Faculty
(From left to right: Sean Savage, Amy Cavender, Marc Belanger, Teresa Marcy, Patrick Pierce. Not shown: Sonalini Sapra.)
Marc Belanger
Associate Professor
Spes Unica 348, Office phone 284.5263
B.A. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, 1977
Ph.D, Political Science Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1993.
Professor Belanger joined the department in 1995. . In recently published articles, he has examined democratization in Guatemala, social movements and democratization in Latin America, and the political intersections of race, immigration and globalization in U.S. politics.. He served an international observer for the historic 2000 presidential election in Mexico. One of the founding members of Saint Mary's Intercultural Studies Program, Professor Belanger served as coordinator of the program from 2003-2006 and is the Faculty Director the Honduras Study Abroad Program. Beyond Saint Mary's, Professor Belanger has developed a curriculum unit for the Latin American Studies Program at Tulane University and taught a course for the Global Leadership Program in Cordoba, Argentina. He was the recipient of the 2001 Maria Pieta Award for outstanding teaching.
Areas of research: Latin American politics; democratization; political identity; transnational politics.
Professor Belanger is also the advisor for our Pi Sigma Alpha chapter of the national POSC honor society.
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
| POSC 160 | Global Political Issues |
| POSC 207 | Comparative Politics |
| POSC 304 | Latin American Politics |
| POSC 319 | Politics of the Third World |
| POSC 360 | The Politics of Race |
| POSC 370 | Democratization |
| POSC 416 | U.S. Foreign Policy |
| ICS 201 | Introduction to Intercultural Studies |
Amy Cavender, CSC
Assistant Professor
263 Spes Unica, Office phone 284.4430
B.A., Political Science and Spanish, Gustavus Adolphus College
M.A., Ph.D., Government and International Studies, University of Notre Dame
Professor Cavender joined the department in 2004. Prof. Cavender specializes in the field of political theory, with a concentration in the area of religion and politics. Prior to entering the Sisters of the Holy Cross, she taught at Indiana University South Bend and at Holy Cross College, where she also assisted in Campus Ministry. Before coming to Saint Mary's, she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Philosophy Centre of Jinja in Jinja, Uganda, where she taught social science and philosophy from January 2003-May 2004.
Research interests: liberalism and religion, religious pluralism in American politics, Christian political thought.
Amy Cavender's personal web page
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
| POSC 151 | Political Issues |
| POSC 204 | Intro. to Political Thought |
| POSC 301/JUST 301 | The Quest for Human Rights |
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POSC 341
|
Politics and Religion
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POSC 342
|
American Political Thought
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| POSC 344 | Catholic Political Thought |
250 Spes Unica, Office phone 284.4545
B.A. Saint Mary's College
Diploma, Institut d'Etudes Politiques
Joined the department in 1974.
Areas of interest: Middle East politics; international relations.
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
|
POSC 206
|
International Politics
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POSC 316
|
International Law and Organization
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POSC 329
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Middle East Politics
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Patrick A. Pierce
Professor, Chair
264E Spes Unica, Office phone 284.4469
B.A. in Mathematics and Political Science, San Diego State University
M.A. in Political Theory, Rutgers University
Ph.D. in American Politics, Rutgers University
Joined the department in 1981. Prof. Pierce has received several COSTAR grants to pursue his research with Prof. Don Miller (Math) on the politics of legalized gambling. That research has culminated in a book entitled Gambling Politics: State Government and the Business of Betting by Patrick A. Pierce and Donald E. Miller, and was published by Lynne Rienner Publishing (2004). Pierce also received a SISTAR grant to work collaboratively with Madeline Carpinelli (1999) on the consequences of constituency contact. He has been inducted into the college honor society chapters of Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science) and Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics). He managed the campaign of James Caldwell for St. Joseph County Commissioner, and provided polling consulting to numerous Congressional candidates.
Areas of research: Women candidates for political office; Political psychology; Public policy; Politics of legalized gambling.
Pat Pierce's personal web page
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
| POSC 151 | Political Issues |
| POSC 217 | American Public Policy |
| POSC 313 | Mass Media & Public Opinion |
| POSC 314 | Political Participation |
| POSC 315 | Political Parties & Interest Groups |
| POSC 317 | Scope and Methods of Political Science |
| POSC 320 | Congress & Legislative Behavior |
| POSC 364 | Gender & Politics |
| POSC 390 | Comprehensive Seminar |
| POSC 420 | Statistical Applications in Political Science |
Sonalini Sapra
Assistant Professor
228 Spes Unica, Office phone 284.4476
B.A. History, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, 2001
M.A. International Relations, University of Warwick, 2002
Ph.D. Political Science, Vanderbilt University, 2009
Professor Sapra joined the department in 2010. Professor Sapra’s dissertation examined the strategies and discourses used by women's groups in India in their activism against environmental degradation. Prior to returning to graduate school she worked at a non-governmental labor rights organization in New Delhi examining the impact that international and national trade policies were having on India's informal workers. She was the Andrew Mellon Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow in International Studies at Kenyon College in 2009-2010. Her research and teaching interests are in Gender and International Relations, Environmental Politics, Transnational Feminisms, and Feminist Theory.
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
| POSC 160 | Global Political Issues |
| POSC 206 | International Politics |
| WOST 207 | Introduction to Women's Studies |
247 Spes Unica, Office phone 284.4471
B.A. Assumption College
M.A. Syracuse University
Ph.D. Boston College
Dr. Savage joined the department in 1990. At Boston College, Dr. Savage was the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Fellow. Professor Savage has published Roosevelt: The Party Leader, 1932-1945 (University Press of Kentucky, 1991), Truman and the Democratic Party (University Press of Kentucky, 1997), and JFK, LBJ, and The Democratic Party (SUNY Press, 2004). He earned an Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association for his first book, Roosevelt: The Party Leader. Professor Savage's third book, JFK, LBJ and the Democratic Party, was published in 2004 and won a Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title of 2005.
Areas of research: The Presidency; Public law. Professor Savage is also the Pre-Law Advisor, and Washington Semester Representative.
Courses Taught
| Course Number | Course Title |
| POSC 152 | Politics of American Democracy |
| POSC 307 | Intro to American Law |
| POSC 322 | The Presidency |
| POSC 323 | The U.S. Constitution |
| POSC 324 | American Civil Liberties |
| POSC 355 | Public Administration |
| POSC 325 | American Political Development |
