Skocpol, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University and director of the Scholars Strategy Network, a national organization that encourages public engagement by university-based scholars, will speak on “Understanding Election 2016” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus. A reception will follow in the Slee lobby. Registration is suggested but not required.
Skocpol will discuss the 2016 presidential election and examine the rise of Donald Trump as the Republican Party candidate, as well as the future of both the Republican Party and American politics going forward.
The following day, she will take part in small group discussions from 9-10 a.m. and from 10:15-11:15 a.m., both in 280 Park Hall, North Campus. Space is limited and those interested in attending should register in advance.
After the small group discussions, Skocpol will join a panel of UB faculty for “Election Reflections: Moving Forward after the Divide” at 12:15 p.m. in the Black Box Theater in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. A complimentary lunch will be served to pre-registered guests beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Faculty panelists include Chad Lavin, associate professor, Department of English; Athena Mutua, professor and Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, School of Law; Jacob Neiheisel, assistant professor, Department of Political Science; Gwynn Thomas, associate professor, Department of Transnational Studies; and Jason Young, associate professor, Department of History.
Also joining the panel will be Madelaine Britt, Harry S. Truman Scholar and a UB senior double-majoring in environmental design and political science.
The discussion will be moderated by Robert Granfield, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of sociology.
Skocpol joined the Harvard faculty in 1975 and has spent her entire academic career there — excluding a five-year stint at the University of Chicago in the early 1980s.
Her work covers a broad range of topics, including both comparative politics and American politics, and over the past two decades has primarily focused on health care reform, public policy, U.S. social policy and civic engagement amidst the shifting inequalities in American democracy.
Among her recent books are “Health Care Reform and American Politics,” “The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism” and “Obama and America’s Political Future.”
She has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences, and has served as president of the Social Science History Association and the American Political Science Association (APSA).
Skocpol is a recipient of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science — one of the largest and most prestigious awards in political science — for her contributions to the discipline. She also received the APSA’s Woodrow Wilson Award in 1993 for her book “Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: the Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States,” judged the best book in political science for the previous year.
She also speaks regularly to community groups and writes for blogs and public-interest magazines.
Skocpol is the latest in a list of distinguished speakers in the Critical Conversations series. Other speakers were Ed Lazowska, one of the world’s foremost scholars in the area of high-performance computing and communication systems; David Relman, a leader in research on the human microbiome; and John Borrazzo, a leader in maternal and child health.
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