Dr. William Green receives Distinguished Political Scientist Award

Morehead State University’s Dr. William C. Green, professor of government, received the Distinguished Political Scientist Award at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Political Science Association (KPSA).

Green becomes one of only 17 Kentucky political science faculty to receive the honor since its creation in 1987.

An MSU faculty member for the past 34 years, Green has received MSU’s Distinguished Teaching Award, Distinguished Research Award and Internship Faculty of the Year Award for his recruitment and preparation of 66 MSU students who have participated in the five-week Canadian Parliamentary Internship Program.

Green holds a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from the University of Kentucky College of Law, a Ph.D. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science. In addition, Green holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, cum laude, all from Kent State University.

Green's research explores constitutional and civil liberties issues and the legal dimensions of economic development, labor relations, language rights and pharmaceutical drug policies. His publications include four books, five book chapters, 25 journal articles and 44 encyclopedia essays. His most recent book, "Contraceptive Risk: The FDA, Depo-Provera, and the Politics of Experimental Medicine," was published by New York University Press in 2017. He now has a contract with Lexington Books to write "Free the Grapes: Granholm v. Heald, Boutique Wineries, and State Alcohol Beverage Regulation."

According to Dr. Jonathan Pidluzny, associate professor of government, students in Green’s courses on constitutional law, courts and civil liberties, environmental law and policy, European parliamentary democracies, and human rights law and politics are active learners whom he challenges to think, write and speak, necessary skills for success in law and graduate school. Outside the classroom, his best students develop their research skills as participants in MSU's Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. Pidluzny also noted that students that have taken Green’s law and policy courses have told him that his courses have provided them with the skills essential for success in law school. As the government program's law school advisor, throughout his tenure he created Societas Pro Legibus, MSU's campus-based society for the study of law, authored the question-based How to Take the LSAT and Go to Law School and advised students who have been admitted to the nation's top ten percent of law schools and to the University of Vermont, the nation's top environmental law school.

Four 2017 Canadian parliamentary interns presented papers at the KPSA's meeting. They were Aaron Curnutte of Prestonsburg, Sarah Fink of Hollsopple, Pennsylvania, Thomas Little of Virgie, and William Razor of Mt. Sterling. Brandon Bryer of Scarborough, Maine. Byer, Undergraduate Research Fellow, also presented at the KPSA.

In Ottawa, the students work in the office of a member of Parliament, attend committee meetings and House of Commons debates and participate in the political life of the nation's capital city.

Students who become Canadian parliamentary interns begin their preparation with Green's course on North American politics during which they write Canadian-focused research proposals. In Ottawa, the students conduct research for their papers and, upon their return, write and present papers at MSU's Celebration of Student Scholarship and the Kentucky Political Science Association's annual meetings.

Since 2004, the interns have received an MSU Canadian Studies Scholarship, which Green created, to provide them with a total of $50,000 in financial support.

Additional information is available by contacting Green at 606-783-2128.

More information on the Department of History, Philosophy, Politics, International Studies and Legal Studies is available by visiting www.moreheadstate.edu/hpil.