Faculty and Staff

Dr. Randall S. Clemons

Email: rclemons@mercyhurst.edu

Dr. Clemons received his bachelor of arts at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., and his doctorate at Idaho State University, where he taught before coming to Mercyhurst. Dr. Clemons is a full professor, serves as chair of the political science department, and has been teaching at Mercyhurst since the fall of 1989.

Dr. Clemons’s most recent publication is the 2nd edition (June 2008, Longman) of PUBLIC POLICY PRAXIS: A Case Approach to Teaching Mixed Methodologies. This book (1st edition 2001) was co-authored by Dr. Mark McBeth and has been widely adopted as a text in public policy programs at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Some of the schools where professors have adopted it include: Duke, Syracuse, UCLA, American University, University of Pennsylvania, Western Washington University, George Mason, Seton Hall, University of Nebraska, Oklahoma State University, Portland State University, Clemson, Michigan State University, Florida State University, University of Florida, Creighton University, Tennessee State University, Long Island University, University of Wyoming, Truman State University, University of Maine, Arizona State University, Utah State University, University of Utah, Cleveland State University, Kent State, University of St. Thomas, Evergreen State College, Davidson College, the US Coast Guard Academy, Catholic University of America, University of New Hampshire, and Cal-State at Northridge, Long Beach, Carson, San Luis Obispo, and Davis.

Additionally, Dr. Clemons regularly presents at national conferences usually in the areas of foreign policy and national security. He is an expert in simulations.. He has received grants in, and has been a professional consultant and facilitator in, the areas of leadership, community development, and strategic planning / futuring – most recently donating time to Erie County’s efforts to address health care disparities within the community. In 2007 he won the “Distinguished Teaching Award” at Mercyhurst College.

Professor Clemons is originally from Oakesdale, Washington.

Sample Syllabi: POLI 195 Environmental Politics, POLI 303 Geopolitics

Dr. Michael P. Federici

Email: mfederici@mercyhurst.edu

Dr. Michael P. Federici is a Professor of political science at Mercyhurst College.  He is in his nineteenth year of college teaching.  He received his Ph.D. in Politics from The Catholic University of American in Washington, D.C. (1990), his M.A. from CUA in 1985, and his B.S. in Economics from Elizabethtown College in 1983.  Dr. Federici has published two books, The Challenge of Populism (1991) and Eric Voegelin: The Restoration of Order (2002) and several articles and book reviews.  He has a forthcoming book, an edited volume of Orestes Brownson’s political writings (ISI Books), due out in late 2008 or early 2009.  His teaching and research areas include American Government, Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, Political Theory, and American Political Thought.  He is currently working on three books one about the Supreme Court, a brief monograph on the American Framers’ constitutional theory, and a coauthored history of the American Constitution.  Dr. Federici has taught American Government for the Junior Statesmen Foundation Summer School at Yale University and Georgetown University.  He won the Joseph Friedl Award at Concord College that is given to the professor who “Exemplifies the true essence of the college professor” and he won the “Distinguished Teaching Award” at Mercyhurst College in 2004.  Dr. Federici participate in a debate January 29, 2008 at Georgetown University sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the Tocqueville Forum on “America: Empire or Republic?” The debate is available on the web at: http://isi.org/lectures/lectures.aspx.

He is currently president of the Mercyhurst College Faculty Senate and serves on the College’s Board of Trustees.  He was recently appointed to the Editorial Board of the journal Humanitas.  In August 2002, he was one of a select group of American scholars invited to deliver a paper during the Chinese Comparative Literature Association’s Conference in Nanjing, China.  In 1993 Dr. Federici participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities Institute on Thomas Jefferson that was held at The University of Virginia and The College of William and Mary.  He was a Distinguished Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.  In 2004 he wrote a winning grant application to the U.S. Department of Education for a $984,920 three-year grant from the Teaching American History Program for the Corry Area School District.  In 2005 he wrote another successful TAHG for the Erie City School District for $499,736.  He is currently serving as the Project Director for both grants.  Professor Federici has been interviewed for local and national media including WJET TV, WICU TV, WSEE TV, C-SPAN, WQLN Radio, WJET Radio, WNYC Radio, WBEN Radio (Buffalo), The Erie Times News, and CQ Weekly.  Dr. Federici is originally from Denville, New Jersey.  He is married to Frances, his wife of 18 years.  They have two daughters, Elizabeth (10) and Amy (6).

Sample Syllabi: POLI 221-01 Constitutional Law, POLI 400 Political Theory

Dr. Brian Ripley

Email: bripley@mercyhurst.edu

Dr. Ripley received his bachelor of arts at Macalester College and his doctorate at The Ohio State University. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh and held a visiting appointment at the University of Wisconsin before coming to Mercyhurst in 1996. Dr. Ripley received a Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Pittsburgh and was a 1994 Pew Fellow of International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Dr. Ripley’s primary teaching and research interests are in the fields of international relations and comparative politics. He has published articles and book chapters on foreign policy decision-making, including a chapter entitled “ China : Defining Its Role in the Global Community” in Ryan K. Beasley, et.al., Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective (CQ Press 2002). He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Intelligence Studies department as well as the Political Science department. Dr. Ripley directs the Model United Nations program at Mercyhurst and has been active in regional governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is a member of the Foreign Policy Analysis and Active Learning in International Affairs (ALIAS) sections of the International Studies Association.

Dr. Ripley was born and raised on a family farm in Winnebago, Minnesota.

Sample Syllabi: POLI 313 Intelligence and National Security, POLI 241 Comparative Politics: Asia

Dr. Joseph M. Morris

Email: jmorris@mercyhurst.edu

Dr. Morris received his bachelor of arts at San Diego State University, master of arts at California State University at Fullerton and master of public administration and doctorate at Idaho State University. Dr. Morris has co-authored two collections of simulations for American government courses, regularly presents papers at professional conferences and has published articles in the field of environmental policymaking. He has worked in a research or advisory capacity for several nonprofit environmental and economic development groups including the Gem Communities Committee, Henry's Fork Foundation, Lake Erie Region Conservancy, and the Pennsylvania-Lake Erie Watershed Association. He is the Director of the Merchyhurst College Honors Program. Professor Morris was a visiting professor at Idaho State University before coming to Mercyhurst. He is originally from Claremont, Calif.

Sample Syllabi: POLI 100 American Government, POLI 300 State and Local Politics

Dr. Michele Crumley

Email: mcrumley@mercyhurst.edu

Dr. Crumley received her bachelor of arts at the University of Tennessee, master of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and doctorate at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Crumley was nominated for the University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award in 2005.

Dr. Crumley's teaching and research interests include comparative politics and international relations, with a special interest in political economy, land tenure, minority rights and ethnic conflict. Dr. Crumley's primary research focus is on transition states, particularly Russia , the former Soviet republics, and East Europe. She has most recently presented conference papers and published on agricultural institutions and the state in the transition economies of Hungary, Slovakia and Russia . She has also conducted field research in Russia, interned at the Sociological Research Center in St. Petersburg and was awarded the APSIA-Russian Foreign Ministry Exchange Scholarship. Additionally, Dr. Crumley organized a 17-day study abroad course to Russia while at the University of Tennessee where she taught before coming to Mercyhurst College.

Dr. Crumley was born in upstate New York and grew up in New Port Richey, Fla.