Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies
(202) 885-3491
ccps@american.edu
Join CCPS at the Newseum for our latest policy summit; Clearing the Air: Debating the Impact of Anti-Pollution Efforts on Public Health, the Economy, and the Environment.
Check back soon for invitation details.
Students in American University's "Communicating the 2012 Presidential Election" course developed final projects based on their experience on the ground in New Hampshire and a semester spent studying political communication and the 2012 GOP primaries.
Lean about the State Department’s efforts in educating the world in our election system, which includes Prof. Thurber’s expertise on the topic.
The American Association of Political Scientists awarded a ‘Gold: Best Campaign Strategy’ Pollie Award in the student category to Aaron Alberico, Noah Benjamin, Barton Thompson, Josh Roll, and Garret Bonosky.
The group, all of whom participated in CMI's Targeting and Direct Mail weekend workshop, was recognized for their dedication and exemplary work in the 2011/2012 Political campaign season. The team of five created a thorough campaign strategy book for the Tim Kaine for U.S. Senate campaign.
Please join CCPS Director James A. Thurber and Jeff Berman, Obama 2008 Delegate Director and author of The Magic Number: Inside Obama's Chase for the Presidential Nomination for a spirited discussion on the delegate selection process.
New SPA Dean Barbara Romzek
CCPS is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Barbara Romzek of the University of Kansas as new dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University.
Prof. James Thurber and Natko Vlahovic, Secretary General of the Croatian Association of Lobbyists and Founder of Vlahovic Group, met in Washington recently to discuss their international lobbying reform efforts with the German Marshall Fund.
What’s Wrong with Congress and What Should Be Done About It?
In Iwan Morgan and Philip Davies, Eds.
Can Government Be Repaired? : Lessons from America
(London: University of London/Institute for the Study of the Americas Press, forthcoming)
The ABA Task Force on Lobbying, of which Prof. Thurber is a member, was recently mentioned in the New York Times and USA Today.
Please note the dates of the 2012 European Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute have changed to June 17-June 22. An on-campus all day orientation will take place on Saturday April 28th.
Jan Leighley, Associate Professor of Government (photo by Jeff Watts)
CCPS is pleased to welcome our newest Fellow, Professor Jan Leighley.
Candidates who ran for Congress in 1992 gathered at the Katzen Arts Center March 19 to celebrate the "Year of the Woman." (Photo: Jeff Watts)
The Women & Politics Institute and the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies celebrated the 20th anniversary of the “Year of the Woman” elections.
Book signing and discussion took place on Monday March 19th at 5:15 at American University.
President Clinton was presented with AU’s first annual “Wonk of the Year” award. Professor James A. Thurber moderated the event, which took place in Bender Arena in January.
Please join the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, the Women & Politics Institute, and the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies for an all day conference on Latino Politics in America.
Morning Agenda
Afternoon Agenda
CNN explores the financial benefits of being President, with an interview featuring Prof. James A. Thurber.
CCPS recently hosted a discussion of the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary results and celebrated Professor Candice Nelson’s new book, Grant Park: The Democratization of Presidential Elections 1968-2008.
Read Prof. Thurber’s most recent comments on President Obama’s address:
Dante Chinni, instructor, Department of Government
CCPS Fellow and Adjunct Professor Dante Chinni writes about military cuts and the volatility of today’s market for the PBS Newshour. Learn more about Dante’s work with Patchwork Nation.
Read Dante's recent columns:
Ohio Analysis for the Wall Street Journal
Politics Counts: Obama's Trouble Spots
A Look at January's Primary/Caucus Votes.
Is Class War Unfolding in GOP Primaries?
The impact of Colbert and Stewart in the sing-voting Burbs
Auto Bailout and the Michigan Primary
Romney's going to need more than an Etch A Sketch
Jeffrey Crouch, assistant professor of American politics
Prof.Jeffrey Crouch, author of The Presidential Pardon Power (University Press of Kansas, 2009), was one of two political scientists invited to join a dozen legal scholars and practitioners at St. Thomas School of Law's spring symposium, "Sentence Commutations and the Executive Pardon Power." Crouch presented a paper entitled "The President's Power to Commute: Is It Still Relevant?" The symposium was held on April 20, 2012 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Former Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich delivered the keynote address. Here is a link: http://ir.stthomas.edu/ustlj/symposia.html
Crouch was also invited to speak at Clemson University, where he gave a talk on April 27, 2012 entitled "The Presidential Pardon Power: The Basics." His recently published work includes a chapter, "William Jefferson Clinton," in Chronology of the American Presidency, edited by Matthew Manweller, and a chapter entitled "Redistricting: The Shift Towards South and West Continues" in Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, 2nd Ed., edited by AU's own Richard J. Semiatin.
