Students present research at state convention

Students from the Ripon College Department of Politics and Government recently presented research papers at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Political Science Association (WPSA) at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

For students, this was a unique opportunity to showcase their hard work and research:

  • Ben Valdez-Hempel ’17 of Minneapolis, Minnesota, presented his paper “United States Foreign Aid to Israel: America’s Moral Obligation to the Palestinian People.” He spoke about the impact of the Jewish lobby on the United States’ foreign policy decisions.
  • Courtney Green ’17 of Kenosha, Wisconsin, discussed the differences in foreign aid to developing countries.
  • Lauren Hince ’18 of Blaine, Minnesota, and Rose Hogmire ’18 of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, presented their joint project, “Upvoting Politics: The Strategy Behind Political A.M.A.s.” They evaluated the effectiveness of Reddit (a website known for its open forum and user-generated content concept) as a tool for political campaigns.
  • The students also discussed their papers with political scientists from the university to gain a better understanding about how they could continue to improve their research.