Leanne C. Powner

Publications, Papers, and Research

Teaching and Course Materials

Summer Academic Working Group

External Links

FAQ

Personal

Frequently Asked Questions

I like some of your instructional documents. Do you mind if I use them?
Thanks! Feel free to use whatever you want, as long as you provide proper attribution in your syllabus and/or on the document(s). See the Terms of Use for specifics. I also appreciate feedback on the documents, as many of them undergo a regular cycle of revisions. Please email me with questions, comments, suggestions, etc.

I like one of your papers. May I cite or quote it?
Thanks! Citing, of course you may. All papers should contain their presentation location and preparation date on the cover page of the paper; if not just ask and I can tell you where it came from. As for quoting, that's a bit of a different story. If it's published, you are welcome to quote from it. Please do not quote from unpublished papers (including conference papers) without asking first. The more specific you can be about what you'd like to quote, the more comfortable I can be with maybe saying yes. Conference papers are works in progress on which I wanted feedback; they are generally not as polished as I'd like them to be before they are passed around for widespread public consumption and/or possible publishing, even in snippets.

Will there be a Summer Academic Working Group in 2008?
I anticipate that a 2009 edition will occur as well, though I won't be sure until about April or so. Check the link in the left frame for details and/or to sign up. As before, the groups will run on the same platform as in prior years, the University of Michigan's CTools system. 

What are you working on now?
Err, well, my dissertation. Any completed chapters and a Progress Meter are on the Dissertation Home Page. The short form is that it looks at when and why states choose to use particular international organizations to cooperate on foreign policy - that is, it tries to explain 'forum shopping' behavior. In particular, it looks at when EU member states choose (or perhaps manage) to use the EU to act through the Common Foreign and Security Policy rather than other institutions or unilateral action. It looks at both outcomes (which institutions/actions occur under which conditions) and the formation of state preferences over when and where and how to act.

Are you on the market yet?
Yes and no. I've accepted a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at The College of Wooster, in east-central Ohio. It's a one year position, and I'm very much looking forward to it: smart students, great colleagues, nice place to live, fantastic resources (especially for a school of its size). What that means, though, is that I will be resuming my job search in fall 2008 for tenure-track positions starting fall 2009. As before, I will be looking at a wide range of positions, meaning pretty much everything but the top tier of research schools. Why? I really like to teach. As in, really like. I want a place that will value teaching and mentoring at least as much as research, and maybe offer down the road some administrative opportunities with something like an honors program or learning community program. I love working with students, particularly in mentoring research. This might mean a Masters' program, it might mean a BA program, it might even mean a PhD program. I'll be at APSA in Boston, and I would love to talk to anyone there who thinks their position might be a good fit.

Who is that adorable dog pictured on the Personal page?
That's Velvet, a terrier-lab-poodle mix from the Humane Society. She's actually not my dog; she belongs, officially at least, to my parents. Anyone who's seen us together, though, will tell you it's not true in practice. When I'm home, she's my dog: she sleeps with me, she sits with me, she usually refuses to be separated from me. I love her, and really wish I could have a dog of my own. Alas, long days and apartment life don't bode well for doggie happiness. Hopefully my first permanent position will be someplace where I can buy a house and get a dog.

Why do you make so many blankets? What do I have to do to get my own afghan or baby blanket?
The tradition in my family for a couple generations now is to give a handmade blanket when someone you know well gets married or has a baby. They're very nice, and they don't really take as long to complete as people might imagine. Full-size afghans can be finished in 4-6 weeks (particularly during football season); baby blankets are usually about 2 weeks. If I know you personally and you fall into one of those categories (expecting a wedding or baby), I'll probably ask you about preferred colors at some point. If I don't, and you have a request ("NO PINK" or "our bedroom is cream and blue" or the like), please say something! It takes the burden off me of having to decide between the gazillion patterns I've got and then picking colors. It's not presuming at all, and it makes my life easier.

Why are you such a rabid Steelers fan?
I grew up in Ambridge, PA, a small blue-collar former mill town about 20 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. My childhood memories are full of my parents camped out on the couch on Sunday afternoons, Terrible Towels and snacks and beer in hand, screaming for all they were worth. (Sometimes I suspect they could hear my parents up at the stadium, 15 miles away.) My high school memories include two trips to Steelers playoff games with the marching band, where we played the halftime shows. (All right, I'll be honest, I didn't care much about football at that point and at least one of those games, I smuggled in a fiction book in my band bag to read during the game. Sacrilege, I know. The older and wiser me shudders at the memory.) I don't live in the Steelers media coverage area right now, which makes getting all the games a bit difficult without going to a sports bar or paying exorbitant amounts for special TV channels. I haven't transferred my loyalties to the Detroit Lions yet, in part because it's a lot more fun to root for a team that wins. (Ok, so maybe that excuse was less valid during the '06 season.) But one thing a large number of commentators have noticed is that wherever you go in the NFL, the Steelers always have a huge fan contingent in the stadium at away games. Any major city has at least one bar where Pittsburgh fans gather on Sundays. People from this area bleed black and gold, and that doesn't go away when you move. The Steelers are one of the very few positive and successful memories many 30somethings and 40somethings have of this area from when they were growing up. The mills were closing, there were no jobs, unemployment was rampant; life as we knew it here changed. During all that terrible time, what happens? The Steelers develop into a powerhouse team and win 4 Super Bowls in just a few years. It's created a powerful emotional attachment for them and even for us younguns, who don't remember those years of closing mills as well but still have very few positive memories of the city. Opportunities for young people (and, to be frank, for older ones as well) are still very limited outside of a very small number of fields and regions. Our parents, who are among the last to be able to get jobs in the area, actively encourage many of us to get jobs elsewhere since there is no future for us here. Wherever we go, though, the almost-mythical story of the Steelers and their relationship with a collapsing city stays with us.