ministerofculture

I'm from the South too! Went to school in the real South and grew up in Florida... yes I am not looking forward to the winter either. Man I was beginning to think no one else on this board was headed to ND... glad someone else is. What are you doing for housing?

Notre Dame for Law and Courts w/ an APD twist

I somewhat echo the previous poster's sentiments with the additional observation that Emory and UT offer different kinds of Public Law specialists. Generally, as I understand things, public law breaks down into studies of "judicial politics" and "law and courts." Judicial Politics are generally associated with traditional behavioralist studies of American Politics (highly quantitiative and rat choice)... think scholars like Segal (Stony Brook), Epstein (WashU), Laurence Baum (OSU) and Neal Tate (Vanderbilt). These folks study judicial behavior in the same way scholars like Fenno study Congress. Then you have Law and Courts folks who are often involved in historical approaches and favor interpretive methodologies that fit well within an American Political Development tradition. Howard Gillman is probably the father of this movement, but today there are strong APD/Law and Courts/Constitutional Development Studies faculty at UT-Austin, Boston College (Ken Kersch, Shep Melnick, Mark Landy), Princeton (Keith Whittington). I would say re: Emory vs. UT that Emory falls more in line with the Judicial Politics behavioralists whereas UT offers both with probably a stronger flavor of Law and Courts scholars who incorporate qualitative and historical approaches to their study of the court as an institution. It basically comes down to whether you want to study the court as an institution (its development, role and historical place in American Politics) or study judges themselves (their behavior, their rat choice preferences, and outcomes based jurisprudence)....

Hey everyone, Quick question. I never had the opportunity to study abroad as an undergrad. I'm now off for a fully funded PhD program at a private university to study American Politics with a focus on law and courts.... i may develop a comparative interest, but right now I'm pretty focused on American Political Development. I realize this doesn't jive with a need to study abroad but I'm curious: 1) Are there any good opportunities for PhD students to "study abroad" even for a short term? 2) Would I basically have to change my subfield or add comparative? I have no idea, I can't find any info on my schools web site about phd students going abroad. I would even be happy with a summer abroad... any ideas? Fulbright route? Thanks all.

Same here. I'm also at a professional job and I have a major paper that is tied to a grant I brought into our firm. I have to finish it or it will hurt my professional reputation... but I mean its so apart from my future path of academia. I just think it's hard to get down to business on something that is only for your own reputation with no long term connection to your life. But I don't want to leave on a sour note.

Anyone else going to ND for their grad work? I'll be embarking on my first year of a PhD in the social sciences there beginning this August. This thread is for other ND folks (I don't think ND has a thread yet) ...