Brigham Young University
Faculty Center


Faculty Development Plan
Political Science [Example 1]
2008

1 Overall Philosophy and Self-Assessment
I believe that research, teaching, and citizenship must be inseparably connected if I am to be successful. Whereas some might feel that teaching is an obstacle to their research, or that research is an obstacle to good teaching, I believe that outstanding research is a product of teaching excellence, and vice versa. Engaging students in relevant discussions and activities provides instructors a valuable perspective to conduct their research, and teaching students what is most relevant in academic and policy literatures is essential to their intellectual and professional development. I love to share my enthusiasm for research and teaching in the classroom, as I believe it will make me a better teacher and scholar. Students have approached me on more than one occasion after class to ask me about research topics that I am currently pursuing. Citizenship through participation in the intellectual life of the department further strengthens both research and teaching. Contributing to Thursday group, especially, enables us to keep sharp on current scholarship and help each other produce quality research. Participation on committees such as curriculum also helps provide an understanding of good departmental teaching. My goal is to learn to integrate all three aspects of my job so that together they make me a better professor.

2 Research
2.1 Philosophy
Almost all of my research attempts to understand civil wars, with an emphasis on their dynamics and outcomes. Civil wars pose one of the greatest threats to international peace and security today. Recent conflicts in contexts as diverse as Rwanda, Russia, Colombia, and India demonstrate the devastating consequences of violent civil conflict. Indicative of this broader trend in the outbreak and continuation of civil violence is the fact that 90% of UN peacekeeping operations since 1989 have been deployed to disputes that have a significant internal conflict component. Despite the threat posed by such conflicts, recent advances toward peace in areas like Northern Ireland and the former Yugoslavia offer encouragement about the prospects for resolving long-standing civil conflicts.

The various aspects of my research are guided by an underlying and consistent logic of “disaggregation." International relations scholars conduct most of the work on civil wars, but much of the existing work has applied international relations theory with very few modifications. Although a great deal has come from the international relations literature, there are several problems that I address in my research. First, existing studies tend to under appreciate the number of actors involved in civil wars (typically there are more than two). Many civil wars have more than one rebel group; others have more than one government faction; still others receive intervention from third-party states or international organizations. Second, existing studies do not address change or “adaptation" during wars, which comes in several forms: fragmentation of actors, coalescence of actors, the rise of new independent actors, and changes to existing actors. Finally, most of the emphasis in civil war studies is on the onset of civil war, perhaps because international relations scholars have been primarily concerned with the onset of interstate war.

I am methodologically eclectic. My primary objective is to use the method most appropriate to answering the theoretical question. I am not committed to any one method as evidenced by my current research. The Journal of Politics article uses statistical analysis, because the question attempts to generalize our intuition about the conditions under which third-parties decide to intervene into civil wars. The International Studies Quarterly article uses case studies, because the theory makes arguments

that would be unanswerable except through a careful, analytical examination of war narratives. The Civil Wars paper uses a computational model because the theory addresses a situation in which parties use multiple (counter-)insurgent strategies together, which makes an empirical examination of their strengths and weaknesses very complex. And yet, clearly the topic has significant policy importance for state involvement in other countries, such as the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan.


2.2 Self-assessment and Interests
Some of the best work in our discipline is coauthored, but there can be some pitfalls to coauthored work. One potential problem is when new faculty coauthor exclusively with another person or too frequently with their graduate school mentors. In such cases, assessing the new faculty's contribution can be difficult. Currently, I have four papers either published or forthcoming, three of which are coauthored. Yet, all three coauthored papers are with other graduate students and were completed independent of significant faculty oversight. My contribution to each of these papers should be evident not only from the lack of faculty involvement, but also from the fact that each of the publications is coauthored with someone different. To avoid a situation in which all of my work is coauthored, I have several single-authored works. One of them is forthcoming and several others are currently in progress. Pushing them through to completion will be important.

Generally, I am pleased with my publication record thus far and feel like I am on track. In addition to the three publications in print, I also have one paper forthcoming, two other papers under review, and a number of other works in progress. If I can continue this trajectory, then I feel like I will be in a good position to go up for my third-year review in Winter 2010.


