News and Announcements
WFAA features Clare Brock, PhD, as expert in Texas power grid reform coverage
5/27/21
Its spectacular collapse during February’s record-smashing winter storm revealed how unprepared our power system was to handle days of below-freezing temperatures. The public rightly demanded answers, and more importantly, swift action from Austin
To help manage the legislative storm, the Texas energy sector hired lobbyists. Hundreds of them.
“There's an old adage that, if you're not at the table, you might be on the menu,” said Dr. Clare Brock, a Texas Woman’s University political science professor in Denton, and expert on lobbying.
Clare Brock, PhD, discusses Texas voter restriction legislation with The Guardian
5/6/21
Texas lawmakers are locked in a fight over legislation that would further restrict voting access, as Republicans lean on procedural moves to avoid public testimony and keep eleventh-hour negotiations behind closed doors.
"There’s not really a big problem with election fraud, right? That’s not actually a huge problem that we need to solve. But the public thinks it is, because they’ve been told that it is,” said Clare Brock, PhD, an assistant professor of political science at Texas Woman’s University.
History & Political Science student Sheryl English elected to Denton ISD school board
5/3/21
Sheryl English, a Denton real estate agent and History & Political Science student at Texas Woman’s University, has been elected to fill Place 2 on the Denton ISD school board.
As part of the May election, voters selected who would fill two school board seats for full three-year terms. All places on the Denton school board are at-large, meaning all eligible voters within the school district can vote in each race.
Professor and Chair Jon Olsen, PhD, weighs in on future of Die Linke in Germany's 2021 federal election
4/28/21
"If recent history is any guide, the 2021 German federal election will once again raise the question of whether the Left Party’s (Die Linke) cup is half-empty or half-full," Jon Olsen, PhD, professor and chair of the TWU Department of History & Political Science, in a recent opinion piece for Johns Hopkins University's American Institute for Contemporary German Studies.
TWU's Wouter van Erve weighs in on civics education legislation
4/12/21
What Texas kids need to know in order to become responsible citizens is up for debate.
After Gov. Greg Abbott named strengthening civics education as one of his priorities for the legislative session, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle filed bills with that goal in mind. But some advocacy groups are concerned that the issue could become too politicized, potentially stymieing progress in Austin.
Wouter van Erve, a Texas Woman’s University political science professor, said it’s important to pay attention to the emphasis on patriotism within civics education bills.
“Patriotism is a feeling. It’s a feeling of pride. In civics education, you have to watch out,” he said. “It’s not about feelings — it’s about facts.”