Politics

Dr. Christian Dean

Professor, Political Science
Department of Political Science and International Studies
School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
415-485-3298
christian.dean@dominican.edu

• Moral & political philosophy

• Moral/ethical development

• Constitutional law

Dr. Dean started teaching at Dominican University of California (then Dominican College of San Rafael) as an adjunct instructor in the Fall of 1996, after having spent a year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University.  He joined the full-time faculty in the Fall of 1998, at which time he also assumed the role of Chair of the Department of Politics & International Studies.  He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2004.  He teaches courses in Political Philosophy and Public Law, and his research concerns the phenomenology of the development of moral character and ethical expertise

Publications

• "Ethics of the Mundane: Cognitive Science and Cultivating Moral Character" (presented at the 2007 Midwestern Political Science Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois)
• "Authenticity, Virtue, Expertise: Ethical Being and Becoming Ethical" (International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 3, Number 3: 139-153 (2005/2006)
• "The Phenomenology of Moral Defensiveness" (presented at the 2005 Western Political Science Association Conference in Oakland, California)
• "Virtuosity: Phenomenology of Expertise and Contemporary Models of Ethics" (presented at the 2003 Western Political Science Association Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado)
• "Heideggerian Phenomenology as a Method for Doing Moral and Political Theory" (presented at the 2002 Western Political Science Association Annual Conference in Long Beach, California)

See Faculty website

Dr. Gigi Gokcek

Assistant Professor, Political Science
Department of Political Science and International Studies
School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
415-482-2427
gigi.gokcek@dominican.edu

• International Relations

• Comparative Politics

• Internationalization of Ethnic Conflict

• Irredentist and Secessionist Movements

• Basque and Kurdish Movements

Dr. Gokcek offers courses on introduction to international relations, introduction to comparative politics, world politics, political development, U.S. foreign policy, and politics of the Middle East.  Dr. Gokcek’s research interests include the internationalization of ethnic conflict, irredentist and secessionist movements, Basque and Kurdish nationalist movements.  Dr. Gokcek has lived in Turkey and Spain.

See Faculty website

Alison D. Howard

Assistant Professor
Chair, Department of Political Science and International Studies
School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
415-385-3298
alison.howard@dominican.edu

alihoward@comcast.net

• State of the Union Address

• Presidency

• Presidential debates/elections

• Political communication/advertising
• Congress

Publications

• Co-author of Addressing the State of the Union: The Evolution and Impact of the President's Big Speech (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).
• Alison D. Howard and Donna R. Hoffman. 2010. "Talking to Millennials: Policy Rhetoric and Rhetorical Narratives in the 2008 Presidential Campaign."  In Communication in the 2008 U.S. Election: Digital Natives Elect a President. Mitchell McKinney and Mary Banwart, eds.  New York: Peter Lang Publishing Group.
• Alison D. Howard. State of the Union Address. Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Lynda L. Kaid, ed. Thousand Oaks: California: Sage Publications 2008.
• Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard. 2007. "Representations of 9-11 in Editorial Cartoons." PS: Political Science and Politics, April 2007.
• Alison D. Howard and Donna R. Hoffman.  2007. "Policy making rhetoric and Youth Issues in the 2004 Presidential Campaign." American Behavioral Scientist, May 2007.

Recent Conference Papers

• Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard, 2011. "Presidents and the Rhetoric of Recessions." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle, WA, Sept 1-Sept 4, 2011.
• Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard, 2010. “The Presidential Rhetoric of Hard Times.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, Sept 2-Sept 5, 2010.
• Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard, 2009. "Auditioning for the Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches as Presidential Documents." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sept 3-Sept 6, 2009.
• Donna R. Hoffman and Alison D. Howard, 2009. "Vote for Me: Appeals to Voters in Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches." Presented at the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 19-21, 2009.

See Faculty website