2.3 Areas to Develop
Although it is important to referee journal articles, I have been overly willing to accept and review manuscripts for journals. In my final year of graduate school, I refereed six separate papers and in my first semester as a new professor I reviewed four more papers. I even turned down several other papers. I take the reviews very seriously and this is, perhaps, one reason I have been asked for repeat reviews several times. For the next year or so, I am going to continue reviewing papers, because it is important, but I plan to turn down review offers more frequently so that I can devote that time elsewhere.

One of my strengths as a researcher is my ability to work on multiple projects at once, but I need to be cautious about taking on too many projects. Currently, I have a significant number of research projects underway and I need to be sure that I stay on task with them. Fortunately, most of these projects are at different stages and I have stayed on top of the projects close to completion, but the danger is always there of getting distracted with nascent research projects that never get finished.


2.4 Short-term Goals
Calendar year 2008:


2.5 Research Streams
My research on conflict can be divided into several different research streams: civil wars, terrorism, and interstate conflict. My primary area of research is civil wars, beginning with my dissertation work on spoilers, but extending to a number of other areas. Below is a list of each my major projects including those that are published (to be annotated soon).

2.5.1 Civil War Onset
XXXX, and XXXX. 2007. “Accounting for the Unaccounted: Weak-Actor Social Structure in Asymmetric Wars." International Studies Quarterly 51(3): 583-606.

XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Can Peace Be Bought? The Effects of Foreign Aid on Civil War Onset." Working Paper.


2.5.2 Civil War Dynamics
XXXX, and XXXX. 2006. “Rethinking Third Party Interventions into Civil Wars: An Actor-Centric Approach." Journal of Politics 68(4): 828-837.

XXXX, and XXXX. 2007. “Fighting Fire with Fire”: How (Not) to Neutralize an Insurgency." Civil Wars 9(4): 378-401.

XXXX. 2008. “Lootable Resources and Third-Party Interventions into Civil War." Work in Progress.

XXXX, and XXXX. 2006. “Adaptive Actors and Structural Factors: Civil Wars and Forced Displacement." Working Paper.

XXXX, and XXXX. 2006. “Swatting Flies with Pile Drivers: Modeling Insurgency and Counterinsurgency." Working Paper.


2.5.3 Civil War Resolution
XXXX. 2008. “Agents and Conflict: Adaptation and the Dynamics of War." Forthcoming in Complexity.

XXXX. 2008. “Spoiling the Peace or Seeking the Spoils? Civil War Resolution and the Role of Spoilers." Book manuscript in preparation (based on dissertation research).

XXXX. 2008. “How Peace Agreements Lead to the Fissioning of Civil War Actors." Work in Progress.


2.5.4 Ethnic Conflict
XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Rumor Dynamics in Ethnic Violence." Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Politics.

XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Ethnic Identifiability and Conflict." Working Paper.

XXXX. 2008. “The Uses of Information in Ethnic Violence." Work in Progress.


2.5.5 Terrorism
XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Terrorism, Bargaining, and Credible Commitments." Working Paper (sending out for review in August or September).

XXXX. 2008. “Strategies of Terrorism in Civil Wars." Working Paper.

XXXX. 2008. “A Dyadic Approach to Transnational Terrorism." Work in Progress.


2.5.6 Interstate Conflict and Foreign Policy
XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Adaptation and the Process of War." Working Paper (sending out for review in August).

XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. 2008. “Just Part of the Game: Arms Races Rivalry and Competition." Working Paper (sending out for review in June).

XXXX. 2008. “U.S. Foreign Policy toward Russia and the Former Soviet Republics." Under review at CQ Press for publication as a chapter in U.S. Foreign Policy: Interest or Neglect edited by XXXX and XXXX.


