secretary of defense in the Clinton administration who also had served during the Carter presidency as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and as assistant secretary of defense for manpower, reserve affairs and logistics, died Sept. 3 at an assisted living center in Great Falls, Virginia.