Noted Ohio State University political scientist Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier will deliver the annual George S. Parthemos Lecture hosted by the political science department at the University of Georgia. Her lecture is titled “The Importance of Studying Difference and Change in the Social Sciences.” The lecture, co-hosted by the School of Public and International Affairs, will be presented Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 480 in Baldwin Hall.
“We are delighted to have such an accomplished expert on campus,” said Matthew R. Auer, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs. “Dr. Box-Steffensmeier has dedicated her career to improving how we ask and answer questions about politics, public opinion and voting. Considering her contributions to the field, she is among a few scholars who can speak authoritatively on the wide-ranging subject of difference and change in the social sciences.”
Box-Steffensmeier is the Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University, where she currently serves as the divisional dean for social and behavioral sciences and the dean for graduate affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, she directs the program in statistics and methodology.
Box-Steffensmeier was recently selected as a member of the 2017 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has twice received the Gosnell Award for the best work in political methodology and the Emerging Scholar Award of the elections, public opinion and voting behavior section of the American Political Science Association in 2001. She was an inaugural Fellow of the Society for Political Methodology.
“Box-Steffensmeier offers the perfect blend of commitment to teaching and mentoring and academic accomplishment,” said Scott H. Ainsworth, head of the political science department. “Seldom do we see such distinguished scholars with a list of teaching accolades as long or longer than their list of research awards. As a professor, scholar and dean, she is in every way a leading figure in the field of political science.”
The Parthemos Lecture that Box-Steffensmeier will deliver honors the late political science professor George S. Parthemos, who taught at the University of Georgia from 1953 until his death in 1984. During his distinguished career at the university, Parthemos served as an Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor, head of the political science department and vice president for instruction. His wife, the late Georgia Parthemos, helped to ensure the long-term success of this lecture series, which began in 1987.