3 Teaching
3.1 Philosophy
My basic teaching and learning objective is to help students cultivate a passion for understanding— conceptually, theoretically, and empirically—processes of war and peace. Regardless of whether the student is a political science major, s/he can benefit from accurately understanding political processes. In my courses, I aim to help students shift from passive consumption of knowledge to active participation in the teaching and learning process. If students develop the ability and passion for critically analyzing political processes, then my objectives will be fulfilled. I structure the course itself, each class session, and writing assignments to achieve these objectives. As a teacher, I focus on balancing (1) the provision of information and knowledge through lecture and (2) the use of activities to help students grasp and retain that knowledge. Passive lectures lull students into apathy, yet active learning can also be counter-productive if overused. Students desire to obtain knowledge, and thus striking a proper balance between providing information, and using activities and assignments to facilitate understanding and assimilation of this information, is crucial to achieving my objectives as a teacher.


3.2 Interests and Self-Assessment
My teaching interests are primarily in the field of political violence, defined to include (1) Civil Wars / Ethnic Violence, (2) International Conflict, (3) Terrorism, (4) Conflict Resolution, and (5) Social Movements. I also maintain interests in teaching the core International Relations sequence, including (1) Introduction to International Relations, (2) Theory of International Relations, and (3) capstone courses on topics such as Political Violence. Finally, although not my primary interest, I have been approached and would be willing to contribute to the Quantitative Political Methodology (328) requirement in the department, if necessary. At some point, I would also enjoy teaching the Political Inquiry (200) course.

Generally, I am pleased with my teaching record. I tend to perform worse when I prepare a new course, but I typically improve in teaching the course over time. My primary teaching goal when arriving at BYU was to improve on my performance teaching the Civil Wars course that I taught in Summer 2005 (as a visitor). Although student ratings do not say everything, I feel like I accomplished my goal in this respect. My overall instructor rating in 2005 for the Civil Wars course was 6.0/8.0 (dept average was 6.8/8.0 at that time). In Fall 2007, my overall instructor rating was 7.3/8.0, a significant improvement over Summer 2005, and was above the Fall 2007 department average of 6.9/8.0. Most of my evaluation scores for the Fall Semester 2007 were above 7.0, which was encouraging.

I just received my ratings for Winter 2008 and I'm satisfied with them. My overall instructor rating for the Civil Wars course was 7.0/8.0, which is a small drop from fall semester, but still above the department average. I'm not sure that a drop of three-tenths is something I should worry about too much as there always exists some variation. My overall instructor rating for the capstone course were stronger than the Civil Wars course—7.2/8.0. I'm quite happy with this score and hope that I can keep it in this range or even improve it some when I teach the capstone again in the Fall.

In addition to student ratings, students visited me more in my office during the semester. I am very interested in getting to know my students and having them stop by for help with the course. In past semesters, I haven't had as much success, so hopefully I have been more accommodating of them. Also, my grades in Fall 2007 were a little bit higher than department averages. While I do not want to give low grades for the sake of meeting thresholds, I did reevaluate my grading and assessment practices and in Winter 2008 was able to bring them more in line both with department averages and with what I felt the students deserved.


3.3 Areas to Develop
Clearly, there are areas in which I need to improve my teaching. First, I am teaching two new preparations in 2008 and my goal is to teach these new courses better than when I prepped the Civil Wars course in 2005. My evaluations for new preparations have consistently been lower than when I re-teach the same courses, but I hope to improve on this and get a better start for new preparations. Judging from my 470 ratings from Winter 2008, I'm beginning to improve in this regard. I still felt like a number of things could have gone better during the new preparation and I took detailed notes so that when I re-teach the capstone in Fall 2008, I will be able to correct for some of these things. Second, I do not use a formal textbook in some of my courses and I have noticed that I do not integrate the somewhat eclectic set of readings that I assign very well. At times, students expressed concern that they weren't “seeing the bigger picture", which is something I need to devote more time to. I'm teaching a terrorism course in Fall 2008 and I will have this issue to deal with.


3.4 Speciflc Short-term Goals

3.5 Long-term Goals
My understanding is that new faculty should have 5 new courses prepared by the time they reach CFS review. After Fall 2008, I will have four new courses prepped. After that time I will try to pick up a fifth course—perhaps the Theory of International Relations Course (370)—so that I can at least reach five new courses. After that time, I would like to devote time to existing courses.


