Pol 495: Junior Fellows
Professor: Mike Yawn

Course Description: This course is designed to provide students with a better understanding of event planning, media relations, campaign work, research, and teaching.  Students will have the opportunity to plan and execute an event, work on a political campaign, conduct academic research, develop lecture plans, and other activities related to politics.  The course is a unique opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in a variety of fields. 

The Program Sequence:  The Junior Fellows course is designed as a two-semester sequence.  Returning students are expected to help the professor set the agenda, train new students, and take leadership roles in the class.  New students will participate equally in the projects, but will have less of an agenda setting or leadership role their first semester. 

Class Meetings:

• Fridays, 12-1
• Every Other Sunday, 6-9
• Additional meetings, as called by Professor (rare)

Attendance: Attendance is required at all events or meetings.  During these meetings students will (1) update their progress on assigned tasks, (2) receive additional assignments, (3 brainstorm about ongoing tasks, and (4) receive training.  If a student has to miss a class, advanced notice must be given, and the student will need to fulfill the above obligations immediately via email.  Unexplained or excessive absences will result in points being deducted from your final average.

Class Requirements:

Research:  Students will participate on a semester-long research project involving the nonverbal communication of U.S. Legislators.  The work will not be extensive, but students will need to work on it weekly, and the work will acquaint students with the research process.  This work will require a total of 16 hours throughout the semester.

Teaching:  All students will gain some experience with the teaching process this semester.  For some students, this will involve researching a lecture topic.  For others, it will involve actually giving a lecture.  For some, it will involve both.  By and large, students will be allowed to choose their role and topic.

Events:  Students will participate in a variety of events this semester.  Students should expect one event per month, although the degree of involvement and the scope of the events will be highly variable. 

Trips: Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one of two trips during the semester. 

• The first trip is to Little Rock, AR and Memphis, TN from February 15th-19th. 
• The second trip is to St. Louis, MO from March 12th-16th.

During each trip, students will see many historical sites and work on a campaign.  The trips cost money.  We will raise money to defray some of the trip costs, but we will have to pay for a rent car, gasoline, and hotel rooms.  Each trip is likely to cost in the neighborhood of $200-$250 per student, before fund raising. 

The trip, although encouraged, is not required.  If you cannot make the trip, alternate assignments will be made.  The alternate assignment involves a trip to one of the following destinations: (1) LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, TX, (2) Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX, (3) or the Bush Library in College Station, TX.  Further, students will have to (1) write a five-page paper on the site and (2) do volunteer work for ten hours (the students will discuss the nature of the volunteer with the professor). 

Computer Training:  Students will be trained in various software programs.  By the end of the semester, students are expected to know MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SPSS.  Students who already know these programs will help those who don’t.

Note:  Flexibility is required for this course, especially for events and campaigns.  Twice last semester, for example, students stayed up until midnight preparing for an event (they did know in advance the date of the event).  On campaigns, we often don’t know what we will be assigned to do until we get there.  If you can’t remain optimistic and positive under such conditions, you might reconsider the Junior Fellow program.

The Junior Fellows program is a unique opportunity, and it can be much more rewarding than a normal class.  It’s probably about as much work as a normal class, although the work is distributed differently than a normal class.  If you have any questions feel free to email me.  In addition, I encourage you to email Emily Johnson (STDEJE12@shsu.edu), Daniella (stddcu11@shsu.edu), or Samantha (stdskl19@shsu.edu) about the class and their experiences this semester.