By Vinny Reda
By Vinny Reda
Hailed as one of the leading political theorists in the nation, John G. Gunnell of the Department of Political Science has been appointed a Distinguished Professor by the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
The appointment, made at the Trustees' Jan. 28 meeting in State University Plaza, confers SUNY's highest academic designation upon Gunnell, a member of the faculty since 1964. In the ensuring years, he has become a pacesetting in promoting understanding of political science as a discipline. Said Thomas Church, chair of the department, "Jack Gunnell's research combines a deep understanding of the history of ideas with great insight into contemporary political science and methods. His works are noted for their sophistication in the way they handle complex issues."
Gunnell, whose expertise ranges from the history of political thought to the philosophy of the social sciences, in his book, Philosophy, Science and Political Inquiry (1975), dealt with the contrasts and connections between the study of human action and the study of the phenomena of nature.
More recently his has focused on the study of the origins and growth of the academic study of political theory, pursuing among other topics the alienation of political theory from political science. "His book Political Theory: Tradition and Interpretation has become fundamental to the discussion of political philosophy," said Church.
His more recent book, The Descent of Political Theory, analyzes the development of political science as a field and its relationship to political theory. It was the sole subject of a panel at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting.
He has garnered two Fulbright lectureships, a University Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and several grant-in aids during his career. In 1994 he organized the Third International Conference for the Study of the Development of Political Science and also convened a panel on "Genealogy and Conceptual Development" at the World Congress of the International Political Science Association.
In addition, his enthusiasm for learning have won him praise for his teaching from decades of students at Albany.
Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who at age 27 argued the winning side of the landmark abortion case, Roe vs. Wade, before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, will be the keynote speaker for Sexuality Week, Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. at the Campus Center Ballroom. The title of her speech will be "A Question of Choice: The Abortion Controversy Then and Now." The lecture is free and open to the public.
In 1972, Weddington became the first woman elected from Austin to the Texas House of Representatives, where she served three terms. From 1978 to 1981, she was an assistant to former President Jimmy Carter.
She was designated by Carter to lead White House efforts to extend the time for ratification of the national Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Ratification required approval by three-fourths (38) of the 50 states by June 30, 1982. Ratification failed when only 35 states had approved the amendment by the deadline. The original deadline was March 22, 1979, but was extended by Congress. (It eventually failed to achieve approval even by the June 1982 deadline.)
Weddington is a writer, lecturer, and teacher who practices law in Austin. She is the author of the best-seller, A Question of Choice. Her interview with First Ladies Johnson, Ford and Carter on "Women and the Constitution" appeared in Good Housekeeping. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin.
Weddington has been featured in Working Woman, People, and The Washington Post and has been a guest on such programs as NBC-TV's "Today" and ABC-TV's "Good Morning America."
Sexuality Week, February 9 through 14, includes workshops on AIDS, an event by Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and a presentation by A Few Good Men, which is committed to stopping rape and sexual assault. It is coordinated by the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program of the University Counseling Center.