Getting out the vote and hashing out the issues

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:18:34 +0000

Getting out the vote and hashing out the issues Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/13/2024 - 14:18

Dr. Janet Donavan, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Teaching Professor in the Political Science departement, was recently interviewed by the Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. She discusses civic participation habits in light of the new election, as well as emphasizes the importance of voting.

Read the full article here: Getting out the vote and hashing out the issues | Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

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Congratulations Janet Donavan!

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:34:02 +0000

Congratulations Janet Donavan! Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/26/2023 - 10:34

Congratulations to Janet Donavan, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Teaching Associate Professor! She recently earned a 2023 Excellence in Leadership & Service award from the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA). This award recognizes the importance of leadership and service as indispensable features of faculty responsibilities. The BFA awards ceremony was hosted by BFA chair Tiffany Beechy, and awards were presented by Provost Russ Moore. She was honored with other BFA award recipients in a ceremony on April 19th.

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Meet Janet Donavan

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 17:33:49 +0000

Meet Janet Donavan Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/27/2018 - 11:33

Jeffrey Nonnemacher

Senior Instructor

Since she was a little girl, politics has always fascinated Dr. Janet Donavan. “In Kindergarten, I was really interested in the 1980 presidential election”, she explained, “and when I was in 3^rd grade, I got a subscription to NewsWeek for my birthday.”

“I don’t know why. My parents weren’t interested in politics,” she joked. “I did learn to read from reading the newspaper, so the first thing I read was politics.”

“My first thing that I wanted to be was an astronaut, but I had bad eyes, so I couldn’t be an astronaut. Then I wanted to be a senator, and don’t know why I changed my mind. Then I wanted to be a travel agent, and I guess it is a good thing I changed my mind because there aren’t really travel agents anymore,” she recalled, “Then I wanted to be a journalist for a long time and I was always really interested in political news.”

“When I was in school, and still today, there’s this huge change going on with journalism and information, newspapers, and how we get our information,” she explained. “I really wanted to study that and study how people get their political information instead of being the one who writes it.”

As a result, one of her favorite classes to teach in PSCI 4341: Media & Politics and her research focuses on political communication. “I am really interested in the role of journalism and the dissemination of information in the political process, so how people get their information about politics, how people make decisions, the quality of that information.”

She also is interested in studying pre-Revolutionary War American political thought. From teaching it, she "realized that nobody focused on this era in American political thought and political development.”

She was interested in addressing the gap in literature on the era because “it shaped the state governments which already existed when we started the revolution.” She argues that the ideas that formed the National government and US Constitution came from the colonial governments and experiences at the colonial level.

However, most her job here at CU is teaching, so some of her research is focused on “teaching and learning” in Political Science, and the ways to better the curriculum for students.

When she isn’t working, she can be found hiking, camping, and travelling around Colorado. “I am from Ohio, I went to grad school in Wisconsin, had a job in Washington and had a job in Minnesota and now here,” she listed. “I just love the weather and outdoor lifestyle” of Colorado.

In 2018, Dr. Donavan was awarded the 2018 Mentor of the Year Award, a new honor from the Department of Political Science meant to recognize professors that go above and beyond the role of classroom instructor.

“I was excited, I think it is a great idea that we have it, and I was really honored by it. I try really hard to mentor students because I think it is an important aspect of what we do.”

"I am really lucky”, she said. “It is hard, but it is something that I enjoy and can get up and do every day.”

“Find something you are care about,” she advised, “study it, understand it, and work for it. It is just a good way to enjoy your life.

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