A Special Event in Memory of Associate Professor of Political Science Alexander P. Lamis

Dear Colleagues:

The campus suffered a tragic loss when Associate Professor of Political Science Alec Lamis passed away on February 9. In addition to serving the department and its students for over two decades, he founded the Friday Public Affairs Lunch in 1989. And he spent much of his career studying the partisan alignments that structure our national politics.

We will honor Alec’s interests and contributions by welcoming our former colleague, his friend, and one of the nation’s leading scholars of parties in Congress, Frances Lee. She will describe how politics within Congress has been shaped by the extremely close partisan divisions of our time. Some of Alec’s students and colleagues will add remarks in his memory.

In Professor Lamis’ tradition of hospitality, this special event will include lunch (not just cookies!) and Mama Jo’s pies.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest…

Frances E. Lee joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in the Fall of 2004. She teaches courses in American government, the public policy process, legislative politics, and political institutions. She is also Director of the Government & Politics Honors Program.

Her research interests focus on American governing institutions, especially the U.S. Congress. She is author of Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and coauthor of Sizing Up The Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (University of Chicago Press 1999). She is also coauthor of a comprehensive textbook on the U.S. Congress, Congress and Its Members (CQ Press). Her research has also appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Legislative Studies Quarterly. Her work has received national recognition, including the American Political Science Association’s E. E. Schattschneider Award for the best dissertation in American Politics in 1997, the APSA’s Richard F. Fenno Award for the best book on legislative politics in 2009, and the D. B. Hardeman Award presented by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Award for the best book on a congressional topic in 1999.

Dr. Lee recently discussed her latest book, “Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate,” on C-SPAN’s BookTV.

She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in 1997. She was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution from 1997-98. From 1998-2003 she taught in the political science department at Case Western Reserve University. In 2002-2003, she worked on Capitol Hill as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

Where We Meet

The Wolstein Research Building is located at 2103 Cornell Road, Cleveland, OH.

Parking Possibilities

Parking for the Wolstein Research Building is available in three locations:

Health Sciences Parking Garage – located under the Biomedical Research Building, with an entrance from Circle Drive. From Euclid Avenue, head south on Adelbert Road and proceed to the stop sign. Bear left at this intersection onto Circle Drive, and on the left side watch for the Health Sciences Parking Garage sign. As you enter the garage, bear right for visitor’s parking. Walk toward the Medical School door (the door with the Yellow ‘M’). There is a vehicle entrance/ exit about 100 ft from the “M” door. Walk through the vehicle exit and make a right. You will now be on Emergency Drive. Continue to walk toward the main street (this is Cornell). You will see the Wolstein Building directly across Cornell. At the end of Emergency Drive and Cornell, you will cross at the pedestrian walkway and walk up to the Wolstein entrance.

UH Drive garage – From Euclid Avenue, cars will enter the new garage off UH Drive. To get to the Wolstein Building, please take a right out of the garage and walk toward Cornell Road and head south. The Wolstein Building will be on your left hand side.

Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital Garage – located on Adelbert Road. To get to the Wolstein Building, please take a left out of the garage and walk toward Circle Drive. Then turn left on Cornell Road and head north. The Wolstein Building will be on your left hand side.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

November 2: Political Science Department Pre-Election Forecasts. With Justin Buchler, Associate Professor of Political Science, and colleagues.

November 9: What Just Happened? Open discussion about the election results, with Joe White, Chair, Department of Political Science.

November 16: Learning from Mad Cows. With Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti, Professor and Director, Division of Neuropathology and Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center.

November 30: The Medium is the Message: What Happens When Universities Digitize Course Evaluations. With Timothy J. Fogarty, Professor of Accountancy.

December 7: The “Chicago Boys” Without Pinochet: Privatization and Protest in Chile. With Diane Haughney, Ph.D.