4 Citizenship
4.1 Philosophy
Citizenship in the department is a key tool of self governance as well as the process by which colleagues strengthen each other in areas of scholarship and teaching. Each member of the department needs to give of his/her time to provide comments on research projects, teaching, and a variety of other things. Active or positive citizenship has the ability to make otherwise good departments much stronger. Weak or negative citizenship has the potential to make otherwise good departments much worse. I hope to contribute as much as possible to making the department an efficient, enjoyable, and intellectually lively place to be.


4.2 Self-assessment and Interests
My understanding is that I should limit my involvement and time spent on citizenship during my first couple of years while I get started on research and teaching. Accordingly, I have attempted to do all that I was asked, but with care about the time devoted. I attended all curriculum meetings and accomplished everything asked of me. I attended all department decision-making meetings in 2007 and prepared for each of them (read candidate files, etc). I also attended all Thursday group meetings during the year except about three or four.

I also tried to contribute in other ways when needed: I covered a class for a colleague; I presented at a Welches and Cheese; I also reviewed some ORCA proposals at the last minute for XXXX (over Christmas break). This should illustrate that I'm happy to help when needed, but I am actively trying to devote most of my time to research in order to get a research program jump-started and a core set of courses prepared well.


4.3 Areas to Develop
I am a fairly reserved person and sometimes shy away from making comments in department meetings. When I do make comments, I fear that I do not articulate my thoughts well. Some of this is likely due to my unfamiliarity with BYU generally. I expect that as I learn more about the way BYU and the political science department operate, that I will be more confident in making comments in department meetings. With respect to Thursday group meetings specifically, I read each paper thoroughly and have begun to participate more. I expect to continue to increase my participation in that setting.


4.4 Short-term Goals


4.5 Long-term Goals






Faculty Development Plan
Political Science [Example 2]
2005

Faculty Development Plan

A. Self-Assessment:

I have strengths and weaknesses in each of the three main areas considered in this faculty development plan. I am a good teacher, having the ability to communicate in understandable and approachable ways complex concepts and arguments. Students understand me. I am affable and approachable, inviting of discussion and students feel that I am approachable. Students generally like me. I have a ‘democratic’ approach to teaching, meaning that I seek input from students, am open to ideas and correction and, most importantly, I try to include all and to raise the performance of all who are in my classes. Teaching areas in which I would like to improve include evaluation and assessment, use of technology, and student participation in the classroom. In my scholarly activities I have found myself becoming a good writer – or so I am told. My writing is entertaining at the same time that it is informative and challenging. I can collect many aspects of an argument or theme into concise and deliberate summaries and arguments. I am able to cut through to the heart of an argument and communicate it well to readers. I would like to develop my ability to associate with other scholars and to build relationships with them that would be helpful to my career development. I would like to shorten the time it takes me to follow projects through from initiation of research to publication. In terms of citizenship, I am a good citizen – co-operative, responsible and responsive, and collegial. I would like to be less shy and reserved, able to contribute more vocally to department meetings and seminars, and to make my presence felt more immediately within the department.

B. Professional Goals:

Scholarship: I aim to publish early my dissertation on American political culture. As well, I will publish articles related to this work and that demonstrate the need for such a book and its application of political theory. This work is an application of theory derived from the philosophy of culture – at the moment, I see myself as working within a framework of ‘applied political theory’. Having published from within this framework, I will return to work on the theory itself, contributing to its refinement through a series of articles that  I will then collect into a book with other work added. I will publish this book through a leading university press. I believe that this work will be a significant contribution to the philosophy of culture, focusing upon foundational details that have not been developed in the field. In turn, this should lead to important conclusions about modern culture, to be drawn from within the field of philosophy of culture and based upon the afore mentioned foundational theory improvements. This work will add to political philosophy generally, rounding out many observations and key texts about modern politics and culture. I expect this work to amount to several articles and two books to be published by the time of my continuing faculty status review. After this, I will return to the application of theory thus derived, in a book length treatment of American political culture that amounts to a sequel to my first book and dissertation. I have many of the materials gathered for this and will continue to gather research materials for this while working on other projects.

