Chairperson
Email: jwendlan@daemen.edu
Office Location: DS 139
Phone Number: 716.839.8284
Dr. Wendland received his Bachelor’s degree from Carroll College (now Carroll University) in Waukesha, WI in 2008. He went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2010 and 2013, respectively.
His current research focuses on American political behavior - specifically the presidential nominating process, representation, and electoral reform. He is the author of Campaigns That Matter, a book that examines the role of candidate visits in presidential nominating contests and a number of articles that have appeared in The Journal of Political Marketing, Electoral Studies, Social Science Quarterly, The Forum, and Dialogue. He is also a contributor to the Political Science blog 3Streams, which focuses on the convergence of politics, policy, and ideas by highlighting the practical application of political science research. His forthcoming book The Constant Two Plan focuses on reforming the Electoral College in a way to better align the popular and electoral votes.
Dr. Wendland’s teaching Interests include: Elections and Voting Behavior, Politics and Pop Culture, Political Communication, Political Psychology, Public Opinion, Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Politics & the Media.
Read a brief article by Dr. Wendland in the H&P Blog
Faculty
Email: pmessing@daemen.edu
Office Location: 139 Duns Scotus Hall
Phone Number: 716.839.8280
Dr. Penny Messinger holds a BA in History from Marshall University and a MA and PhD in History from The Ohio State University, with specializations in women’s history, American history, and Russian history. In addition to regular teaching and advising responsibilities, Dr. Messinger oversees the program in Women's Studies, including the minor in Women's Studies, and Public History. She also coordinates Women’s History Month events at Daemen (in March). She has been elected to several terms on Daemen's Faculty Senate, as well as the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) and Core and Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) Committee.
Research and Teaching Areas
Dr. Messinger teaches a range of classes in American history, women’s history, and women’s studies. These have included American history survey courses, American history since the 1960s, the political history of the Progressive and New Deal eras, the history of American Culture Wars, labor history, and the history and culture of Appalachia. She also teaches American women’s history, women’s studies, and senior thesis courses. Her academic research focuses on 20th century Appalachian history, the creation of Appalachian identity, and economic and cultural history. She is currently collaborating on a project exploring “history wars” over history education. Other projects explore missionary presence in the Appalachian South, and a biography of Anna and Boris Reinstein (in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Wise). Dr. Messinger is active in the Appalachian Studies Association and the American Historical Association.
Dr. Messinger is Daemen's liaison with the American Association for University Women (AAUW; Daemen College is an institutional member) and is faculty advisor for the AAUW Student Organization at Daemen. She also administers the History & Political Science blog.
Email: lparshal@daemen.edu
Office Location: DS 139
Phone Number: 716-839-8303
Dr. Parshall completed her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where she majored in Political Science. She received an MA and a Ph.D. in Political Science (2001) from the University at Buffalo (SUNY), specializing in American Politics, Public Law and Judicial Politics, and Public Policy. Dr. Parshall is the author and co-author of several law review articles relating to the constitutional jurisprudence of Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (the subject of her doctoral dissertation) and reform of the presidential nominating system.
Dr. Parshall is the Secretary of the New York State Political Science Association (2013-2014), and Chair of the State and Local Politics Section (2009-2014). She was the recipient of a 2012 Hackman Research Residency Award from the New York State Archives Partnership Trust and is currently working on a related manuscript, In Local Hands: Village Government Incorporation and Dissolution in New York State. Dr. Parshall is also a Key Votes Advisor (NY) for Project Vote Smart (2013).
Dr. Parshall is a member of the Northeastern Association of Pre Law Advisors (NAPLA) and serves as a campus Pre Law Advisor.
Dr. Parshall was awarded a grant in the amount of $8,000 from the Howard J. Samuels State and City Policy Center. Her proposal was reviewed and ranked as worthy of funding by a panel representing research scholars, policy practitioners, and the Samuels estate.
Research and Teaching Areas
American Politics: (Public Law & Judicial Politics, State and Local Politics, Election Law, Criminal Procedure, Judicial Process, Presidency and Institutions); Public Policy: (Federalism, Intergovernmental Relations)
Email: jsankoh@daemen.edu
Office Location: DS 139
Phone Number: 716-839-8448
Dr. Sankoh is a graduate of SUNY-Cortland College (BA), Farleigh Dickinson University (MAIS), and the University at Buffalo-SUNY (MA, PhD). He is the founder (and past Director) of Daemen’s Academic Service Learning program. Service learning is a major element of Daemen’s academic experience for students locally, nationally, and internationally, and is a requirement of the core curriculum. Dr. Sankoh has also taught at Niagara University, the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and Medaille College.
Dr. Sankoh’s scholarly expertise focuses on the developing world. His current research interests include global comparative political studies, academic service learning, and immigrant and refugee studies. His scholarly publications have appeared in the Oxford University Forum on Public Policy, the Third World Foundation Studies Monograph, the Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, and the National Association of African American, Hispanics, & Asian Studies Monographs, among others.
In 2014, Dr. Sankoh received the Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster award, which will allow him to undertake comparative political studies and service learning projects at various overseas colleges and universities during the next five years. His current research area is “Comparative Global Genocide since World War II: Abuse of Political Power,” with case studies of the Jewish, Rwandan, Burmese, Sierra Leonean, and Sudan’s Darfur genocides. Read more about Dr. Sankoh’s Fulbright award.
