Rick F.

Irene:
Thanks for the email. It is good to hear from you. I am excited to learn more about the group. Here is my story.

Prior to graduate school I was involved in campaign politics. While ABD at the University of Oklahoma, I joined the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron where I taught campaign management. Shortly after earning tenure I was offered an opportunity to return to Oklahoma as the director of committee staff at the House of Representatives. For the past 5 years I have been managing a staff that includes researchers, attorneys and budget analysts. In addition to managing the committee process we provide information to legislators upon request.

Brainstorming is fun. Here are some topic that might interest the group.
1. Internship – the OK House uses about 20 interns each year. It would be interesting to hear how other agencies recruit, train and use interns.
2. Working in a political environment – It is often difficult to find people who will be candidate about their experiences.
3. Redistricting – This might only be interesting to me, but it will be a big part of my life over the next couple of years.
4. How experience affects theory – It might be fun to hear how people’s thinking has changed since they became a .
5. What we can do to help students see the potential of a political science degree.

If we could issue a paper on how to make political science research valuable to policy makers that would be a significant accomplishment.
The panels that I plan to attend involve campaign finance. Also, there are several posters on redistricting which I hope to see.
I look forward to hearing from you and learning more about the working group.
Rick F.