politics – 91探花News /news Thu, 03 Nov 2022 23:27:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 91探花is No. 6 in the world, according to US News Best Global Universities /news/2022/10/26/uw-is-no-6-in-the-world-according-to-us-news-best-global-universities/ Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:17:48 +0000 /news/?p=79914 university of washington sign
The 91探花is No. 6 in the world, according to US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities ranking. Photo: Mark Stone/91探花

The 91探花 rose from No. 7 to No. 6 on the聽, released on Tuesday. The 91探花maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.

U.S. News also ranked several subjects, and the 91探花placed in the top 10 in 10 subject areas, including immunology (No. 4), molecular biology and genetics (No. 5) and clinical medicine (No. 6).

In another ranking out this week, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by Subject, six subject areas at the 91探花placed in the top 25.

鈥淎s a global public research university, the UW鈥檚 mission is to create and accelerate change for the public good,鈥 91探花President Ana Mari Cauce said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud that these rankings reflect the outstanding and wide-ranging work of our faculty, staff and students to expand knowledge and discovery that is changing people鈥檚 lives for the better, particularly in the health sciences.鈥

The U.S. News ranking 鈥斅 based on Web of Science data and metrics provided by Clarivate Analytics InCites 鈥 weighs factors that measure a university鈥檚 global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall rankings, this includes bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations and international collaboration.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking, now in its ninth year, encompasses the top 2,000 institutions spread across 90 countries, according to U.S. News.聽American universities make up eight of the top 10 spots.

Here are all the top 10 91探花rankings in U.S. News鈥 subject rankings:

  • Immunology 鈥 No. 4
  • Molecular biology and genetics 鈥 No. 5
  • Clinical medicine 鈥 No. 6
  • Geosciences 鈥 No. 7
  • Infectious diseases 鈥 No. 7
  • Public, environmental and occupational health 鈥 No. 7
  • Social sciences and public health 鈥 No. 7
  • Biology and biochemistry 鈥 No. 8
  • Microbiology 鈥 No. 10

In the rankings, UW鈥檚 programs in these areas placed in the top 25:

  • : No. 15
  • (includes agriculture and forestry, biological sciences, veterinary science and sport science): No. 16
  • (includes medicine, dentistry and other health subjects): No. 17
  • (includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies 鈥 including development studies, sociology and geography): No. 18
  • (includes mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and Earth and marine sciences): No. 19
  • (includes education, teacher training, and academic studies in education): No. 23

The subject tables employ the same used in the overall聽; however, the methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

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Professor Margaret O鈥橫ara on history around election concessions nationally and in Washington /news/2020/11/09/professor-margaret-omara-on-history-around-election-concessions-nationally-and-in-washington/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 20:01:29 +0000 /news/?p=71490 Concessions from U.S. presidents usually happen quickly, without drama, says 91探花history professor Margaret O鈥橫ara.

Margaret O’Mara

鈥淲hen elections are closely fought, and the outcome comes down to only a few votes or a recount, the drama increases. But ultimately, when a final decision is made or last vote counted, the loser makes a gracious admission of defeat,鈥 she says.

This year may be different.

鈥淧resident Trump has signaled that he may not go as easily. If he refuses to concede and continues to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the results, it would be a grave danger to our political institutions. The peaceful transition of power has been a hallmark of the American presidency since the very start, no matter how contentious or closely fought an election,鈥 says O鈥橫ara, who is the Howard & Frances Keller Endowed Professor of history.

This isn鈥檛 the first tightly contested national campaign. But it would be the first where the incumbent refuses to concede.

In 2000, Al Gore decided that, for the good of the nation, he needed to accept the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling to stop the ongoing recount in Florida, O鈥橫ara says. A similar series of events happened here in Washington state in 2004 when Dino Rossi conceded to Christine Gregoire after losing by just 130 votes.

