Political Science Department Welcomes New Assistant Professor

Rebecca Kranich Social Media Editor

After a four month search, Manhattan College’s political science department has chosen a new assistant professor. Adam Howe, Ph.D., will replace Winsome Downie, who is retiring at the end of this semester.

Howe is a current postdoctoral fellow at Utah State University and was a visiting professor at Fairfield University. He earned his Ph.D. from Florida International University in 2019 and specialized in comparative politics, specifically within Southeast Asia. Some of his research examines the relationship between non-democratic regimes, religious groups and the roots of political violence.

Pamela Chasek, department chairperson of political science, states that a solid research agenda was crucial to screening candidates.

“We didn’t want to hire someone who could not get tenure, and to get it, you have to be a good teacher, but you also have to be a productive scholar,” Chasek said. “Our fears were if somebody we hired did not have a good scholarly record or have things in print, moving along, if they didn’t get tenure, we didn’t know if we’d be able to hire again.”

The opportunity to hire came after months of stalling from administration. Once Chasek received approval to begin the search process, applications poured in.

The search committee included herself, Johnathan Keller, Elizabeth Nelson and Margret Groarke. Over 135 candidates applied from all over the country, yet only 10 received virtual interviews. The top three candidates were invited to campus to teach demonstration classes.

Chasek explains how important classroom demonstrations are. Furthermore, Howe’s presentation led to the committee’s unanimous decision to offer him the job. She stated that

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Manhattan College’s Women and Gender Resource Center (WGRC) has officially removed the Lasallian designation from its name, yet confusion remains among students and staff as to the lack of communication and circumstances of the sudden change.

The center’s name originated from the needs of students who wanted a place to openly have discussions regarding women’s health and reproductive rights at a Catholic college.

Ronald Gray, vice president of student life, explained to The Quadrangle that the reasoning behind removing the “L” was not intended to be a political statement but was a decision made to free the center from any potentially negative religious connotations.

“When we talk about Lasallian, we’re talking about Lasallian Catholic values,” Gray said. “When it was discussed, the impression was to give the WGRC more freedom by taking the ‘L’. We didn’t want it to be the Lasallian Catholic Women’s and Gender Resource Center. I think that the concern was that it would be limiting the WGRC if we added the Catholic connotation to it.”

Gray also stated that the advising team and interns were supposedly tasked with communicating the name change on behalf of the center, yet no formal statement was shared with the MC community following the discussions.

“I think we wanted it [the name change] to come from the center itself, and I think we just missed the boat on that. I expected another cycle of conversation, but it didn’t happen.”

Jordan Pascoe, Ph.D., faculty co-founder of the WGRC, explained to The Quadrangle that when the center was first created, they modeled themselves after the WGRC at St. Mary’s College, the only other Lasallian institution with a women’s center. While their center did change their name, students were highly involved in the process and an open conference was held. Pascoe said that while the WGRC at MC was meant to evolve, student involvement should have always remained the priority.

“Watching St. Mary’s taught us from the very beginning that you’ve got to be ready to evolve,” Pascoe said. “You’ve got to be ready to rethink and reframe yourself as needed. So I’m open to name changes. I feel strongly about the procedural question.”

Pascoe also emphasized that students should feel ownership of the center as it’s run for students, by students.

“It was founded by students and is run by students on a day to day basis,” Pascoe said. “I want to make sure that students feel that they have ownership of the center and I think that should include ownership of the center’s name. I’m not sure what to think about this name change, I am worried that students did not play a role in it.”

Junior Elena Willoughby

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