Watch Professor Crouch’s latest CPAN interview and read his comments in the New York Times.
Learn more about Jeffrey Crouch
CCPS is pleased to welcome our newest Fellow, Professor Jennifer Lawless.
Learn more about Professor Lawless and the Women & Politics Institute.
Find up to the minute results and analysis at Patchwork Nation.
CCPS is pleased to announce John Marvel as the winner of the 2011 Gill Family Foundation Scholarship.
Mr. Marvel (BA, Amherst College; MPP, American University) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration & Policy (DPAP) at American University. He is currently completing his dissertation on public employee turnover. Mr. Marvel’s research has appeared in Public Administration Review. He has also been published in The State of Public Administration: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities (D. Menzel and H. White, eds.), and What Do We Expect from Our Government? (Radin and Chanin, eds.). He has presented his research at the annual meetings of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the Public Management Research Association, the American Political Science Association, and the Midwest Political Science Association. Mr. Marvel received DPAP’s inaugural Charles H. Levine doctoral student research award as well as a Kerwin dissertation fellowship. His teaching experience includes undergraduate and graduate-level research methods. Before entering graduate school, he worked as a high school mathematics teacher and as a research associate at a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC.
Please join the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on November 29th for a panel discussion of Prof. Thurber’s book assessing the Obama Administration. Learn More
Miss the event? Watch the video.
Profs. James A. Thurber and Jennifer Lawless
All entering students joining SPA in fall 2011 (freshman class of 2015 and new transfer students) received a copy of Obama in Office, edited by James A. Thurber and It Still Takes a Candidate, by Jennifer Lawless over the summer and had the opportunity to engage in an informal discussion with the authors of these books in October. The conversation covered a range of topics including how previous life experiences shaped these scholars as they each followed a unique path to leadership in political science.
Please join CCPS as we host a forum on early state primaries on Thursday December 1st from 3:30pm-5:00pm in Butler Boardroom.
Speakers include Glen Bolger, Partner at Public Opinion Strategies, Corey R. Lewandowski, State Director for Americans for Prosperity Foundation – New Hampshire, David Mark, Senior Editor at Politico, and Rob Richie, Executive Director at FairVote.
The forum will be moderated by Prof. Candice Nelson.
Dr. James A Thurber, Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Dr. Stephen Wayne, and Dr. Nada Mourtada-Sabbah
Professor Thurber just returned from the first annual World Forum on Governance, Prague, Czech Republic. US Ambassador Norm Eisen spoke, as well as Norm Ornstein (AEI), and co-organizer Tom Mann (Brookings Institution). The theme of the conference was "Political Governance and Corporate Governance: Innovating to Fight Corruption and Increase Accountability". Professor Thurber led a special session on lobbying reform at the conference.
Jan Leighly, Annie Johnson, Jimmy Bisese, Danny Hayes, Claudia Thurber, Jennifer Lawless and Jim Thurber (photo courtesy of Robb Hill).
Several SPA faculty participated in the Women & Politics Institute’s “Race to Representation” 5k, including Profs. James Thurber, Danny Hayes, and WPI Director and Professor Jennifer Lawless.
Congratulations to Professor Candice Nelson on the publication of her new book, Grant Park: The Democratization of Presidential Elections, 1968-2008.
Apply for the CCPS Benefactor’s award! This $1,000 award helps defray the costs of the these two week long institute courses for students taking them for credit. Learn More
Please join CCPS and the Kay Spiritual Life Center on October 26thfor a lunchtime forum on the budget crisis.
The forum will feature Scott Lilly, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Dean Baker, Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. It will be moderated by Prof. James A. Thurber.
Missed the event? Download the free podcast
Prof. James Thurber recently took part in a conference examining the impact of the Obama administration, which took place at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. View the agenda.
CCPS Director James A. Thurber gave a keynote address at Clemson University in September.
The speech was titled “Assessing President Obama and the 112th Congress.”
Read the latest news from CCPS Fellow and Patchwork Nation’s Dante Chini, including his most recent article in the Wall Street Journal.
Compare 3Q donations for all the candidates on the
www.patchworknation.org
Submit your application for the 2011 Gill family Foundation Scholarship.
