Spring 2018 Newsletter (PDF)
URI names new director for its Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy - The University of Rhode Island has appointed Associate Professor of Political Science Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz to the position of director of the Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy.
URI pharmacy and political science faculty team up to get word out on pneumococcal disease vaccinations - Pharmacy Professor Kerry LaPlante is working with Political Science Professor Brian Krueger and Associate Professor Marc Hutchison on a $600K+ research grant to develop science-based messages to improve pneumococcal vaccination rates in black and Hispanic/Latino populations.
URI professor’s article about terrorism, political tolerance to be published in prominent political science journal - Marc Hutchison, associate professor of political science, studied how persistent terrorism in Israel led to increased intolerance, especially among right-wing voters.
URI Professor comments on murder of Russian opposition leader - Nicolai N. Petro, an expert on Russian history and politics, says that Boris Nemtsov was highly critical of President Vladmir Putin, and his murder will have little impact on the country's politics.
URI students take in hip-hop, Hemingway, baseball during Cuba trip - 20 URI students spent ten days in Cuba over the 2015 Winter J-Term, touring the island, visiting museums, universities and hospitals; living with families in the countryside; talking with writers and artists; and even rapping with a hip-hop singer. 
URI professor aims to connect RI businesses with new opportunities in Cuba - After leading students on trip to Cuba, political science professor Maureen Moakley says business opportunities are opening up there following a thawing of relations between the Communist nation and United States, and Rhode Island should get in on the action.
URI researchers find Americans sorting themselves politically - Corey Lang, assistant professor of environmental economics, and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, associate professor of political science, analyzed more than 40 years of election data and relocation patterns around the United States and found that Americans are increasingly sorting themselves into politically homogeneous communities.
Who Wants a Cute Congressman? - Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz says that you probably do—even if you won’t admit it. In politics, looks aren’t everything, but they’re definitely something. Her article in Pacific Standard magazine explains how her research supports this.
URI political science students collect 80 bikes to send to Africa - In Africa, bikes are a treasured mode of transportation that carry medicine, transport villagers to health clinics, and put food on the table by providing a way to get to a paying job. That’s why a group of URI political science students collected 80 used bikes and teamed up with Bikes Not Bombs to send them to Ghana and Uganda.