At Daemen, Dr. Sankoh teaches undergraduate and graduate courses relating to the developing world and community engagement. These include courses on the politics of globalization (PSC210), sustainability and third world development (PSC213), Sub-Saharan Africa (PSC/HST312), service learning for refugee studies (IND215), the history and politics of poverty and homelessness (IND233), problems of the Third World (HST230), and courses in community, nonprofit, and business leadership (LEAF507, LEAF511, and LEAF514).
Dr. Sankoh also holds a People to People Ambassadors certificate, Oxford University Forum on Public Policy certificate, Distinguished Political Science Honor Society Award, Daemen College Distinguished Administrator/Faculty Award, US. President’s Points of Light National Service Award, New York State Governor’s Community Service Award, NAACP certificate of Appreciation, and Kiwanis Club International Distinguished President’s Award, among others. He has served on various Ph.D. dissertation committees and has been a reviewer of various academic research publications and proposals in his area of expertise in comparative politics, international relations/global studies, and service learning.
Email: atandon@daemen.edu
Office Location: DS 139
Phone Number: 716.839.8267
Dr. Tandon received her BA from the University of North Texas and her MA and PhD from the University of Arizona with field specializations in International Relations and Quantitative Methodology. Her primary research is currently focused on the rational design of security systems. Dr. Tandon is a member of the American Political Science Association (APSA), International Studies Association (ISA) as well as the Peace Science Society (PSS). She is an active presenter at academic conferences and serves as a peer reviewer for academic journals. Dr. Tandon’s dissertation focuses on the how the design and implementation of security institutions (specifically military alliances) can affect their success and performance.
Dr. Tandon is co-moderator of the History & Government Club and is faculty sponsor for the Model UN simulation at the Daemen College Academic Festival.
Teaching and Research Areas
International Relations (International Institutions, International Security), Political Science Research Methods, Comparative Politics (East Asia, South Asia), International Political Economy Conflict Processes, Institutional Design, Military Alliances.
Dr. Tandon is currently working on a manuscript on India’s military alliances, and their impact on its foreign security policy as well as strategic position in South Asia.
Email: awise@daemen.edu
Office Location: DS 139
Phone Number: 716.839.8281
Dr. Andrew Kier Wise graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia with Bachelors of Arts degrees in History (with honors) and Russian Area Studies. He earned a MA and PhD in History from the University of Virginia. Dr. Wise has taught at Daemen College since 1997. He has served on several major committees, including the Educational Planning Committee, Faculty Senate, Planning Committee for the Inaugural Academic Festival, and the Honor Program Development Committee. In 2011, Dr. Wise coordinated the creation of a Faculty Mentor Program and Faculty Research Seminar. Currently he serves as Chair of the History & Political Science Department and Faculty Chair of the Equity and Diversity Initiatives Council.
Dr. Wise’s professional service includes his creation in 2012 of the exchange program between Daemen College and Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Wschodnioeuropejska (PWSW, or the East European State Higher School) in Przemyśl, Poland. In July 2013, Dr. Wise supervised the participation of five Daemen students in the inaugural Daemen College Summer Program in Poland. Dr. Wise co-founded and coordinated the Charles Timberlake Memorial Symposium in Russian Studies (2009-2011), which continues to meet annually in St. Louis, MO. He currently is a peer reviewer for the Polish historical journal Studia Historyczne and has served as book review editor for the journal Russian History (1998-2001).
Dr. Wise’s research has a global perspective. He has delivered over two dozen original research papers at conferences in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. He has conducted archival research in the US, Canada, Poland, and Russia. His research interests include the construction of civil society and multiculturalism in Russia and Poland.
Dr. Wise has authored a political biography of Aleksander Lednicki, contributed chapters to three other books, and published articles in such peer-reviewed journals as The Polish Review, Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, and Mots Pluriels. Currently, Dr. Wise’s monograph on the historical philosophy of Feliks Koneczny is under review for publication, and he is engaged in a collaborative research project (with Dr. Penny Messinger, Associate Professor of History) on the lives of radical Buffalo activists Anna and Boris Reinstein.
Dr. Wise also has a global range in his teaching. In 2012, he presented a series of lectures with Dr. Brenda Young (Professor of Natural Sciences, Director of Global & Local Sustainability) on “Environmental Sustainability in the 21st Century” at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. He has served as AP World History Reader (2008-2011) and regularly teaches the World History sequence at Daemen. He is co-creator of the Global Studies Minor and teaches the course “Introduction to Global Studies.” Dr. Wise has taught two dozen different courses at Daemen. These include eleven courses that are new to Daemen, such as “Ancient Mediterranean World,” “History of the Byzantine Empire,” “Introduction to Polish Culture,” and “Introduction to Russian Culture.” Dr. Wise also regularly teaches a course on historiography and the senior thesis sequence.
The New York Council for the Humanities awarded Dr. Wise three grants for projects related to such areas as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among war veterans and the experiences of refugees who resettle in the US. Along with Dr. Joseph Sankoh and Dr. Lisa Parshall (Associate Professors of Political Science), Dr. Wise developed a seminar on “Deepening Civic Engagement, Global Competency and Service to the Global Community” in October 2012. This program received a “Bringing Theory to Practice” grant from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Dr. Wise is a member of Phi Beta Kappa (founded in 1776, this is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society); the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies; the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America; the New York State Association of European Historians; the Central Slavic Conference; and the World History Association.