Date published: Oct. 23, 2019
“Our department has two fundamental guiding principles: the study of political philosophy and the study of American founding principles,” said Richard Dougherty, MA ’89 PhD ’93, associate professor of politics and director of the politics graduate program. “We think that these two things are intrinsically connected. In order to fully understand the political order we live in, it is necessary to study the philosophical principles that underlie that order and that we don’t necessarily see articulated in our foundational documents.”
It is this emphasis on American political development combined with the quality of faculty and the rigor of the University of Dallas’ politics doctoral program that led the U.S. Department of Education to award UD a $250,405 grant for stipend support for politics doctoral students through its Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program (GAANN).
“This is the largest federal grant for stipend support for politics doctoral students in the university’s history,” said Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts Dean Joshua Parens, Ph.D. “The GAANN grant will make it possible for graduate students to focus on excellence in their studies and preparing themselves for careers in teaching and research.”
Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, politics doctoral students with excellent academic records and financial need will be eligible for GAANN fellowships to support their living expenses while they pursue their studies. Dougherty is particularly excited that these stipends will also be available to doctoral students who have completed their coursework and are working on their dissertations. The grant is guaranteed for one year. The university will continue to reapply as federal funding is available.
“This grant will allow some of our advanced students to more readily complete their degrees and get placed in a job where they want to be,” said Dougherty.
The federal program emphasizes supporting students who are planning careers in either teaching or research. As such, the stipend will contain a classroom experience component in which recipients will be mentored by Politics Department faculty and involved in teaching politics Core curriculum courses.
Dougherty sees a national need for politics professors who have a thorough grounding in the principles and documents of the American founding.
“Fewer and fewer politics programs are paying attention to the formative documents of our political order,” said Dougherty.
Other areas of national need identified by the federal government include engineering, computer science and education. UD joins previous GAANN recipients including the University of Notre Dame, the University of Chicago and Duke University.
In the current COVID-19 crisis, the love of Danny Fitzpatrick, BA '13, for Italy, appreciation for his time there, and a creative collaboration with sculptor Tim Schmalz have led to a specific way of rendering aid to the country beloved by so many UD alumni and one-time Romers.
+ Read MoreEdisson Ramos, BA '20, is one of many students receiving assistance from UD's COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, which has currently raised nearly $90,000; the first of the funds were distributed last week to help students make their April rent, and Director of Financial Aid Taryn Anderson, BA '07, is in the process of distributing a second wave to students with housing or food insecurity or in need of Wi-Fi or other resources for online learning.
+ Read MoreIn our current condition, with most of the U.S. sheltering in place and/or learning and working from our homes, it's hard to imagine that just 20 days ago, teachers and those aspiring to be teachers gathered together for the fourth annual Excellence in Education conference at the University of Dallas, organized, run and sponsored by UD's Education Department, but so they did, and so we will all do -- gather together, that is -- some day again.
+ Read More
