David Mayhew, one of the world’s pre-eminent authorities on the U.S. Congress and American political parties, will deliver the annual George S. Parthemos Lecture Oct. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.
His lecture, “What Does a President’s Fourth Congress Look Like?” will address what President Barack Obama can expect from Congress after this year’s midterm elections.
The lecture is hosted by the political science department within the UGA School of Public and International Affairs.
“We are excited to host one of the most important political scientists of our generation,” said John Maltese, head of the political science department. “The topic of Mayhew’s public lecture is a particularly timely topic of great importance, and his visit is a fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with an iconic figure in our discipline.”
Mayhew, the Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. He has been a member of the board of overseers of the National Election Studies of the Center for Political Studies and has served as a Guggenheim Fellow, a Hoover National Fellow, a Sherman Fairchild Fellow at the California Institute of Technology and an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He received the Samuel J. Eldersveld Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association in 2004.
“Dr. Mayhew’s visit continues in the tradition of bringing extremely influential and highly regarded scholars to campus to honor the memory of Professor George Parthemos,” said Stefanie Lindquist, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs. “We are thrilled that David Mayhew has accepted the invitation to share his expertise with the UGA community.”
It’s been 40 years since the publication of Mayhew’s landmark book, Congress: The Electoral Connection, which is one of the most widely read and cited books in political science. His other award-winning books include Divided We Govern and Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don’t Kill the U.S. Constitution.
The Parthemos Lecture honors the late political science professor who taught at UGA from 1953 until his death in 1984. During his career at the university, Parthemos served as an Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor, head of the political science department and vice president for instruction. In 1987, his wife, the late Georgia Parthemos, honored her husband by establishing this lecture series.