Chris Perkins (‘99) is featured on p. 5.

Stephanie Jarvis (‘09) is teaching for the

Abilene Independent School District.

Caitlyn McCoy (‘12) is now the Legal In-

tern for Cook Children’s Health Care

System.

Prentis McCarty (‘13) has been promoted

to inmate case manager, and now briefs the

Parole Board on early release decisions.

Student News

Page 1 of 5

Political Science

March 2014

Newsletter

New Scholarship Awarded!

Jeffrey ('71) and Freya Wendling of Kerrville, Texas, have

endowed a scholarship for Criminal Justice students at

ACU. They were guests of the Department on March 6. He

spoke in the Terrorism Studies class, in Department Chapel,

and to students interested in working for the federal govern-

ment. Two CJ students, Nick Richardson and Glenn Halbert,

were awarded the first two scholarships. Thank you to the

Wendlings!

Zach Wheat, Parker Gordon, Emmanuel

"Sony" Nshimirimana and other students

participated in the Texas Silver-Haired

Legislature forum on Feb. 4 on the ACU

Campus.

Caleb Orr, Freshman Class President,

attended the National Prayer Breakfast

in Washington, D.C., on February 6.

Abbey Moses is in an internship in the

Abilene office of Rep. Randy Neugebauer.

Alumni News

Luke Davis carries a box for

Zambia Medical Mission. (See pg. 3)

Jeffrey & Freya Wendling

The Wendlings with Mr. Nick Richardson

(left) and Mr. Glenn Halbert

Visiting Committee March 28

The Department welcomes the next visit from our

Visiting Committee, to be held on March 28.

Political Science March 2014

Newsletter

Page 2 of 5

Internship Opportunity

REP. TED POE’S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Representative Poe’s Office is looking for an ACU

intern for every semester and summer.

Congressman Poe is an alumnus of ACU. If you or

anyone you know (and of any major) may be

interested please have them contact his Office.

Save the Date Department BBQ

On April 24 at 5:30 p.m., please plan to be at

the Department Dinner at Dr. Coates’ home.

Make sure you put this fun, annual event on

you calendar now, and remember this is when

the Department honors our graduating seniors.

Faculty News

Neal Coates was a guest lecturer on the topic of “Religion and

World Politics,” in BMIS 458 Abrahamic Faiths on Jan. 30.

Neal Coates just reviewed two manuscripts in his role as a

member of the Editorial Advisory Board for The International

Journal of Information and Communication Technology

Research and Development in Africa. They were “Mobile-

Cloud Computing Technology Rural Applications Model

(MCC-TRAM): Envisaging Increased Market Power for

Remote Agriculture—Case Study of Namibia,” and

“Strategies for Enhancing the Utilization of Information and

Communication Technology (ICT)-Based Library Resources

in Research."

Mel Hailey attended the James Q. Wilson Conference at the

School of Public Policy at Pepperdine, Feb. 28-Mar. 1.

Mel Hailey and Dodie Kasper (Social Studies Coordinator K-

12 for the Frisco Independent School District) presented at the

2014 Law Related Education Conference sponsored by the

State Bar of Texas, held at the George W. Bush Presidential

Center on the campus of SMU on Feb. 7-8. Their topic

was Federalism Over Time, and used an interactive lecture

where teachers see first hand how embedded questions engage

different learning styles while allowing formative assessment

of students' understanding.

Special Guests

Taylor County Commissioner Precinct 4

Chuck Statler was a guest of the Department

on Feb. 10.

The Department was one of the hosts for the

2014 ACU Peace Conference hosted by the

Duncum Center for Conflict Resolution

on March 3. Featured speaker was Lisa

Shannon who wrote the best seller "A

Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst

Place on Earth to be a Woman." She is an

activist for women in the Congo. The Pope

Fellows participated in a breakfast with

Ms. Shannon.

Jeff Wendling ('71), 30-year veteran DEA

Agent in Southeast Asia, spoke in the

Terrorism Studies class on Mar. 6. He

discussed his counter-drug and counter-

terrorism efforts against various organizations

including the New Peoples Army/Communist

Party of the Philippines, Abu Sayaff, Moro

National Liberation Front, and Jemaah

Islamiyah. Wendling also spoke to the

Department Chapel, and then to CJ students

afterward about careers in the federal service.

Political Science

March 2014

Newsletter

Page 3 of 5

Lending A

Helping Hand

Students worked several hours

loading a container for Zambia

Medical Mission on

February 1.

Top Right: Abigail Moses and Rachel Mallory help

sort supplies for Zambia Medical Mission.

Middle Left: Mike Mfashingabo displays a box of

supplies to be loaded.

Bottom Right: William Medlicott and Nicholas

Holloway load supplies into the container.

Above: Odies Wright (EXSC Faculty) and

Caleb Orr pose with buckets to be used on the

Zambia Medical Mission.

Political Science Department

March 2014

Newsletter

Page 4 of 5

CONSIDER A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT CAREER!!

POVERTY CURE SMALL GROUP CHAPEL, THURSDAYS RM. 130 BIBLE

Students are invited to Bible Building Rm. 130 every Thursday this semester during Chapel

to address the question of world poverty and what Christians can and should do to alleviate it.

