Nicole Asmussen
Assistant Professor
Ph.D; University of Rochester
Email: asmussen@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2055
Office: 447 Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• American Politics
• Congress
• Religion & Politics
• Political Parties
• Political Methodology

Cristian Cantir
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Kansas
Email: cantir@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2377
Office: 443 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita 

Major Fields:

• International Relations (conflict, security, non-state actors, foreign policy analysis).
• Comparative Politics (political parties, electoral systems, Central and Eastern Europe).

Cristian Cantir joined the Department of Political Science at Oakland University in August 2011. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, where he wrote a dissertation on the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. Cristian's interests include the place of non-state actors in the sovereign state system, foreign policy analysis and diplomacy, as well as political institutions in Central and Eastern European countries. He grew up in the Republic of Moldova and in Wisconsin.

Douglas Carr
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Kentucky
Email: carr@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2972
Office: 423 Varner Hall
Personal website

Major Fields:

• Budgeting
• Public Administration and Environmental Policy

David Dulio
Associate Professor and Chair
Ph.D., American University
Email: ddulio@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2523
Office: 417 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita 

Major Fields:

• American Politics
• Campaigns & Elections
• Political Parties
• Congress

Dave Dulio came to Oakland University in fall 2002. Dulio teaches courses in American politics generally, and specializes in campaigns and elections, political parties, interest groups, and Congress. His research interests are the electoral process, the professionalism of elections in the United States, and the role of money in elections. Prior to coming to OU, Dulio spent seven years in Washington, D.C. where he earned his Ph.D. in political science from American University; during his last year in Washington, Dulio worked on Capitol Hill for the U.S. House Republican Conference headed by former Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr. of Oklahoma. In his spare time, Dave enjoys playing with his two daughters, Abby and Sophia.

Alan Epstein
Special Instructor
Ph.D., Cornell University
Email: epstein@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2358
Office: 424 Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• Chinese Politics
• International Relations

Matthew Fails
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Missouri
Email: fails@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2765
Office: 431 Varner Hall
Personal website

Major Fields:

• Comparative Politics
• Comparative and International Political Economy
• Democratization
• International Relations

Matthew Fails joined the Oakland University Department of Political Science in the fall of 2009. He teaches courses on comparative politics, the politics of development, and African politics. His research focuses on how politics shapes economic performance in the developing world and how mass attitudes affect democracy.

Matthew's current research projects explore how the period of European colonialism shaped economic prosperity and how political institutions and interests affect property rights.

Diane Hartmus
Associate Professor/MPA Director
Juris Doctorate, Boston College Law School
Email: hartmus@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2375
Office: 420 Varner Hall

• Boston College J.D. cum laude
• University of Michigan, B.A. with High Distinction
• Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard A. Enslen, United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
• Attorney Advisor, Administrative Office of the United States Courts
• Associate Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY
• Published articles in various journals on court technology, inspection, and oversight in the federal courts and court administration
• Current research interests include role of courts in society and leadership

David Kasdan
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Cleveland State University
Email: kasdan@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-3079
Office: 429 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita

Interests:

• Social Science Methodology: Content analysis; logic of inquiry; quantitative methods; philosophy of social science
• Public Administration: Public administration theory; organizational theory; public finance economics; ethics
• American Political Theory: Direct democracy processes; socio economic justice; policy formulation

Dr. Kasdan is a public administration theorist from Cleveland State University. His academic interests include social science methodologies, public administration theory, and political philosophy. He has written about urban studies, regional economic development, and neopragmatism during his doctoral candidacy. His current research continues to explore neopragmatism as an approach to governance, as well as extending the application of content analysis to policy studies. His undergraduate degree in philosophy and various professional experiences have informed a renaissance view of academia that he enforces by emphasizing an interdisciplinary and practical view toward classroom lessons. He is an avid bicyclist and film photographer.

