Faculty Fellowships
The Tower
Center Teaching Fellows Program
The Teaching
Fellows program brings post-doctoral fellows to the SMU faculty,
for non-renewable two -year appointments, to teach and lecture
in the areas of world politics,
international political economy, and international institutions. Each
teaching fellow offers two courses per semester and is expected
to be active in
the student life of the campus.
2009-2011 Tower Teaching Fellow:
LaiYee Leong received her Ph.D. in Political Science
from Yale University in 2008. Her dissertation, “Islamic Groups,
Strategic Adaptation, and Democratization in Indonesia,” analyzes the
conditions under which Islamic groups play a positive role in promoting
regime change.
Dr. Leong’s research focuses on the dynamics of
emerging economies and transitioning political systems, especially those
in Asia. Her interests include democratization, Islam, social movements,
electoral institutions, and resource distribution. She teaches
Comparative Politics and plans to teach courses in Political Economy and
International Relations.
Dr. Leong previously worked as a news journalist at
the Television Corporation of Singapore, where she reported on regional
political developments. In addition to English, she speaks Chinese
(Mandarin and Cantonese) and Indonesian.
Former Tower Teaching Fellows:
The Diplomat-in-Residence
Program
The Diplomat-in-Residence program
brings to the campus world leaders who have affected the nature and course
of our times. Ambassador Robert Strauss and Defense Secretary Richard Cheney
have served the Tower Center and SMU as resident diplomats. The current
(2007-2010) Diplomat-in-Residence is the
Honorable Robert Jordan, former United
States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
The John G.
Tower Center Faculty Fellowships
The Tower
Center offers a limited number of fellowships to SMU faculty with the aim
to support and enhance research and undergraduate instruction and to provide
seed monies to conduct preliminary research that may lead to outside funding.
The purpose of these awards is to increase research and scholarship and
to enhance teaching effectiveness. Grants are also made for the purchase
of research materials, equipment, and supplies.
The 2008-2009 recipients a John G. Tower Center Faculty Fellowship are:
Luigi
Manzetti, Political Science, for : Pragmatic Socialism vs. Populism: The
Nature and Prospects of Puzzling Policy Responses to Economic Development by the
New Left in Latin America.
Thomas F. Siems,
Lyle School of Engineering, for: Political Institutions, Innovation and
Economic Growth.
Dennis Simon,
Political Science, for: Elections, Representations, and the Political
Geography of the American South.
Wendy Watson,
Political Science, for: Judging religion: Evaluation the Reliability of
Religious Narratives in Cours of Law.
Steve Wegren,
Political Science, for: "Bringing the State back in: Can the Federal Center
build Capitalism from above?
Click here for past recipients of the John G. Tower Center Faculty Fellowships