Diane Rehm (Photo courtesy of WAMU)
Prof. Thurber was featured on NPR's The Diane Rehm show to discuss the ten years since 9/11 and how the county has changed since the attacks. Other guests included David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal and Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
In his book, "Terrorism and National Security Reform," SIS professor Jordan Tama demonstrates that national security commissions are often powerful vehicles for policy change. (Photo: Jeff Watts)
Prof. Tama received the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship for 2011-12. In addition, his article "Three Cheers for Blue-Ribbon Panels” was published in the Summer 2011 edition of Wilson Quarterly.
Earlier this summer, SPA hosted a cocktail reception featuring remarks by James A. Thurber, Founder and Director of SPA's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, on his recently published a book, "Obama in Office: Assessing the First Two Years." Professor Thurber reviewed the president's first two years in office—what was accomplished and what was left undone- and engaged the audience in a discussion about their opinions and what may influence the remainder of the President's term. AU alumni Susan Spagna and Fred Dorfman graciously offered their art gallery in New York City, Dorfman Projects, as the location for the reception.
In June, CCPS cosponsored an American Politics Workshop on campus, organized by CCPS Fellow and Assistant Professor Daniel Hayes.
Congratulations to MA student Sarah Heidt on winning “Best Essay” in the 2011 Bryce Harlow Ethics and Lobbying workshop. Sarah’s paper is titled "Ethics and Lobbying in the Executive Branch.”
Sarah Heidt is a Masters of Government candidate in the School of Public Affairs, focusing on Applied Politics. Before moving to Washington, Sarah lived in Wisconsin and she received her bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in political science, with a certificate in integrated liberal studies. In addition to her coursework at American University, Sarah currently works as the Managing Editor for the Congress & the Presidency journal.
For more information, please visit The Bryce Harlow Foundation.
Prof. James Thurber recently spoke with reporter Michael Beckel from The Center for Responsive Politics. Read the interview, titled “Money Talks.”
Want the latest updates from the Center? Download our spring 2011 newsletter!
CCSP is pleased to welcome journalist and AU adjunct professor Dante Chinni as a newly appointed Research Fellow. As a Fellow, Dante will continue his research and writing in the areas of Congress, elections, and political change as well as collaborate with Prof. Thurber and others on research related to the next edition of his book Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth about the “Real” America.
Vice President Biden and Prof. James Thurber
Prof. Thurber was one of several scholars to dine with VP Biden to discuss the role of the vice presidency. This is the second dinner with the Vice President that Prof. Thurber has attended
James Thurber with Philip Davies, the head of the American collection at the British Library in London
Read Prof. Jordan Tama’s blog entry concerning blue- ribbon commissions and progressivism.
Read about AU faculty, including Prof. James Thurber, who have been called to testify before Congress.
Prof. Thurber’s most recent article is featured in the current issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly. Read the article
Prof. Thurber appeared on NPR’s The Diane Rehm show to discuss President Obama’s first two years in office. Ron Elving of NPR and Susan Page of USA Today were also featured on the program. Listen to the show.
On April 6th, CCPS hosted a half day conference on President Obama’s first two years in office. Agenda (.pdf)
Missed the event? Watch video or read coverage from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Prof. James A. Thurber’s new book on President Obama is now available from Paradigm Publishers. More Information
Prof. Nelson's paid media class will meet on April 9th and April 16th, not April 2nd as previously listed.
Professor Thurber was interviewed by NPR’s David Gura on the relationships between US and other governments, in light of Middle East protests. Listen to the Broadcast
CCPS was pleased to cosponsor the 2011 Eisenhower Symposium, which featured scholar David Nichols. Read American Today's full article on the symposium.
Professor James Thurber and Rep. Mickey Edwards joined Daniel Schuman of the Sunlight Foundation in a discussion of the history of efforts to reform Congress and what can be done to help it fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. Watch the Video
Prof. James Thurber was featured on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, hosted by Peter Slen. Watch Video
Prof. James Thurber was featured on a panel at the Kennedy Center with actor Stacy Keach, star of the award winning play Frost/Nixon. The two spoke at an event as part of the Kennedy Center’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s inauguration. Learn more
CCPS Director James Thurber shared his expertise with AP reporter Tom Raum on the political climate in Washington with regards to jobs and the deficit. Read More
Professor James Thurber was featured on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, to comment on the State of the Union adress. Listen
CCPS is pleased to announce Kevin Wozniak as the winner of the 2010 Gill Family Foundation Scholarship. Kevin is a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Affairs. His concentrations are justice, law, and society and American politics. His research interests revolve around the politics of punishment in modern America. Under this broad umbrella, he studies public opinion about crime and punishment, the determinants of legislative action on punishment policies, and the aggregate socio-political forces that created and sustain the era of mass incarceration in the U.S.A. His dissertation, titled "Analyzing the Effect of Exposure to Elite Discourse on Public Opinion about Punishment," uses an experimental methodology to test the hypothesis that exposure to politicians' "tough-on-crime" rhetoric increases citizens' support for punitive criminal justice policies.
