Mark K. Cassell, Ph.D. – Professor of Political Science, Kent State University.

Dear Colleagues:

“The world views Germany as a country of hope and opportunity,” the nation’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared in 2015, before announcing that Germany would take in far more middle eastern refugees than any other industrial democracy has considered. Her bold response to the crisis was one reason that TIME named her its 2015 “Person of the Year,” describing her as the unofficial Chancellor of Europe.

But hope has been declining in many countries of late, tensions about the refugees have led Merkel to act to reduce the flow across Germany’s border, and now, in her twelfth year as Germany’s Chancellor, she faces new challenges both to her (and Germany’s) de facto leading role in Europe and her own leadership at home. Martin Schulz, new leader of the Social Democratic Party, now leads Merkel in polls about whom voters would like to see as Chancellor. And Merkel must run for re-election while coping with an international environment best described as “unstable.”

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

About Our Guest

Mark K. Cassell is Professor of Political Science at Kent State University where he teaches courses in public policy and administration, comparative public policy, and urban politics. His scholarship is mainly concerned with understanding public sector transformations.

His first book, How Governments Privatize: The Politics of Divestment in the United States and Germany (Georgetown University Press, 2003), compares the Resolution Trust Corporation that dealt with the collapse of many U.S. Savings and Loan institutions with Germany’s Treuhandanstalt, the agency charged with taking over, managing and privatizing the industrial assets of the former East Germany. The book received the 2003 Charles H. Levine Award for the best book in public policy and administration. His second book, Mission Expansion in the Federal Home Loan Bank System (with Susan M. Hoffman; SUNY Press, 2010), explained the development of that system and argued that it was not a cause of the foreclosure crisis.

Dr. Cassell’s work has also appeared in Public Administration Review, International Public Management Journal, Social Science Quarterly, and Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions.

Dr. Cassell holds a Ph.D. and MA in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MPA from the Robert LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library.

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

April 7: Trump, the Budget, and Health Care. With Joe White, Ph.D., Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies. ***Alternate Location: Mather House, Room 100***

April 14: Brazil’s Political Crises. With Juscelino F. Colares, Ph.D., Schott-Van den Eyden Professor of Business Law and Associate Director, Frederick K. Cox International Law Center.

April 21: New Research on Police Use of Deadly Force. With Meghan E. Rubado, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Cleveland State University Levin College of Urban Affairs.

April 28: Putin’s Russia. With Kelly M. McMann, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, International Studies Program.