Winter Quarter 2022
Activism, Protest, and Social Movements: Taking on the Power Structure in Washington, DC
How does social and political change happen in Washington? What strategies and techniques do underdogs use to take on entrenched and established powers in the nation’s capital? Making real change is difficult. Yet, there are several examples of successful social movements in American history and politics that came to Washington and effectively changed the course of the nation's politics and history. This class will explore the history and stories of grassroots mobilization and advocacy on the national stage. By observing advocacy events and interacting with guest speakers, students will learn about the successes—and failures—of social groups’ efforts to make lasting change in American politics and society. The class will read about, discuss, and debate the dynamics of protest and advocacy and meet with advocacy leaders and activists to discuss the strategies used to pressure decision makers—sometimes successfully and sometimes not— for political outcomes. They will learn about agenda setting and messaging; as well as techniques used to influence the debate such as protests, advocacy campaigns, petitions, and electoral lobbying. Students will learn about and discuss which types of groups and 2 leaders engage in which strategies, and at what stage of the policy process they are most likely to be effective based upon the context of their particular policy or political goals. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to identify the actors who participate in grassroots action and how their efforts can translate into policy. Students will also meet with advocacy leaders directly to better understand the various sides of important social and political issues, and assess the effectiveness—or not—of individual social movement.
About the Instructor: Professor Crowell is the Congressional Liaison for the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC. In that capacity, he advises the Organization’s leadership on strategies to engage and communicate with the U.S. Congress to ensure that its priorities are understood by decision makers on Capitol Hill. Before that he managed press and media relations for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, directed public relations for Bethesda-based Honest Tea, and served as the communications director for a member of Congress. He has also managed USAID and State Department-funded international development projects for various non-profit organizations promoting social, political, and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was a McNair Scholar, an APSA Minority Fellow, and is a PhD candidate in American Politics. Dale earned his MA in Congressional and Presidential Studies at the Catholic University of America and his BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.
Washington Media: Fake News, Social Media, and the Reshaping of American Politics
About the Instructor: Professor Marc Sandalow is an Associate Director of the University of California Washington Program (UCDC). He is the author of three books, including “Madam Speaker,” a biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has been a journalist for 30 years, including 21 years at the San Francisco Chronicle and more than a decade as the paper’s Washington Bureau Chief. He is a former columnist and contributing editor for the California Journal, and is a currently a political analyst for Hearst Argyle television stations and KCBS radio in San Francisco. Professor Sandalow has been the UCDC program since 2008.
The U.S. Supreme Court: Conflict, Change and the Court
About the Instructor: For the last decade Professor Jessica Gresko has been a reporter for The Associated Press, first in Miami and now in Washington. As a legal reporter, she covers court cases at all levels, both local and federal. She has been at the Supreme Court for many recent high-profile decisions including cases on gay marriage, healthcare and the death penalty. Professor Gresko earned her B.A. from Columbia University in New York and a M.S.L. (Master’s in the Study of Law) from Georgetown University Law School. She grew up in Southern California and took her first journalism class at UCLA.
A Biden-Harris Presidency: Understanding Executive Power in Historical and Contemporary Context
About the Instructor: I am a Ph.D. of American government and politics with specializations in the American presidency, public policy, and polarization. My research focuses on presidential governance via executive orders and how political factors influence the ability of presidents to issue their most significant orders. I have taught UCDC’s presidency seminar since Fall 2017. While earning my degree at the University of Maryland, I taught classes about public policy and Congress to students who had internships related to those fields in a format similar to the UCDC program. Outside of the classroom, I work at Community Change & Community Change Action, non-profit organizations focused on building a movement led by everyday people to create change in their communities and across the country. As the Electoral Data Manager, I work with many different teams and partner organizations to identify target audiences and track the work we are doing in communities affected by injustice.
The Politics and Process of the U.S. Judiciary
About the Instructor: Professor Jennifer Diascro is Associate Director at the University of California Washington Program (UCDC) and a political scientist. She earned her BA in political science from the University of California, San Diego (1990) and her PhD in political science from the Ohio State University (1995). She was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky (1995-2002) and American University (2002-2010). In 2000-01, she was a Supreme Court Fellow at the US Sentencing Commission in Washington, DC. Before coming to UCDC, Professor Diascro was a senior director at the American Political Science Association (2011-2015). She's authored or coauthored peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books, on topics related to American judicial politics, and was CO-PI on an NSF award for a workshop on success and failure in the academy.
Research in World Politics in Interesting Times
About the Instructor: Professor Michael Danielson has taught at UCDC since 2014. He is also a Research Fellow at the American University Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and has taught courses in Latin American politics at various universities in Washington, DC. His book Emigrants Get Political: Mexican Migrants Engage Their Home Towns (Oxford 2018) examines the ways in which Mexican migrants engage with and shape the politics of their home towns. He has also studied the politics of indigenous rights movements in Latin America and am co-editor of Latin America’s Multicultural Movements and the Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights (Oxford 2013). My current research includes projects on the climate–migration nexus, migration and refugee studies, violent democracies in Mexico and Central America, and migrant mayors. When not teaching, I work as an expert consultant on social science research methodology, migration and displacement, and Latin American politics and society. Additionally, I regularly serve as an expert witness on country conditions in Mexico and Honduras in US immigration courts. I am a political scientist by training (PhD 2013, American University) with training in comparative and international politics and hold an MA in International Policy Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) and Spanish and Philosophy degrees from Santa Clara University.
Reducing Poverty and Inequity: Lessons from International Development
General Research: Developing Critical Writing and Thinking Skills Through Independent Research
About the Instructor: Professor Jennifer Diascro is an Associate Director of the University of California Washington Program (UCDC) and a political scientist. She earned her BA in political science from the University of California, San Diego (1990) and her PhD in political science from the Ohio State University (1995). She was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky (1995-2002) and American University (2002-2010). In 2000-01, she was a Supreme Court Fellow at the US Sentencing Commission in Washington, DC. Before coming to UCDC, Professor Diascro was a senior director at the American Political Science Association (2011-2015). She's authored or coauthored peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books, on topics related to American judicial politics, and was CO-PI on an NSF award for a workshop on success and failure in the academy.
Federal Social Programs in the United States
This course provides an introduction to key federal social programs—in the areas of health care, education, housing, labor markets, racial equity and income support—in the United States. The course begins by discussing the goals of social programs, principles of program design from public economics, and approaches to evaluating policy alternatives. The course then covers one substantive policy area each week, discussing the history and purpose of programs in that area, what research shows about their effects, and/or current debates or proposals for reform.
About the Instructor: Dr. Reber is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, visiting UCDC for the term. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 2003. From 2003 to 2005, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at UC Berkeley. She is currently a visiting fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. Her research in education focuses on understanding the educational, social, and fiscal effects—both intended and unintended—of some of the most important policies of the 20th century: school desegregation, the Civil Rights Act, and the massive expansion of federal aid to K-12 education that Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act represented. In addition, she is conducting a randomized field experiment of two interventions designed to increase college enrollment among disadvantaged students. Her research in health economics examines the advantages and disadvantages of promoting competition in health insurance markets.