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Printer-Friendly ModePolitical Science dept. forms new entity
Center aims to bring activities to campus, establish partnerships
January 23, 2006 —
The Political Science department has opened the Center for Politics and Public Service, designed to make SVSU's presence felt locally, nationally, and internationally.
A separate entity from SVSU, the Center's purpose includes helping students from all departments get internships, bring more activities to campus, and establish public and private partnerships. Doing this will give SVSU more of a presence on several different levels and give students an opportunity for real world practical experience, says James Randall Johnson, the Center's director and political science adjunct faculty member.
Johnson says planning for the Center began in May last year. He got together with President Eric R. Gilbertson and Donald Bachand, dean of the College of Arts and Behavioral Sciences (ABS), after the Students for Political Awareness, of which Johnson is the faculty advisor, put together a symposium in April that discussed media and its role in politics.
"We talked about how to go about it, and decided that it should be a separate entity," Johnson explains. "Then the question was who should own it, where it should be housed, etc."
The discussions took several months before it was decided that the political science department would be in charge of the Center. The department reports to the dean of the College of ABS, currently Bachand until he takes over as Vice President for Academic Affairs later this year.
Johnson and political science professor Erik Trump have developed an 18-month plan for the Center, which opened at the beginning of this semester.
"We're creating something new from the get-go, so we not only have to create the entity physically and structurally," Johnson says, "we also have to then internally on campus make people aware of it. Externally, we have to develop a constituency with local, state, national, and international entities and individuals."
Along these same lines, Johnson says the Center must also continue to look for funding. As a separate entity, the Center will not receive funding from the University. The SVSU Foundation will contribute funds to the Center, but Johnson adds that the Center will continue to search for other available foundations and grants.
To get the Center off its feet, Johnson says several things need to be done.
"We must first reach out to the internal constituency on campus," says Johnson, who adds that there will be an opening ceremony for the Center on campus in the near future.
On a greater level, Johnson says he is making the rounds to different student organizations on campus, and not just political-oriented groups.
"There are natural fits for the Center beyond political science," Johnson says. "There is a logical fit for the Center to work with nursing, engineering, and education students."
Johnson explains politics can have an effect on not just political science students.
"There are political aspects of K-12 funding that impact College of Education students, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that impact health care financing, which impact nursing students," he says. "We're going to look beyond just arts and sciences."
The Center will also have a public ceremony in the mid-Michigan area to announce its creation to the public and hopes to utilize the media to get the Center identified.
Johnson says that above all else within the Center, the student internship aspect will be most important.
"Something that good universities do, and major universities do well is to provide internship possibilities for students beyond the local geography of where they are," Johnson says. "Part of our charge here is to especially look for state, national, and international internship opportunities."
Bringing more activities to campus is another aspect Johnson will work with. He says he plans to put on another symposium this semester similar to that of the one in April.
"We're looking at a symposium on the process of judicial elections," Johnson says. "We hope to compare judicial elections in Michigan to other states and alternative ways to appoint judges rather than elect them."
With 2006 being a national off-year election, Johnson says, debates will also be an important thing he hopes to bring to campus. He says the Center will work to give candidates the opportunity to speak and also to debate one another.
Johnson says he also wants to concentrate on voter registration. He plans to aim not only at registration, but also at motivating the 18-to-24 age group to vote.
The Center will also establish public and private partnerships, such as working with state and local governmental entities on opportunities for training for individuals such as civil servants or providing services where they can access the academic expertise of the faculty to help address certain problems, such as the economy.
"A number of organizations are trying to look at ways to remedy (local economic problems), but they are pretty much singularly focused," Johnson says. "The Center would be in a position to work locally and bring academia, private corporations, and governmental entities together in one setting to address issues."
While the Center will be working on the 18-month plan created by Johnson and Trump, Johnson feels some aspects will be partly up and running in eight to ten months. He points to the symposium coming up this semester, and adds that there will most likely be some internships this semester as well.
Johnson is optimistic about where the Center will be when that plan's time will have run up.
"I'm speaking personally," he says, "but at the end of 18 months I would hope that the Center would be completely self-funded and have the pressing problem of finding more space."
The Center will be conducting interviews for students wishing to help with its operations. For more information on interviews or on the Center itself, Johnson is available at (989) 964-7044.