Pi Sigma Alpha

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External Professional Development Resources for Students

Internships

International Republican Institute – paid internships throughout the year

Washington Internship Institute – $500 program scholarship for Pi Sigma Alpha members

Future Leaders in Public Service Internship Program

Writing & Research Awards

The Lamb Prize

2021 Best Undergraduate Honors Theses

FIRST PLACE:

The Impact of Institutions on Access to Voting on US Reservations and Tribal Lands

Sela Dragich, Georgetown University

RUNNER-UP:

Social Capital and Disasters: A Study of Post-Hurricane Behavior & Attitudes in the United States

Lee Hughes, University of Vermont

Instrumental vs. Expressive: A Study of Voter Behavioral Models Through the Lens of Identity in the 2016 Presidential Election

Kaitlyn Fales, Bryant University

2021 Best Undergraduate  Paper

FIRST PLACE: 

Violence Against Journalists in Mexico

Dillon Schweers, University of Mary Washington

RUNNER-UP:

Fiscally Floundering or Credibly Conscientious? Are the States Living Within Their Means?

Christopher Alhorn, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Implied Consent: A Review of Judicial Process and Constitutional Law

Brendon Camp, Lamar University

2017 Best Undergraduate Honor Theses

FIRST PLACE:

To Trust or Not to Trust? Is That the Question?

John Miller, Georgetown University

RUNNER-UP:

Exploring ‘The Compassion Gap:’ An Analysis of Gender and Support for Foreign Assistance in Congress

Emily Breakell, College of the Holy Cross

Dixiecrats and Republicans: The Changing Political Landscape of the Florida Panhandle

Georgia Pevy, University of South Florida

2017 Best Undergraduate Class Papers

FIRST PLACE:

A Curious Trinity: War, Media, and Public Opinion

Laura Olson, US Air Force Academy

RUNNER-UP:

Ideological Magnetism, or Recoiling” Are Votes Influenced by Alignment or Opposition

Eric Burgess, Oakland University

A Comparison of Female Conscription: Israel versus the United States

Kendall Parker, University of Mary Washington

2016 Best Undergraduate Honor Theses

FIRST PLACE:
When Does Counterinsurgency Work? An Analysis of Counterinsurgency Campaigns After 1945
Maryum Alam, Hofstra University

RUNNER-UP:
Flip-Flopping Politicians: How Voters Punish and Reward Changing Opinion
Sophie Laing, Tufts University

Exploring ‘The Compassion Gap:” An Analysis of Gender and Support for Foreign Assistance in Congress
Mallary Taylor, Furman University

2016 Best Undergraduate Class Papers

FIRST PLACE:

Why Intervene: Influences on US Military Intervention
Elizabeth Kafer, Creighton University

RUNNER-UP:

Holding Culture Close: How Immigration Faciliates the Rise of the European Right
Christopher Dopuch, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Explaining the Emergence of Populism: Political Parties, the State, and the Crises of Representation in Venezuela and Chile
Will Freeman, Tufts University

2015 Best Undergraduate Honor Theses

FIRST PLACE:
User Not Found: The Dynamics of Egyptian Political Parties and Islamist Groups on Twitter
Dennis Quinn, Georgetown University

RUNNER-UP:
Uprooted and Unsettled: A Comparative Analysis of the Protracted Displacement of Azerbaijanis and
Palestinians
Matej Jungwirth, Beloit College

Explaining Support for Authoritarianism in New Democracies
Andrew Goss, University of Vermont

2015 Best Undergraduate Class Papers

Award not given

2009 Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis

FIRST PLACE:

Beyond Modernization Theory: Democracy and Development in Latin America

Peter Johannessen, University of Vermont.

RUNNER-UP:

Manly Women: A Look at the Effects of Masculine Qualities on Women’s Political Progress

Audrey Curtis, Dominican University of California.

The Bench or the Benjamins:  An Analysis of Judicial Recruitment and the Effects of Inadequate Compensation on the Federal Judiciary

Joseph Hack, Georgetown University.

2005 Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis

FIRST PLACE:  

UnderstandinG Civil Liberties Judgments after September 11: An Experimental Study

Chase Samples, Furman University

RUNNER-UP:

Affecting Citizen Satisfaction: Transitions to Mixed-Member Electoral Systems in Latin America and the Effects on Citizen Satisfaction

Jason Eichorst, Texas A&M University

Amoral Liberals, Liberal Democrats, and  Moral Republicans: Some Explanations for the Democratic Party’s Apparent Debility

Jacqueline Chattopadhyay, University of California-Irvine

2000 Best Undergraduate Class Papers

FIRST PLACE:  

The Determinants of Labor PAC Allocation to Incumbent Congressional Candidates 1996-1998

Brandon Fitzsimmons, Creighton University

RUNNER-UP:

Political Women: Participation, Orientation and Party Identification

Sara Barokas, University of Mary Washington

A Breath of Fresh Air in Northeast Asia/A Proposed Revision to US-Japan Defense Guidelines

Cadet Guyton Lee Robinson, U. S. Military Academy

2000 Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis

FIRST PLACE:  

The Silent Constitution: An Argument Toward Developing a Conception of our Silent Constitution

Christopher Joseph Roche, Johns Hopkins University

Better Bitch than Mouse: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Feminism, and VMI

Carey Olney, Centenary College of Louisiana

RUNNER-UP:

At the Will of the Party: A Study of Political Liberalization in China during the 1990’s

Michael Mell, Connecticut College

1999 Best Undergraduate Class Papers

FIRST PLACE:  

Early Warning: A Collective Measure for the Prevention of Ethnic Conflict

Amy Nelson, Moorhead State University

RUNNER-UP:

Has the Shooting Begun? A Test of the Culture War Theory on the Issue of Gay Rights

Mari K. Bonthius, St. Olaf College

Gaining Support through Casework: A Quantitative Study of Contractors and the Support They Give Their Representative

Edwin W. Egee V, Mary Washington College

1999 Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis

FIRST PLACE:  

A Living Past, a Dying Present: An Analysis of Nationalism, National Identity and Ethnopolitics in the Conflict between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Jennifer L. Tate, Southwestern University

RUNNER-UP:

The Effect of Political Factors, Economic Conditions, and PAC Contributions on U. S. Senate Votes Concerning Chinese MFN Status in the Post-Tianamen Square Era

D. Michael Nardis, Georgetown University

Secular vs. Spiritual: The Development of the State in Medieval Political Thought

Julia Tyurina, University of Arkansas

1996

FIRST PLACE:  

Responding to Hate Speech: The Appropriateness of Discriminatory Harassment Codes in College Communities

Mary Carolyn Harris, University of the South (Sewanee)

RUNNER-UP:

The Role of the Speaker, the Chair of the Education Committee, and Other Mechanisms Involved in the Legislative Journey of School Choice Through the North Carolina House of Representatives

Brian Christopher Castrucci, North Carolina State University

Breaking Gender Barriers: Women’s Committee Assignments in the House from the 90th to 104th Congresses

Shari Knoerzer, Nebraska Wesleyan University

1997

FIRST PLACE:  

The Cultivation of the Soul and the Just Society: The State of the Self in Maslow and Plato

Michael Todd Sansbury, The University of the South (Sewanee)

RUNNER-UP:

Feminists and Conservative Women: From the Time of ERA to the Present

Anne E. Daugherty, University of Mary Washington

Educating Tomorrow’s Citizens

Iara Duarte Peng, Rollins College

1995

Need There Be a Taming of the News? How the Mass Media Affect U. S. Foreign Policy

David Campbell, Brigham Young University