Topic: Politics/Public Policy
Alex Boodrookas
David Heska Wanbli Weiden
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Ph.D.; JD, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is a professor of Native American Studies and Political Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
His academic scholarship involves Native American issues, law and political science, and he’s an attorney, licensed to practice in all Colorado state courts. Weiden is an alumnus of Vona, a Tin House Scholar, a 2018 MacDowell Colony Fellow, and a 2019 Ragdale Foundation resident. He received the 2018 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship. He is the fiction editor for Anomaly, journal of international literature and arts (www.anmly.org), and he teaches writing at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver.
Weiden novel Winter Counts is forthcoming August 2020 from Ecco/HarperCollins, as is the second book in the series, Wounded Horse. Winter Counts is the story of a local Native American enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation who becomes obsessed with finding and stopping the dealer who is bringing increasingly dangerous drugs into his community. It’s a Native thriller, an examination of the broken criminal justice system on reservations and a meditation on Native identity. Both novels will be published in France by Gallmeister Editions.
He’s published or has work forthcoming in Shenandoah, Yellow Medicine Review, Transmotion, Criminal Class Review, Tribal College Journal and other magazines. His children’s book, Spotted Tail, will be released in 2019.
A first-generation college student, he received his MFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts, his J.D. from the University of Denver Strum College of Law and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sheila Rucki
Sheila Rucki teaches Political Theory, Political Systems & Ideas and International Political Economy.
She has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2000.
Rucki recently published “Global Economic Crisis and China’s Challenge to Global Hegemony” in New Political Science. Rucki’s other recent papers include: “Resurgent Neoliberalism in American Political Discourse,” “Neoliberal Backlash and the Great Recession,” and “Resurgent Neoliberalism and the Struggle for Hegemony.”
Norman Provizer
Retired political science professor Norman Provizer taught American Constitutional Law, Leadership Studies, Leadership & Social Change and American National Government for more than three decades.
He has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1989.
Provizer has recently written chapters in: The Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fictional Leaders, Lincoln’s Enduring Legacy, and Leadership Studies: The Dialogue of Disciplines. Additionally, he has co-edited three books on the United States Supreme Court and has published articles in numerous academic journals including White House Studies and The Leadership Quarterly.
Provizer has served as an election analyst for television stations in Denver and Shreveport, La. His op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York Times as well as other newspapers. Under his direction, the Meir Center developed a leadership program for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Denver.
Robert Preuhs
Robert Preuhs, Ph.D, is a professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He currently teaches democracy: U.S. and Third World, conducting political analysis and applied political research lab.
Preuhs has been teaching political science at the college level for nearly 20 years. He held positions at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado as lecturer, affiliate faculty and instructor before coming to MSU Denver in 2007. Preuhs was also the associate director of the Social Science Data Laboratory at the University of Colorado from 2004 to 2006. He has received numerous awards, including the Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work by the University of Colorado Graduate School in 2001 and Best Book on Latino Politics, awarded by the Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association in 2014.
His main research areas focus on issues of representation and democracy through the lens of racial and ethnic politics, state and national politics, public policy and administration. Preuhs has published in academic journals including the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly and Social Science Quarterly. He also co-authored the book “Black-Latino Relations in U.S. National Politics: Beyond Conflict or Cooperation” in 2013, the first study of minority intergroup relations at the national level.
Preuhs received his doctorate in American politics, methodology and public policy and a master’s in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2001 and 1999, respectively. He also earned a master’s in public administration from the University of New Mexico in 1996 and a bachelor’s in political science and international studies from Hamline University, cum laude, in 1992.
Alexandre Padilla
Alexandre Padilla, Ph.D., is the chair and professor of the Department of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include insider trading, business economics, stock exchanges, securities and regulation, economic analysis of political decisions and business ethics. He is currently teaching Principles of Microeconomics.
Padilla has taught at MSU Denver since 2002. He serves as the director of the Exploring Economic Freedom Project at MSU Denver, which educates students and the general public about the role of economic and political freedom in promoting entrepreneurship, economic growth, prosperity and peace.
He has published several academic papers on insider trading in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Commentaries in Law & Economics and Florida State Business Review. His current research involves studying how insider trading is perceived among academics and nonacademics. Other research interests include studying self-governance mechanisms in nontraditional industries and economic policy related to immigration.
Padilla earned his doctorate, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Economics from the University of Law, Economics and Science of Aix-Marseille III in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Douglas Mpondi
Douglas Mpondi is a professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver where he teaches African Politics and Government, African History, African Peoples and Cultures and Research Methods in Africana Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and M.A. in African Studies at Ohio University. Mpondi has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts in African Languages and Literature from the University of Zimbabwe. Mpondi has taught a course on South Africa which focused on Nelson Mandela and his iconic contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. He has previously taught at The University of Michigan-Flint, Southern Connecticut State University, Ohio University and the University of Zimbabwe. His publications include the politics of citizenship in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, the impact of globalization on Africa, and the politics of educational transition in Zimbabwe. Mpondi’s research interests are: African politics, culture and education; democratic transitions and development in Southern Africa; African political economy; and African conflicts and conflict resolutions in Africa.
Richard Moeller
Richard Moeller teaches Politics in the Media, European Politics, Political Systems & Ideas and Intro to International Relations.
He has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1998.
Moeller is an associate with the Golda Meir Center for Political Leadership and the director of the Model UN Program. Moeller began the Model UN Program at MSU Denver in 1998 and has been active with student preparation and participation since then.
William Huddy
William Huddy, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Communications at Metropolitan State University of Denver where he teaches Communication Research and Theory Building, Campus Communication, Communication and Politics and Public Speaking.
Prior to teaching, Huddy worked in the field of radio and television for 20 year and has experience working in the areas of reporting, anchoring, editing, photojournalism, advertising and news directing. His primary research interests include media and celebrities, dependence on mobile phone technology, student engagement in public speaking, dynamic changes in political campaigning (and the importance of internet campaigning with less reliance on television) and new methods in communication as a means of activism and social justice.
Huddy received his Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Denver in 2012, a master’s in instructional communication from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2003 and a bachelor’s in mass communication and international relations from California State University in 1975.