Social Sciences

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Research

Below is a list of the most recent publications/presentations and current research projects of the Social Science Department faculty

Robert G. Atkinson

"Commuting and the Texas Metropolis,"  paper presented to the Southwestern Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, May 2008.

"Using the Census to Represent Socio-Demographic Phenomena," paper presented to the Excellence in Teaching Conference, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Distance Education, Tarleton State University, March 2008.

"The (Not So) Irreverent Musings of a Transplanted Geographer: Geography and Texas Higher Education," paper presented to the Southwestern Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, November 2007.

Dr. Atkinson is currently investigating various aspects of Geographic Education in Texas and the United States and comparing and contrasting U.S./Canadian characteristics.  He is also continuing his research on the nature of the metropolis and of the megalopolis, particularly in the context of Texas.

T. Lindsay Baker

Dr. Baker is the most prolific scholar in the department and has published numerous books and articles and presented many papers on various historical subjects.  A brief sample of some of his most current publications is listed here

Editor, Traces of Forgotten Places: An Artist's Thirty-Year Exploration and Celebration of Texas As It Was (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2008)

Editor, The Birth of a Texas Ghost Town: Thurber, 1886-1933 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2008)

Gangster Tour of Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011).

American Windmills: An Album of Historical Photographs (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007)

Editor, Confederate Guerilla: The Civil War Memoir of Joseph Bailey (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2007)

More Ghost Towns of Texas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005)

Dr. Baker is also the editor and publisher of the Windmiller's Gazette.  He is also currently working on a research project involving historic crimes in Texas.

Dr. Craig Clifford

Learned Ignorance in the Medicine Bow Mountains: A Reflection on Intellectual Prejudice  (New York: Rodopi, 2008)

Dr. Malcolm Cross

Dr. Cross has several research projects underway:

He has begun work on an intellectual history of the conservative response to Darwinism, both Social Darwinism and evolutionary theory

He is also working on a critique of the historiography of works written by Christian Right historians, notably David Barton, former Vice-Chair of the Republican Party in Texas and founder of "Wallbuilders."

He is also researching the question of how national security policy was addressed by Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, and John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential campaign.

Finally, Dr. Cross is also investigating the question of tax policy in the 1980 presidential campaign, wherein Ronald Reagan first advocated "supply side" economics and huge tax cuts

Mr. Patrick Crawford (MA in History, 12-2010)

"Tracking the Ancient Beasts: The Saga of the Glen Rose Dinosaur Footprints,"  paper to be presented at the West Texas Historical Association, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX), April 2011.

Dr. Richard Cruz

World History: A Collection of Primary Sources, 6th edition (Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press, 2009) [with Christopher Guthrie]

Dr. Christopher E. Guthrie

"The Faculty Driven Model for Innovation in Teaching Initiatives," (with Dr. Credence Baker and Dr. Kayla Peak), The Academic Leader, vol. 27, no. 9 (September 2011): 4-6.

"Socialism in Microcosm: The Municipal Administration of Dr. Ernest Ferroul in Narbonne, 1896-1921," European History Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1 (January 2010): 1-18

The Battle for the République Démocratique et sociale in the Narbonnais, 1830-1875 (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006)

World History: A Collection of Primary Sources, 6th edition (Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press, 2009) [with Richard Cruz]

Currently working on a biography of Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d'Orléans (aka "Philippe Egalité")

Dr. Matthew Hallgarth

"The UN's New "Responsibility to Protect" and Irregular War," paper to be presented at the International Society of Military Ethics, San Diego, CA, January 2010

" Ethics and Torture" paper presented at the Poe Center for Business Ethics, University of Florida, September 2009

"Breadth vs Depth for Teaching Modern Philosophy Courses," paper presented at the American Philosophical Association Central Division, Chicago, IL, February 2010.

"Just War Theory and Killing by Remote Control: A Primer" in B.J. Strawser, ed., Killing by Remote Control: The Ethics of an Unmanned Military  (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).

Mr. Andrew Johnson (history and political science graduate student)

"The History of the Stephenville Recreation Hall," paper presented at the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Meeting, University of North Texas, April 2009.

Dr. Jeff William Justice

"Ideological Impacts upon Environmental Problem Perception," paper presented at the Oxford Round Table, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, April 2011.

"Post-materialism and Environmental Problem Perception: A Reconsideration," paper presented at the 2011 Meeting of the Southwestern Political Science Association, March 2011.

Dr. Carol Key

(with Vijayan Pillai) "Community Participation and Tourism Attitudes in Belize," Interamerican Journal of Environment and Tourism,  2, 2, (October 2006): 8-15.

(with Vijayan Pillai) "Tourism and Ethnicity in Belize," International Review of Modern Sociology, 33, 1, (Spring 2007): 129-150.

"Fluidity and Continuity in Belize, Central America," paper presented at the American Anthropological Association National Conference, New Orleans, LA, November 2010.

"Rethinking Dichotomous Distinctions," paper presented at the Western Social Science Conference, Albuquerque, NM, 2009.

Dr. Lawrence Margolis

Key Factors for Economic Success in Industrial Nations: A Statistical Analysis  (Lewistown, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008).

Dr. Dean Minix (with Vincent M. Prince, Wilmington College)

"The Regional Wars on Terror in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Obama: Angola, South Africa, Nigeria,"  paper presentedat Oxford Round Table, Oxford University, U.K., July 2010.  An earlier version was presented by Drs. Minix and Vincent at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University, October 30-31, 2009.

 "Sub-Saharan Africa as Another Front in the Global War on Terror,"  Southwestern Journal of International Studies, vol. 3, 2009.

(with Dennis Jones) "Summer Bridge Programs: Providing a Jump Start toward Student Success," Proceedings of the Southwest Teaching and Learning Conference, San Antonio, TX, March 27-28, 2009.

Dr. Janet Schmelzer

"What to do When the Legislature Turns Blue: Progressive Politics in Texas," paper presented at the Texas State Historical Association, Spring 2007

Currently working on a biography of Thomas Mitchell Campbell, progressive reform governor of Texas between 1907-1911. Texas A&M University Press is currently considering the manuscript for publication.

Dr. Leslie Stanley-Stevens

"Fatherhood in Global Perspective," in Parenting Across Cultures: Childbearing, Motherhood, and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures, ed. by H. Selin and P. Schvaneveldt.  New York: Spring, forthcoming.

What They Didn't Know When They Were Expecting: And How They Became Better Parents.  Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2012.

"Reconstructing Work and Domestic Spheres During the Transition to Parenthood," in Economic Stress and the Family, ed. by Sampson Lee Blair.  NL: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012, pp. 147-162.

"Decisions of First Time Expectant Mothers in Central Texas Compared to Women in Great Britain and Spain: Testing Hakim's Preference Theory," Journal of Contemporative Family Issues, 42, 1. (2011): 113-130.

"Role Expectations of First Time Expectant Fathers," Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 35, 2 (2007): 57-72.

"First Time Expectant Fathers' Attitudes, Actions, and Well Being in regard to Family Issues,"  Women's Health and Urban Life, vi, 2 (2007): 81-96.

"Baby-Proofing Marriages with Pre-Parental Ministries," Circuit Rider, (November 2011-January 2012): 17-19.

"What They Didn't Expect When They Were Expecting," Family Magazine (February 2008): 14-15.

Dr. Jesus Velasco

Neoconservatives in U.S. Foreign Policy Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush: Voices Behind the Throne  (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2010).