Now, concessions aren鈥檛 always polite, O鈥橫ara points out. When Richard Nixon lost the California governor鈥檚 race in 1962 (after losing to JFK for the presidency two years earlier) he famously grumbled to journalists, “.鈥 Of course, it wasn鈥檛 鈥 a few years later he was running for president once again, winning in 1968.

The race for governor in Washington also includes a candidate who hasn’t conceded to his opponent, as of Monday. O鈥橫ara adds, 鈥淟oren Culp ran as a conservative, Trumpist Republican, so perhaps it is not surprising that he too would not go quietly, although the margin of Gov. Jay Inslee鈥檚 victory will make his case more difficult for either election officials to agree to investigate or voters to support.鈥

For more information, contact O’Mara at momara@uw.edu or .

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Iowa caucuses: Expectations can trump votes, but will Trump meet expectations? /news/2016/01/28/iowa-caucuses-expectations-can-trump-votes-but-will-trump-meet-expectations/ Thu, 28 Jan 2016 19:38:38 +0000 /news/?p=45810
CNN News announces Mike Huckabee the winner of the 2008 Republican Iowa caucus. But winning in Iowa does not always lead to the nomination, which that year went to Sen. John McCain. Photo: Brian Johnson & Diane Kantner/Flickr

In the Iowa caucuses, expectations are nearly as important as votes and front-runners must watch their backs, say 91探花 professors who are closely watching this year’s presidential race.

The 2016 Iowa caucuses will be held Monday, Feb. 1, pitting Democratic leader Hillary Clinton against Sen. Bernie Sanders and Gov. Martin O’Malley and Republican mogul and mouth Donald Trump against Sen. Ted Cruz among a lineup of largely ineffective opponents.

We asked political scientists and and historian for some context and commentary 鈥 things that are good to remember as we head into this corn-fed contest in the state whose tourism slogan is “Fields of opportunity.”

O’Mara, a professor of history, set the stage noting that in the 1976 primary season, “Jimmy Carter put Iowa on the map, and Iowa put Jimmy Carter on the map.”

With the calendar filling with primaries 鈥 the result of reforms from the 1960s and early 1970s 鈥 and a crowded field of candidates, the little-known Georgia governor went “all in” on the Iowa caucuses to get a “first win” and the momentum to continue. “It worked, brilliantly,” O’Mara said, in part because Carter was such a natural, easy campaigner. Iowa has been a battleground in most campaigns since then.

Wilkerson, a professor of political science, said that in the Iowa caucuses, those who beat expectations get a boost in positive attention and those who don’t “get the opposite.

“So I would say Trump and Clinton have the most to lose because they are expected to win,” Wilkerson said. “If Cruz and Sanders do better than expected 鈥 they don’t have to win 鈥 they will benefit from more and more positive media coverage.”

The same is true of the field of other candidates, he said. Any who rise above the group, “without even coming close to winning,” will likely see more press and voter attention.

Smith, a professor of political science, agreed with Wilkerson’s points and added that because of the interactive, hours-long caucus format, “passion counts for a lot in determining who wins. And as a result, the outcome hinges more on depth of support than breadth.”

That passion, as measured by the Iowa caucuses, can also be important later in the campaign, Smith said, “since it predicts fundraising, volunteer support and other forms of active participation in the race.”

And while winning in Iowa can boost or wound a candidacy, it’s only one of many steps to the nomination. Few know that better than the last two Republican Iowa winners, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum 鈥 neither of whom came anywhere near winning their party’s nomination.

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama’s strong showing in 2008 bumped Hillary Clinton to third place and “seemed to propel him into a good position,” Smith said, largely though the media coverage dynamic that Wilkerson described.

The one time recently when the Iowa caucuses truly “turned the tide,” historian O’Mara said, was in 2004 when then-Sen. John Kerry “beat back the antiwar insurgent campaign of Howard Dean, who had expected to win, and established the momentum that took him to the nomination.”

