Professors
Mark K. McBeth
Director of the MPA Program | Professor of Political Science
Office: Graveley Hall 304, North Wing, 3rd floor
D.A. Idaho State University, 1992
Dr. Mark K. McBeth has been on faculty in the Department of Political Science since January, 1995. His research focuses on the Narrative Policy Framework, environmental policy, public administration, and pedagogy.
An edited book on the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), Narratives and Policy Processes: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework in Public Policy Analysis (co-edited with Michael D. Jones and Elizabeth A. Shanahan) is being published in summer 2022 as an open access book from Montana State University Press. He is a co-author on the NPF chapter in the fifth edition of Sabatier and Weible's Theories of the Policy Process appearing in 2022. He is also a co-author on a NPF chapter in Methods of the Policy Process published in 2022. His most recent research has appeared in Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Journal, World Affairs, Policy & Politics, Journal of Borderland Studies, Journal of Political Science Education, PS: Political Science and Politics, Teaching Public Administration, and the Journal of Public Affairs Education.
In his post-doctoral career, Mark has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on twenty-three grants and contracts. Mark is also a co-author (with Randy S. Clemons) of Public Policy Praxis: A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis (4th edition, Routledge, 2020), a book that has been on the textbook market since July, 2000 and is now in its fourth edition.
In 2020, he was recognized as a “Distinguished Researcher” at ISU. In 2011 and 2015, he was recognized as an "Outstanding Researcher" at ISU. In 2005, he was recognized as a "Distinguished Teacher" at ISU and was recognized as a “Master Teacher” in 2001.
Courses Recently Taught
- Public Organizational Theory
- Intergovernmental Relations
- Public Policy Analysis
- Public Personnel Management
- College Teaching Seminar
- Introduction to Politics and Critical Thinking
For more information, on Dr. McBeth’s publications go to his:
Google Scholar page, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lKRic-kAAAAJ&hl=en
and
ResearchGate page, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Mcbeth
Donna L. Lybecker
Director of the Global Studies Program, Professor of International Relations, Environmental Politics, and Comparative Politics
Office: Graveley Hall, North Wing, 3rd floor
Ph.D. Colorado State University, 2003
Donna L. Lybecker joined the Department of Political Science in 2007. Her teaching and research focus on Comparative Politics and International Relations, emphasizing Environmental Politics, Borders, and Latin America. In particular she looks at the shifting role and perceptions of the US-Mexico border, water issues among the Western states and more recently the role language and narratives play in policy development.
Courses Recently Taught:
- Introduction to International Relations
- Introduction to Comparative Politics
- Environmental Politics and Policy
- The Politics of Borders
- The Politics of Central America
- Seminar in Global Politics
Dr. Lybecker has published in academic journals such as Policy Studies Journal, Review of Policy Research, Environmental Politics, and Politics & Policy, and co-authored two books, Great Debates in Environmental History with B. Black (2009), and Cases in International Relations: Pathways to Conflict and Cooperation with G. Hastedt and V. Shannon (2014). She was named the Distinguished Teacher at ISU in 2013 and received the Outstanding Service Award in 2017.
Outside of ISU, Dr. Lybecker is a member of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) National Advisory Committee, and an Associate Editor for the Social Science Journal and an Editorial Board Member for the International Journal for Sustainable Society. In addition, she is the Chair of the Selection Committee for The Bert & Phyllis Lamb Prize in Political Science.
Select Publications (* denotes graduate student co-author)
- Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, and Jessica M. Sargent. 2022. “Agreement and Trust: In Narratives or Narrators?” Chapter 4 in Narratives and the Policy Process: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework. Edited by Michael D. Jones, Elizabeth Shanahan, and Mark K. McBeth. Bozeman, Montana State University. Pp. 90-112. org/10.15788/npf4
- Mark K. McBeth, Donna L. Lybecker, and Jessica M. Sargent*. “Narrative Empathy: A Narrative Policy Framework Stud of Working-Class Climate change Narratives and Narrators,” World Affairs (forthcoming Fall 2022). Available online first (July 28, 2022) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00438200221107018
- Donna L. Lybecker. 2020. “Old West, New West, and the Next West,” Chapter 1 in The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands, Ericka Wolters and Brent Steel, eds. University of Oregon Press. 3-15.
- Wolters, Erika Allen, Donna L. Lybecker, Frances Fahy, and Monica L. Hubbard. 2019. “Willingness to support environmental actions and policies: A comparative study,” Social Science Journal. (Available online 31 May 2019: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362331919301004)
- Li Huang, Felix Hiefent Liao, Kathleen A. Lohse, Danielle M. Larson, Michail Fragkias, Donna L. Lybecker, Colden V. Baxter. 2019. “Land conservation can mitigate freshwater ecosystem services degradation due to climate change in a semiarid catchment: The case of the Portneuf River catchment, Idaho, USA,” Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 651 (Part 2): 1796-1809.
- Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, Adam Brewer*, and Carine De Sy*. “The Social Construction of a Border: The US-Canada Border.” Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4: 529-547.
- Mark K. McBeth and Donna L. Lybecker. 2018. “The Narrative Policy Framework, Agendas, and Sanctuary Cities: The Construction of a Public Problem.” Policy Studies Journal (Symposium: Advances in the Narrative Policy Framework), Vol. 46(4): 868-893.
- Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, and James W. Stoutenborough. “Do We Understand What the Public Hears? Stakeholders’ Preferred Communication Choices for Discussing River Issues with the Public,” Review of Policy Research, Vol. 33, No. 4: 376-392.
- Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, Maria A. Husmann*, and Nicholas Pelikan*. “Do New Media Support New Policy Narratives? The Social Construction of the US-Mexico Border on YouTube,” Policy and Internet, Vol. 7, No. 4: 497-525.
Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, and Elizabeth Kusko*. 2013. “Trash or treasure: recycling narratives and reducing political polarization,” Environmental Politics. March 2013: Vol. 22, No. 2: 312-332
Associate Professors
Shin Kue Ryu
Associate Professor of Public Administration, Public Policy, Political Economy, and Comparative Politics.
Office: Graveley Hall, North Wing, 3rd floor
Ph.D. George Mason University, 2016
Shin Kue Ryu’s research interests include politics and sustainable development goals, strengthening public sector capacity building in developing country contexts, and infrastructure development implementation frameworks. His specific interests include expansion of equal access to government services in development country contexts, water and sanitation infrastructure policies in Asia and the Pacific countries, and the role of politics in achieving sustainable development goals.
Dr. Ryu was the principal researcher for WaterAid’s comparative sanitation case studies of Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea. The research serves to demonstrate that universal access to sanitation can be achieved within a single generation. A research that was much needed in light of the failing to meet the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation, which signaled a need to depart from the status quo. The research has been cited as a solution to Asia’s challenge on sanitation by the Asian Development Bank’s flagship report, the Asian Water Development Outlook 2016.
Dr. Ryu also brings professional experience of having worked at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC. His experiences involve being the researcher for the World Bank’s Public-Private Partnership Reference Guide 2.0 and Delivering Universal and Sustainable Water Services: Partnering with the Private Sector – Guidance Note. He is also the co-author of OECD Public-Private Partnerships: The Relevance of Budgeting publication, which was presented at the OECD Senior Budget Officials Meeting.
Interests in his research has often translated to invited talks, as he has been a special guest presenter at Asian Development Bank, Korea Environmental Institute, and Sungkyunkwan University’s Water Institute among others. In 2017, he will be speaking at the World Toilet Association to deliver a plan on how to tackle the global sanitation challenge.
Dr. Shin Kue Ryu received his PhD from the Schar School of Policy and Government in George Mason University, where he also received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for his dissertation. He received his MSc from Queen Mary University of London and his MA from Washington University in Saint Louis. He also received his BA from Washington University in Saint Louis.
Edward F. Kammerer, Jr.
Associate Professor
Office: Graveley Hall, North Wing, 3rd floor
Ph.D. Northeastern University, 2014
Dr. Edward Kammerer joined the Political Science Department in 2019. He taught previously at Northeastern University, Skidmore College, and Occidental College. His research and teaching interests are centered on the role of the court system in public policy change, with a particular focus on LGBT rights. He is particularly interested in the role of framing and storytelling in the arguments litigators use in the courts. He also researches political science pedagogy, with a particular focus on simulations in the classroom.
Assistant Professors
Colin Johnson
Assistant Professor
Office: Graveley Hall, North Wing, 3rd floor
Ph.D. Brown University, 2017
Dr. Colin Johnson's research is at the intersection of international migration and development, incorporating human security, political demography, and ethnic conflict. His empirical expertise is in post-communist Eurasia, including field experience in the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, and Estonia.
Dr. Johnson received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2017 and then taught as a UCIS Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Department of Political Science at the Universit of Pittsburgh from 2017-2019.
Adjunct Faculty
Emeritus Faculty
- Dr. Mary Jane Burns
- Dr. Richard H. Foster, Jr.
- Dr. Victor (Butch) Hjelm
- Dr. Doug Nilson
- Dr. Ralph Maughan
- Dr. Sean Anderson