Throughout the first six weeks of the semester, a series of videos will be presented from Poverty

Cure, seeking solutions fostering opportunity and unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit in developing

countries. The video series was co-written by Dr. Jonathan Witt, a 1989 ACU alumnus and research

fellow at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., a Christian/free market think tank. The series

should be of interest to students studying economics and entrepreneurship, politics and international

relations, theology, media, and other areas.

Dr. Robert Bland of the University of North Texas forwarded this information for students

who may be considering a career in public service. The first is a recent article in the North

Texan on “Reviving Communities” that profiles several MPA graduates who are rebuilding

blighted neighborhoods. The second is a Web release by a newly formed organization,

Emerging Local Government Leaders, on the local government specialization at UNT.

http://northtexan.unt.edu/content/making-difference-2/?

utm_source=northtexannewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=northtexanwinter2013

http://elgl.org/2014/01/16/campus-university-north-texas-mpa-program

Undergraduate Research

Festival Submissions

Stewart McGregor, “Streamlined Bureaucracy: A

Comparative Study of the E-Government System of

the United Arab Emirates Relating to the Petroleum

Services Industry.”

Amanda Bitner, “Art and Civil Disobedience

In Iran.”

Brandon Wianecki, McNair Scholar, “Will U.S. and

International Sanctions Prevent Iran from Developing

Nuclear Weapons?”

Law School Applications

Applications for Pre Law scholarships for

Baylor Law School and Pepperdine Univer-

sity are available in the department for pick

up. Deadline for submission is March 26.

Special Exhibit Several students in the Department attended

the special exhibit at the ACU Downtown

Gallery--The Courthouses of Central

Texas: Documenting the Buildings the Built

Texas, which was open Feb. 5-14.

Reprinted in part from: “Top Pollster Award Goes to LI Graduate,” Leadership Institute News,

January 9, 2013, by Lauren Day

Leadership Institute graduate and former intern Chris Perkins was recently named the top Texas

pollster by Capitol Inside’s bi-partisan “Political Consultants Power Rankings.” Maybe you’ve heard of

some his clients: Texas Rep. Doc Anderson, Texas Rep. Greg Bonnen, Texas Senator Donna Campbell,

Texas Rep. Stefani Carter, Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz,

Texas Rep. Tony Dale, Texas Senator Kelly Hancock, Texas Rep. Charles Perry, Texas Senator Larry

Taylor, Texas Rep. James White, as well as Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texas Republican

Representatives Campaign Committee, and Conservative Republicans of Texas.

Helping Ted Cruz win and head into the U.S. Senate was one of Chris’ professional highlights.

“Ted Cruz’s win was huge—for many reasons,” Chris told me. “The first poll I did for Cruz was in July

2011 and had him at 2 percent (with only a quarter of likely Texas voters that had ever heard him) - and

the margin of error was 3 percent. So it was a tall order and a full team effort taking him from 2 percent

in the polls into the United States Senate. For me personally, it validates our firm’s polling accuracy –

which is the best in the country – and validates the methodological tools we provide to campaigns that

show how voters move behind certain messages, how they gravitate toward candidates based on what

type of information that they are receiving, and what issues we are attacked on that we leave alone.”

Chris’ firm WPA took the 1.4 million Republicans who cast Republican primary ballots and

used four key demographic variables—age, gender, region, and voter history—to generate a probability

score for how likely each person would be to support Ted Cruz in the runoff. These numbers enabled

the Cruz campaign to target individual voters with selected pieces of information such as direct mail and

phone calls and get the voters to turnout in favor of Cruz on Election Day.

Chris took LI’s Candidate Development School in July 1998, the Youth Leadership School in

July 1998, Public Relations School in June 1998, Capitol Hill Writing School in June 1998, Youth

Leadership School in March 1998, Public Relations School in March 1998, and the Broadcast

Journalism School in August 1996. “All of the LI schools taught me valuable tools in how to engage

voters using skillful campaign techniques. They have been invaluable to me,” Chris said. So invaluable

that he volunteers his time to share his expertise as a LI faculty member at campaign, fundraising,

lobbying, future candidate, and youth leadership trainings.

Chris is a partner at WPA Opinion Research, which helps elect senators, Members of Congress,

and other leaders; helps not-for-profit organizations grow donor support; and helps companies weather

crises, enter new markets, and thrive in current ones. In the 2010 election cycle, Chris polled for 16

winning Republican candidates in the state legislature, U.S. House of Representatives, and in statewide

office in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, and Virginia. Chris teaches ‘Polling and

Targeting’ for the Annette Straus Institute’s New Politics Forum at the University of Texas at Austin,

which provides college students a bi-partisan look at how modern political campaigns are managed.

Chris graduated in 1999 from Abilene Christian University with a political science degree.

While in college, he came to the Leadership Institute and interned. “Leadership Institute training is

necessary for any conservative who wants to learn campaign and communications techniques to

advance our public policy goals,” Chris said.

Political Science Department

March 2014

Newsletter

“Top Pollster Award Goes to LI Graduate”

Page 5 of 5