Bob Beatty, PhD

Full Vita

Professor of Political Science at Washburn since 2000
Email: bob.beatty@washburn.edu
Office: Henderson 219
Website: kspolitics.org

Co-Director of Washburn Internship Program

BS (Political Science): Carleton College (1988)
M.A. (International Diplomacy): University of Kentucky (1993)
Ph.D (Political Science): Arizona State University (2000)

Courses Taught:
PO 106: Government of the U.S.
PO 338: The Iowa Caucus
PO 225: Introduction to International Relations
PO 235: Introduction to World Governments
PO 309: Kansas Legislative Experience (Internship in legislature)
PO 360: Asian Politics
PO 304: Public Opinion in American Politics
PO 361: European Politics
PO 354: Current Issues in International Politics
PO 300: Cuba: Politics and History
PO 354: American Foreign Policy

Bob teaches courses in both American politics and international politics and as such has a variety of research and curricular interests.

American and Kansas Politics

 In American politics he has focused on Kansas Politics and American elections. His research and projects in Kansas Studies focus on Kansas history and politics, with a particular focus on Kansas governors and Kansas elections.

Bob is the political analyst for Kansas First News (KSNT & KTKA) in Topeka (and has co-produced and hosted debates for Kansas gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, and congressional races that have been televised across the state and nationwide on C-SPAN. He also writes a syndicated column on Kansas politics for the Insight Kansas newspaper syndicate. The column runs in over 20 newspapers, including the Wichita Eagle, Hutchinson News, Pittsburg Gazette, and Marysville Advocate.
Dr. Beatty’s extensive work on the Kansas governor includes producing and writing the award-winning documentary, “The Kansas Governor,” which aired on statewide television and is now used in Kansas’ college and high school classes.  His interviews with Kansas’ governors resulted in a special series of edited articles on the lives of Kansas governors William Avery, John Anderson, Mike Hayden, and John Carlin for the journal Kansas History: Journal of the Central Plains.  To view video of the full interviews, go to www.kansasmemory.org.  To read transcriptions of the in terviews to to kspolitics.org.

His articles on the 2006 Kansas Attorney General and 2006 and 2008 2nd District Congressional races were published in Campaigns and Elections and Speaking of Kansas, and he a co-author of the “Kansas” chapter in the 2008 CQ Press book, The Political Encyclopedia of the U.S. States and Regions. Dr. Beatty is the co-director of the Washburn Kansas Politics internship program. The program places, on average, 25 Washburn students a year in the offices of Kansas legislators, the Kansas governor, and the Topeka Mayor. Dr. Beatty is also a frequent lecturer on American and Kansas politics locally and abroad.

International Politics

Before coming to Washburn, Bob taught English in Japan and China and interned with the Asia Society in Hong Kong. His Ph.D work focused on democratization in Hong Kong and was published as a book in 2003 by Praeger. At Washburn, Dr. Beatty has focused on the politics of communist and former communist countries, travelling to North Korea, Cuba, Russia, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Albania under research and teaching grants. His 2009 trip to North Korea led to numerous speaking engagements at home and abroad.

Dr. Beatty has served as a visiting professor at the Academy of Management in 2009 and also as a guest lecturer for the U.S. State Department during lecture tours of Russia, China, and Mongolia and in 2009 he served as an international election observer for the U.S. Embassy – Ulan Baator of the Mongolian Presidential election.

Bob also is the writer and producer of the 2005 two-hour documentary, “The British Parliament.” The documentary is based on filmed interviews and campaign activities Bob and producer Lyall Ford shot during the 2001 and 2005 parliamentary elections in Great Britain. Bob also travelled with several candidates during the 2010 UK election and is working on an updated documentary on British politics.

Dr. Beatty has taken Washburn students on study-abroad trips to Montreal, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Cuba.