Wilkerson added, “It’s also important to remember that a lot of the candidates already have substantial war chests” that could see them through early losses. “If they do well on Super Tuesday, Iowa and New Hampshire are forgotten.”

The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 9. Super Tuesday, with 11 states voting, is on March 1 and then five more contests will be held on March 15.

So starting Feb. 1, the odd presidential race of 2016 will be more than just stand-up debates and ad campaigns 鈥 it will involve the voters.

Voters like the ones Arizona congressman met in a New Hampshire barbershop during his unsuccessful 1976 bid for the presidency.

“Hi, I’m Mo聽Udall, and I’m running for president,” he said.

“Yes we know,” replied the barber. “We were all just laughing about that this morning!”

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For more information, contact Smith at 206-616-3606 or masmith@uw.edu, Wilkerson at 206-543-8030 or jwilker@uw.edu or O’Mara at momara@uw.edu.

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Online ‘Legislative Explorer’ uses big data to track decades of lawmaking /news/2014/04/25/online-legislative-explorer-uses-big-data-to-track-decades-of-lawmaking/ Fri, 25 Apr 2014 18:44:24 +0000 /news/?p=31806 91探花 political scientist has matched data visualization with the study of lawmaking to create a new online tool for researchers and students called the .

Think of it as big data meeting up with How a Bill Becomes a Law.

“The goal was to get beyond the ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ narrative and let users discover the lawmaking process for themselves,” said Wilkerson, 91探花professor of political science and director of the . The free tool is available at .

The data set is huge indeed: The Legislative Explorer tracks the progress of every bill and resolution introduced in Congress since 1973 鈥 250,000 in all. It notes each time a bill or resolution advances from one stage of the process to the next, in or out of committee or moves to the floor for consideration, totaling about 750,000 such movements.

http://vimeo.com/91846611

Users can drill down through the graphically presented data in lots of ways, including by type of legislation, sponsors, party or chamber of origin. The tool also has filters allowing users to sort results many ways, including by gender of sponsoring legislator, committee affiliation and 鈥 perhaps most helpful of all 鈥 whether the legislation is considered major or minor.

“The basic idea was to apply the data-driven discovery methods used increasingly in the natural sciences to bring big data to the lawmaking process,” Wilkerson said.

John Wilkerson, creator of the Legislative Explorer
John Wilkerson

Wilkerson and collaborators suggest students or researchers might start by observing how many bills are introduced in each Congress and how many die along the way or are sent to the president and become law. They also suggest researchers should keep certain caveats in mind, including the reminder that bills vary in importance and get substantially changed or combined with others. The 906-page Affordable Care Act, Wilkerson noted, started out as a six-page bill on service members’ home ownership.

Wilkerson collaborated with , a 91探花doctoral student in political science, who organized the data underlying the online tool. The two also hired , a Seattle-based creative design and technology studio, to create and maintain the site.

Wilkerson said those using the online tool may find Congress a good deal busier than they expected. “There’s still a lot happening in Congress, but more of it these days is getting stuck at the stage where the House and Senate have to reconcile their differences.”

Future improvements, Wilkerson said, may include tracking the impact of legislation that becomes law. For example, “What happens when Congress passes a law? How does it impact the existing authorities of the federal government and the regulatory activities of federal agencies?”

The project was funded in part by revenue from , which provides tools for legislative simulation courses, and by the National Science Foundation.

Wilkerson said the tool seeks to enable citizens to become better informed about the complex legislative process, beyond simplistic descriptions and media coverage centering mostly on Congressional controversies.

“It doesn’t address everything the people might want to know, but we think the Legislative Explorer will advance public interest and understanding of ‘their’ Legislature,” he said.

“But don’t worry,” Wilkerson added. “It’s not the end of ‘Schoolhouse Rock.'”

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Find the Legislative Explorer online at . For more information, contact Wilkerson at 206-543-8030 or jwilker@uw.edu. (NSF grant number is SES-1243917.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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