Vincent B. Khapoya
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of Denver
Email: khapoya@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-4616
Office: 438 Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• International Relations
• Comparative Politics
• African Politics and Foreign Policy

Professor Khapoya was born in Kenya, where he attended Catholic mission schools prior to coming to the United States to go to college. Prior to coming to Oakland, he taught at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He has also taught at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver and has served as adjunct professor in the graduate faculty at Wayne State University. His principal research interests are in African politics and foreign policy, with special reference to South Africa and Kenya. Dr. Khapoya is married to a school psychologist. He and his wife have grown children: a son and a daughter.

John Klemanski
Professor
Ph.D., Wayne State University
Email: klemansk@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2355
Office: 445 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita 

Major Fields:

• American Politics
• Urban Politics
• Public Administration

John S. Klemanski is a native of Michigan, born in Macomb County and raised in Oakland County. He is a former member of the United Auto Workers (Local 400), has worked in a cemetery, and as an on-air politics and feature reporter for a local cable TV station. He has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, as well as local government commissions and authorities. In 1989-90, he received a Leverhulme Fellowship award to serve as graduate program adviser to Cranfield University, located in Bedfordshire, England. He is the author of over 25 articles and books, mostly on campaigns and elections, and urban development politics and policy.

Paul Kubicek
Professor
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Email: kubicek@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2363
Office: 419 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita

Major Fields:

• Comparative Politics
• International Relations
• Post-Soviet Politics

Dr. Kubicek grew up in San Antonio TX and moved to Michigan in 1990. He has taught in Ukraine and in Turkey and has an abiding interest in European and Middle Eastern politics. He is married and has two sons that keep him very busy.

Laura Landolt
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Arizona, Tucson
Email: landolt@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2365
Office: 428 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita

Areas of Interest:

• Middle East Politics
• Gender and Development
• U.S. Foreign Aid
• Democratization
• Global Governance
• Domestic and Transnational Social Movements and NGOs/INGO linkages.

Roger Larocca
Associate Professor and Internship Director
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Email: larocca@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2353
Office: 422 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita

Major Fields:

• American Politics
• Formal Theory, Methodology
• Presidency

Dr. Larocca grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and moved to Michigan in 2005. He taught at Purdue University before joining the faculty at Oakland. His current and future research projects include: presidential influence in Congress, information revelation in presidential press conferences, the historical development of presidential power, and the methodological problems of regression models with categorical dependent variables.

Emmett Lombard
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Colorado State University
Email: lombard@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2359
Office: 427 Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• Public Administration/Public Policy
• Global Environment
• Trade/Labor/Environment Linkages
• Latin American Studies

Emmett Lombard is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania and served in the Air Force as a Serbo-Croatian linguist in Washington, D.C. before earning his Ph.D. in environmental politics and administration from Colorado State University. He was active in Colorado politics during the 1980s and remains a member of the ACLU, ASPA, and numerous environmental organizations. He is a member of the Environmental Health Advisory Committee.

J.P. (Pat) Piskulich
Associate Professor
Ph.D., SUNY - Binghamton
Email: ppiskuli@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2454
Office: 441 Varner Hall

Specializations:

• Public Administration
• Public Policy
• American Politics
• Taught at the University of Missouri, SUNY - Binghamton, Indiana State University.
• Taught at the China Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, PRC
• Director of the Public Affairs Research Laboratory (PARL) at Oakland University, the public service and outreach unit of the College of Arts & Sciences.
• Consultant and evaluator on many research projects and surveys across local governments in metro Detroit.
• Author of several publications on labor relations and governance issues

C. Michelle Piskulich
Assoc Prof Political Science & Associate Provost
Ph.D., SUNY - Binghamton
Email: piskulic@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2190
Office: 205 Wilson Hall

Major Fields:

• Public Policy Analysis

Michelle Piskulich has been at Oakland University since 1988. Her teaching responsibilities have included research methods and statistics, women and politics, public policy, comparative politics, American political thought, and quantitative methods for public administration. Her research interests include welfare policy, women and politics, and applied survey research. She lives with her husband, Pat, and son, Zeke, in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Suzanne Rossi
MPA Coordinator
Email: ssrossi@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-4117
Office: 457 Varner Hall

Suzanne Rossi began working in the MPA program as a graduate assistant in 2008, then graduated with her MPA degree in December 2010.  She officially became the MPA program coordinator in March 2012.  Suzanne advises students and provides administrative assistance to the program.