Teaching: I aim to develop my teaching in at least three ways. I will integrate technology into my classes more extensively and more seamlessly (including the use of power point, blackboard, and diverse visual media). I will integrate student participation more completely into my courses, both in and out of the classrooms – through better developed reading and research assignments (i.e. structured with the aim of student engagement and involvement), creation of simulations, discussion panels, and group and individual assignments. I will improve my use of assessment and evaluation tools for better student learning – including more emphasis on formative evaluation, with student self and peer evaluation. I will consider how I might incorporate a “mastering the material” approach in lower level, introductory courses.

Citizenship: I aim to better develop professional associations with scholars and colleagues in my fields of study. I will approach leading scholars in specific areas of study that I am working in and seek their review of my work and their suggestions for research development and publication. I will work more pro-actively at professional conferences to develop relationships that could prove helpful to my research and to publication. I will participate as fully as possible in conference panels and will volunteer for review and committee assignments in the professional associations to which I belong. I will faithfully fulfill my department and college committee assignments. I will continue to participate faithfully in department and college meetings and ‘seminars’ and I will make that participation more ‘active’. I will continue to strive faithfully to fulfill my membership and priesthood duties within the Church. I will continue to share my testimony with students as well as with members of my ward and stake, as appropriate and as opportunities arise.

C. How my goals fit my department and the university’s goals:

Realizing my scholarship goals should help me to do a part in raising professional awareness about B.Y.U. in general and to help add to the prestige of the political science department in particular. Under the direction of my department’s goals to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in political science, my work should be a significant and original contribution to an important area of study in the discipline. Further, because it elaborates upon the importance of religion and religious education to healthy and vibrant societies, my scholarship will help in the building and securing of testimonies at the same time that it helps to explain, promote, and justify the goals of a B.Y.U. education. Thus, the content and the accomplishment of the scholarship will help further B.Y.U.’s aims for its students and its community, as well as for the world at large. My teaching goals fit well with B.Y.U.’s aims to build testimonies and to educate students for life and professional life. I am in harmony with my department’s goals to help students understand our world and ourselves, to gain the ability to influence communities, and to learn to analyze and interpret political life and its significance. 

D. Resources needed to accomplish my goals:

I will require funding to attend professional association conferences each year. I will require research assistants and funding for them, research leaves, lighter than normal committee assignment requirements, further training, and collegial help and guidance. So far, I received all of these in abundance and I expect to continue to be so blessed.

E. My activities so far in achieving my goals:

I have attended several conferences while I have been at B.Y.U., participating on panels to the maximum participation allowance of the associations involved. I have served as panel discussant twice, presented several papers, and have developed relationships with scholars and at least one journal editor in my field. I have contracted to have my dissertation published through a reputable press – it will be published later this year. I have submitted a paper for publication and have learned from that process and from the comments received. I am revising this paper and will submit it to another journal that is a more suitable venue. I am developing what I have learned from this into my work with other articles that I am preparing for publication. I have learned to use power point and have worked it into my large introductory classes – I will continue to improve upon it there, and will introduce it into my upper level classes, as well. I have used more film clips, artwork, and maps, etc., in all of my classes. I have adjusted my evaluation methods and am continuing to do so in light of what I have learned from the Faculty Development Seminar. I have been active in my department committee assignment, serving in a regular capacity as well as heading up an ‘ad hoc’ committee within the larger assignment. I have presented a paper at the department’s weekly lunch seminar and have served as discussant for another’s paper at the same seminar. I have attended a majority of these sessions and will continue to do so as my schedule allows. 

F. My comments re: Department, College and University Measures of Assessment:

I understand the expectations presented by the department, college and university for the third year review and for continuing faculty status. I believe these to be reasonable expectations. I also believe that each of the university, college, and department has provided much support for meeting these expectations and that each will continue to do so. I expect to exceed expectations/requirements in each of the three areas of scholarship, teaching, and citizenship.