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What areas of political science does your research focus on?

鈥淚've been doing some work recently on the development of the federal bureaucracy. I have some historical work on the origins of federal administrative agencies. Administrative rulemaking is a very important part of what the U.S. government does, and it also affects many issues that matter a lot to 麻豆无码版. Recently, including while I was in the Y-K Delta, I started researching how everyday people understand the rulemaking process and what they know about the policies that come out of it. In Bethel, fisheries policy is a hugely salient issue, and people are very aware of the effects of rules around fishing, but the fisheries policy making system is very complicated. There are multiple agencies at state and federal levels of governments, and these set rules that apply to different areas. People often aren't able to connect the policy results to the actual process for how policy is made. This is a challenge for democracy because, in a democracy, citizens ought to have a role in making policies that affect them.鈥�

 

Does your research involve issues in Anchorage? 

鈥淭he research that I have that's most relevant to Anchorage is on housing and homelessness. As a graduate student in the Bay Area, I started doing some work on how to increase the housing supply while maintaining local control鈥攖hat is,while maintaining a role in the housing policy making process for local neighborhood residents. Oftentimes, political scientists recommend moving land use policy from the local level to the state level, or even the federal level. I don't think that that's necessary. I think that it's possible to increase the housing supply and lower housing prices while maintaining local control over land use. Housing is a big issue in Anchorage and so I've been learning more about some of the details of the Anchorage planning process and housing policy here. Anchorage is a really interesting place to study housing policy because it has a longstanding and well-developed set of community councils, neighborhood-level institutions that bring local residents into the city government process.鈥�

 

Let鈥檚 switch gears. Can you share a little about your experiences with the students of UAA? Do you work with them on your research? 

鈥淚've been overall very impressed with the students here. I appreciate the fact that UAA is an open enrollment institution and the diversity of life experiences that our students bring to the classroom. I have the same expectations of students here that I had of students at Berkeley and generally UAA students have met and even exceeded my expectations. Part of my goal as an instructor is to try to provide the same opportunity to engage in seminar discussions that I had attending a small liberal arts college and to really drill down into ideas in political science. 

For the last couple semesters, I've had a community engaged student assistant (CESA) from the College of Community Engaged Learning Program. My CESA, Kyle Ivacic, has been focused on homelessness and housing policy in conjunction with my research on these topics. For example, a few weeks back, he attended a community council meeting to learn what they are like. He also met with the director of the Federation of Community Councils central office, who very generously answered a number of questions. We have been trying to learn as much as possible about the role that community councils play in the Anchorage city government. Kyle even discovered an archive of community council newsletters here at the UAA library.鈥�

 

Outside the classroom, how is student engagement at UAA?

鈥淧art of what I would really like to accomplish is to build more of a political science community where students have more opportunities to engage, both with each other, as well as with faculty, about issues that are significant to them. We have a lot of students who have more life experience than a traditional college student, and many of them have actively worked in government or policy advocacy. I really want students to be able to connect political science research and political science theories to these issues that they are working on in their day-to-day lives.鈥�

 

What do you think makes UAA stand out for students?

鈥淚f you're interested in politics and political science, 麻豆无码版 is a great place to be. For instance, we have the same number of senators as any other state, but there are a lot fewer people competing over positions in the Senate offices. Our legislative internship program, where students spend a semester in Juneau working in an office in the state legislature, is a great opportunity for UAA students. Students in other states generally face much more competition in order to get involved in local or state level politics and government. 

I've been impressed by the options and opportunities as well as the quality of education that UAA provides for students. The political science department is small. However, I think the options that we provide to students are high quality. Our students work hard, and it鈥檚 been very rewarding having the opportunity to introduce them to ideas in political science鈥�

 

Thank you, Dr. Warren, for your time, and your continued work here at UAA!