Donna (Searight) Simons
Office Assistant II
Email: dksearig@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2352
Office: 418 Varner Hall

Donna Simons is currently the secretary in the Political Science department at Oakland University. She has worked on campus since 1994, starting in the Academic Skills Center and most recently in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. Donna enjoys bicycling, yoga and scrapbooking.

Terri Towner
Assistant Professor and Pi Sigma Alpha Advisor
Ph.D., Purdue University
Email: towner@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2351
Office: 426 Varner Hall
Personal website

Major Fields:

• American Politics
• Public Opinion
• Political Behavior
• Research Methods and Statistics

Terri Towner grew up in Indiana and came to Oakland University in fall 2007. Towner's teaching and research focus on American politics. Specifically, she is interested in public opinion, media coverage or elections and political institutions, the politics of race and class, and quantitative methods.

Peter F. Trumbore
Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Connecticut
Email: ptrumbor@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-4907
Office: 430 Varner Hall
Curriculum Vita
Personal website

Major Fields:

• International Relations

Professor Trumbore spent nearly a decade as a working newspaper reporter and editor before leaving that career behind to attend graduate school at the University of Connecticut. He has been a member of the Oakland University faculty since 2002. Professor Trumbore's research focuses on the issues of international conflict and foreign policy analysis. Specifically his work examines the intersection of human rights and international security as well as issues of ethnic conflict, terrorism, and counterterrorism. He also has interests in foreign policy and negotiation analysis. He has an ongoing interest in the political dynamics of the Anglo-Irish peace process and the future of Northern Ireland.

Professor Trumbore is past president of the International Studies Association Midwest and has served on the Governing Council of the International Studies Association. He currently serves as a member of the advisory board for the Minorities at Risk Project, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland, and is Vice President of the Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Section of the International Studies Association. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Foreign Policy Analysis.

Julie Walters
Associate Professor
Ph.D., George Mason University School of Public Policy
J.D., Indiana University School of Law
Email: walters@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2362
Office: 425 Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• Law & Public Policy
  *Science and Technology
  *Eldercare
• Complex Organizations and Institutional Analysis
• Gender and Social Stratification
• Public Budgeting and Finance

Dr. Walters is a faculty member in the political science program as well as the undergraduate and graduate programs in public administration and policy. In addition to her publications addressing policy issues surrounding education and employment in science and technology, eldercare, judicial elections, and domestic violence, she has also written on policy responses to public concerns over incivility in American culture. Dr. Walters is the pre-law adviser for students and alumni of the political science and public administration programs. For more information on pre-law issues see Pre-law Website.

Byungwon Woo
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Email: woo@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-3164
Office: 421A Varner Hall
Personal website

Major Fields:

• International Relations (International Political Economy and International Organization)
• Formal Theory
• Political Methodology
• Political Economy

Byungwon Woo joins the department of Political Science at Oakland University in August 2010. He earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. His research interests include politics of international economic institutions, such as IMF, World Bank, and WTO, and international politics of positive and negative economic incentives. Theoretically, he seeks to better understand how international and domestic political factors interact to shape the design and implementation of international institutions, broadly defined. Methodologically, he often combines formal models and statistical analyses to build and test his arguments.

Martha Zingo
Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Maryland
Email: zingo@oakland.edu
Phone: 248-370-2354
Office: 421B Varner Hall

Major Fields:

• Public Law
• Race & Ethnicity
• Political Theory