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Government and law major Christiane Conn ’03 (Buxton, Maine) is gaining an international perspective on the United States government while helping organize a summer Fulbright Institute drawing scholars from 17 countries to campus. In addition, Conn is doing intensive research exploring the relationship between federalism and democracy.
Conn is working as an EXCEL Scholar with John Kincaid, Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service. For the second consecutive year, Kincaid has been awarded a $182,000 Fulbright grant to conduct a six-week summer institute on the theory and practice of the United States Constitution for 18 foreign university educators.
Kincaid is director of Lafayette’s Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, which is hosting the institute, entitled “The U.S. Constitution: Origins, Evolution, and Contemporary Issues,” from June 28-Aug. 8. Kincaid was named Distinguished Federalism Scholar for 2001 by the American Political Science Association (APSA), the major professional society for the study of politics, government, and public policy in the United States and around the world. He was executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR), Washington, D.C., from 1988-94, following two years as director of research at the commission.
He is co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism, which is devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge about federalism and intergovernmental relations. He is also editor of a 50-book series on the Governments and Politics of the American States being published by University of Nebraska Press.
“The Fulbright program is sponsored by the State Department and brings 18 scholars from 17 countries to Lafayette,” says Conn, a.Trustee Scholarship recipient. “The majority are professors who hope to add an American Studies curriculum to their institutions, as well as compare the success of the U.S. government and Constitution to their own.”
Conn says the experience is providing her with “the unique opportunity to discuss issues of government and federalism with scholars representing five continents.”
In addition to her work on the program, Conn has recently resumed conducting research for Kincaid, including collecting data from 191 countries on the relationship between federalism and democracy.
“It’s an attempt to see how federal systems perform in terms of civil liberties, a prosperous economy, and human development, compared with unitary governments, in which a single, national government has all the power,” the professor explains.
Kincaid says Conn, a conscientious worker and accurate collector of data, is gaining research skills and learning about federalism in her work for him. “Christiane is doing very well,” he adds.
Likewise, Conn is enjoying the projects and the chance to work with Kincaid and the staff of the Meyner Center.
“Participants in the institute have challenged me to better understand the U.S. government, asking how and why the United States has survived over 200 years of democracy,” Conn comments.
Conn served as president of Kirby Government and Law Society last year and volunteers in Boys & Girls Clubs and Adopt-a-Class. She is also involved with Learning Together in Friendship, a mentoring program with fourth-grade students, through Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center.
A National Leader in Undergraduate Research. Christiane Conn ’03 made a presentation on her collaborative research with John Kincaid, Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service, at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.