Kevin received his BA in psychology from Skidmore College and his MS in justice, law, and society from American University. He is also an alum of AU's Washington Semester Program, where he became interested in issues of crime and punishment while studying in the justice semester.
More about Kevin Wozniak
CCPS is hosting a conference with the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, which will feature newly elected state leaders and several of AU’s prominent faculty, including American University President Neil Kerwin, School of Public Affairs Dean William LeoGrande, and Distinguished University Professor James A. Thurber. The conference will serve as an orientation for the newly elected state officials and will cover a range of topics, including coalition building, ethics, strategy, and media. Learn more
Professor James Thurber was featured on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, along with guests David Brooks and E.J. Dionne. Listen
James A. Thurber’s forthcoming book, Obama in Office: The First Two Years, is the first scholarly assessment of President Obama and his first two years in office. The book includes chapters by established political scientists, practitioners, and journalists who have studied American political institutions and domestic and international public policy. For order information, please click here. To view the cover, please click here.
Dr. Patrick Griffin, Associate Director of Public Policy at CCPS was recently interviewed by National Journal. Read More
Established in 1979, the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies (CCPS) has a history of leading scholarly research and practical training. CCPS capitalizes on its Washington, D.C., location by bringing together public policy practitioners and academics to share their research, knowledge, and experiences in a series of advanced institutes, conferences, and workshops on applied politics.
CCPS frequently sponsors conferences, often in conjunction with other Washington DC organizations. In addition, we run well respected institutes in public advocacy and campaign management that have produced talented and knowledgeable professionals.
Professor James Thurber spoke with Alaska Public Radio’s Libby Casey on the impact of earmarks and earmark reform. Listen to the segments: one, two.
Prof. Thurber moderated a panel regarding recent health care reform policy changes and its effect on smoking cessation. View video of the panel, which featured Matt Myers from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Steve Melek from Milliman, Inc., and Paul Handel, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Healthcare Services Corporation.
In September, Professor Thurber was interviewed by The Chronicle's Kevin Kiley on why politicians exaggerate their academic record. Read the full interview.
Prof. James Thurber presented his paper, Changing the Way Washington Works? President Obama’s Battle with Lobbyists, at a conference on the Obama Presidency in London. CCPS Fellow John Owens, whose paper is titled "Context, Strategy, and Change: Negotiating a Polarised Congress under Single Party Government," organized the conference. Download Program
The Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies received two university-wide awards this year. The University Awards recognize excellence at American University and focuses on the values of Service, Leadership, Creativity, Scholarship, Research and Achievement.
Thomas Williams, who teaches through the Center, received AU's 2010 award for "Outstanding Teaching in an Adjunct Appointment. Professor Williams also received this award in 2004.
Center Director Prof. James Thurber received the 2010 Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research, and Other Professional Contributions. This is the first time since 2001 that the award has been conferred upon a professor from the School of Public Affairs (SPA). A copy of one of the nomination letters discussing Prof Thurber's contributions is posted here.
Congratulations to both Prof. Williams and Prof. Thurber.
On Wednesday morning, April 21, CCPS Director Prof. James Thurber was on the the Diane Rehm show on NPR's WAMU 88.5. The topic was President Obama's leadership style.
The guests were:
James Thurber: professor and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University
Richard Murphy: served as U.S. Ambassador to Syria, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia, and former Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs under President Reagan
Ron Elving: Washington editor for NPR.
C-SPAN is broadcasting sessions from both the Campaign Management Institute and Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute, presented by the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Anita McBride, Executive-in-Residence, has a long and distinguished career in American politics and government. Most recently, she served as Assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush.
Stephen Calabria, a 2009 participant in the European Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute, documented the groups experiences in Brussels and produced a video.
James Thurber discusses lobbying, earmarks, and ethics in the capital city on the Kojo Nnamdi Show.
Prof. Thurber's editorial in The Hill on April 26, 2010: Bring Back the Conference Committees
April 23 Two New Books Help Explain the 2012 Elections
New research uncovers what drives political ambition and evolution of the presidential nomination process since 1968.
January 31 Candice Nelson Discusses New Book, GOP Primaries
SPA professor is the author of 'Grant Park: The Democratization of Presidential Elections 1968–2008.'
Please join the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, the Women & Politics Institute, and the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies for an all day conference on Latino Politics in America.
