Askew Lecture Series

Askew Lecture Series

The Askew Lecture Series is a downtown community talk on current political issues and public policy topics. The lecture honors the legacy of the late Governor of Florida, Reubin O’D. Askew, the department’s namesake. Governor Askew was known for tackling vital public policy issues of the day and as a champion of civic engagement in politics. Each lecture brings in a renowned scholar to discuss a contemporary topic with a member of the UWF faculty from the department. 

 

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Biased Coins, Cruises and Crashes: A Study of Elections in Four Countries

June 23, 23, the department welcomed Distinguished University Professor Alfred G. Cuzán and two guest scholars to present "Biased Coins, Cruises and Crashes: A Study of Elections in Four Countries."

Using concepts from statistics (the normal curve), physics (exponential decay), and politology (cost of ruling), professors Alfred G. Cuzán and Richard J. Heggen developed models that approximate the results of 2,000 state or provincial elections in Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States. Professors Cuzán and Heggen have a long history of unusual collaboration across two disciplines, political science and civil engineering, respectively. It began in the 1970s, when they were teaching at universities in New Mexico, Heggen in Albuquerque and Cuzán in Las Cruces. In close to half a century, they have made original contributions to the study of socially efficient government, the Nicaraguan Revolution and U.S. presidential elections (a subject in which professor C. Mike Bundrick of UWF also collaborated). In the last two years, Heggen and Cuzán have turned their attention to “the cost of ruling,” the loss of support that the political party in control of government incurs during its time in office. 

During this talk, they presented partial results of these on-going investigations. Professor Josep Colomer of Georgetown University critiqued the presentation in light of his own work.

 

Watch Here

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