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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Political Science

Cal Jillson, Political Science, Is Ebola Obama’s Katrina moment?

Christian Science Monitor Oct. 18, 2014 …“His White House team has really throughout his administration — but particularly in recent years, when approval ratings have been languishing – seemed not to anticipate developments,” says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “And maybe even more important, it hasn’t anticipated the politics […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Psychology

The Psychology of Fear with psychologist Alicia Meuret

KERA public radio 90.1 hosted SMU psychologist Alicia Meuret on Krys Boyd‘s “Think” program Oct. 6. Meuret, Boyd and Madhukar Trivedi, chair of the University of Texas-Southwestern’s Mental Health Department, discussed “How fear serves us and when it can lead us astray,” particularly in the wake of the much-discussed Ebola case in Dallas. READ MORE […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History Religious Studies

Social Studies Revised

THINK, KERA. Originally posted: October 6, 2014 Texas is considering new social studies textbooks for public school students for the first time since 2002. This hour, we’ll talk about questions that have arisen about how they teach culture and religion with a pair of SMU professors who testified about the books before the State Board […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News

Faith Nibbs, resettlement experiences of Hmong refugees in Texas and Germany

The process of integrating immigrant newcomers, particularly refugees, is complex and involves many possible approaches. Integration, as perceived and driven by national agendas, may not be felt or experienced in the same way by refugees. The concept of belonging offers a way to think about how those who are displaced understand being “in the right […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History

Associate Professor of History & Director of the Center for Presidential History on Secret Service Changes

(CNN) — Some people are wondering about the capability of the Secret Service after it was revealed that Omar Gonzalez, the fence jumper who breached White House security two weeks ago, made it much farther into the house than previously reported, running through the first floor before he was apprehended outside the Green Room. The […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Earth Sciences Faculty News Graduate News

Alumnus David Craig Pearson, new seismologist for the Texas Railroad Commission

Houston Chronicle, October 3, 2014 …After high school, he found work with the oil field services firm Halliburton, according to his résumé. He earned a geology degree at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, then enrolled in a master’s program at SMU, where he became a favored student of a scientist named Brian […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News Political Science

Cal Jillson, political scientist, Ebola heightens partisanship

San Antonio Express WASHINGTON — As Americans wait to see how many more U.S. Ebola cases will be diagnosed, a sharp partisan divide is developing around the issue of whether or not the administration is doing enough to stop the spread of the disease. Particularly in the right-wing media, President Barack Obama is being blamed […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Economics Faculty News

Economics Professor Klaus Desmet Featured in The Economist’s “Free Exchange” Column

The Economist: Goldilocks nationalism The size and homogeneity of a country’s population has a big bearing on its economic policies The Economist’s “Free Exchange” column covered the research of SMU economist Klaus Desmet as part of a larger examination of the ideal size of nations from an economic perspective and within the context of Scotland’s […]

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History

Controversies re-emerge in fight over Texas textbooks

San Francisco Chronicle slideshow and story quotes Dedman College history professor Kathleen Wellman while highlighting 15 big issues in Texas textbook debate READ MORE  

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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Economics Faculty News

Ömer Özak, Economics, can a nation’s soil explain its economic fortunes?

The Atlantic ..Two economics researchers, Brown’s Oded Galor and Southern Methodist University’s Ömer Özak, recently published an ambitious paper reminiscent of Diamond’s work. Like Diamond, they make an argument that is so simple and intuitive that it at first glance appears reductive: People whose ancestors come from places with richer harvests are more likely to […]