Dolan appointed co-editor of the American Journal of Political Science Kathleen Dolan, distinguished professor and chair of the UWM Department of Political Science, has been appointed co-editor of the American Journal of Political Science, the flagship journal of the Midwest Political Science Association. Dolan, along with Jennifer L. Lawless of the University of Virginia, will lead the editorial team for a four-year term beginning in June 2019. They will be joined by four associate editors and a 56-member editorial board. Dolan’s research at UWM focuses on woman and politics, electoral behavior, and public opinion. She is the author of two books, When Does Gender Matter? Women Kathleen Dolan Candidates and Gender Stereotypes in American Elections (Oxford University Press 2014) and Voting for Women: How the Public Evaluates Women Candidates (Westview Press 2004) and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals. She teaches courses on political behavior, gender politics and research methods. Dolan has received a multitude of awards and recognitions for her work in political science, including a National Science Foundation grant for her work on gender stereotypes and female political candidates, and the UWM Research Grant Initiative award. “We believe that the incoming AJPS editorial team led by Dolan and Lawless will maintain the journal’s tradition of making outstanding contributions to scholarly knowledge while continuing to expand transparency in both published work and the operation of the journal,” said Elisabeth Gerber, president of the Midwest Political Science Association. Dolan and Lawless were unanimously chosen as coeditors based on the recommendation of the search committee of the journal’s editorial team. The American Journal of Political Science is committed to significant advances in knowledge and understanding of citizenship, governance and politics, and to the public value of political science research. The journal is ranked first out of 165 political science journals on its impact factor, a measure of its importance in the field, according to the Journal Citation Reports. By Madeline Redell, University Relations 4 • IN FOCUS • March, 2019
Law through Po
Sara Benesh’s new po courts throug “My Cousin Vinny” stars Joe Pesci as an inexperienced New York City lawyer trying to defend his cousin in an Alabama court room against a capital murder charge. Legal experts agree the movie’s rendition of courtroom proceedings is extremely accurate, and the American Bar Association ranks it No. 3 on its list of Top 25 Greatest Legal Movies. Naturally, Sara Benesh included it on her syllabus. Benesh, an associate professor of political science at UWM, just wrapped up her brand-new “Law Through Popular Culture” class last semester. Drawing on a range of media from “Perry Mason” to “Marshall,” the course asked students to analyze how the courtroom has been portrayed in American movies and television shows over the years. At first blush, it might sound as though students were signing up to watch movies for homework – and they did, since many of the films and shows were too long to view during class. But the question of how law is portrayed in popular media is an important one, says Benesh. “My research area is legitimacy of courts. I’m fascinated by that,” she said. “But when you study legitimacy, one of the interesting things about it is that we don’t really know where it comes from. How does it happen that people have these certain perceptions about courts? “My hypothesis is that it’s the media. It’s films and novels and stories,” Benesh added. America has long been fascinated by the judicial system, and it’s evident in the way the focus of legal movies shifts over the decades. Some years, she says, the public is hungry for tough but fair prosecutors as their movie heroes; in others, they want to root for the underdog on the defense.
Included on the syllabus...
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Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Perry Mason To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) A Time to Kill (1996) The Verdict (1982) Counselor at Law (1933) Suits Paper Chase (1973)
