Political Science

Distinguished Alumni

Every year, the Political Science Department nominates an alumnus/a for an Alumni Achievement award. Here are some of the recent winners to recieve the distinction.

2008

John Petrocik is Professor and Chair in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri - Columbia. He received his Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of Chicago. His specialty is electoral politics, with particular emphasis on public opinion, voting, and political parties. Petrocik has authored or coauthored books and research articles on mass attitudes and behavior, political parties, and elections and campaigns. One of the books, The Changing American Voter (Harvard University Press, 1976, Revised 1979) received the Woodrow Wilson award in 1977 from the American Political Science Association for the best book on American politics in that year. In a 2008 book with Darron Shaw and Karen Kaufman - Unconventional Wisdom (from Oxford University Press) - he examines (and rejects) several popular myths about American voting and public opinion. Petrocik centers his research on social group dynamics and institutional structures that influence attitudes and behavior of individuals. His recent work has emphasized the social basis of politics and the influence of social divisions on electoral politics.

2007

Lee Reno is a founding Member of Reno & Cavanaugh, a Washington DC law firm established in 1977. Reno & Cavanaugh has been at the forefront of affordable housing and community development law and policy at a national level. Reno's experience in housing development began in 1970. He has practiced extensively in the affordable housing field during his legal career, with a special emphasis on public housing and rural housing. His practice currently consists of representing public housing authorities in their mixed finance transactions, serving as general counsel to the Housing Authority Insurance Group, Housing Assistance Council, and other national nonprofit organizations, and representing public housing authorities and their employees being investigated by the HUD Inspector General and in enforcement proceedings brought by the HUD Enforcement Branch. He was recognized by the District of Columbia Bar Association for his work in Pealo v. USDA (USDC for the District of Columbia, 1974), litigation that restored the USDA rural housing programs that had been suspended by the Nixon Administration. Reno received his BS in Poltiical Science from WMU in 1963 and his law degree from Howard University. Prior to entering law school, Lee served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia West Africa from 1963 to 1965.

2006

Nancy Diehl has worked as a prosecutor for over 24 years and currently heads the Felony Trial Division in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, overseeing general trials, homicide, auto theft, and major drugs prosecutions and directing the Child and Family Abuse Bureau. According to the Michigan Bar Journal (October, 2004), Diehl has received over 20 professional and community awards. She had the distinction of being the first recipient of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s Champion of Justice Award. She was the 1999 winner of the Federal Bar Association’s Leonard Gilman Award to the Outstanding Practitioner of Criminal Law. She was also honored by the Alumni Association of the Wayne State University Law School. She is a past President of Michigan State Bar Association (2004/5), has served on the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan Family Law Committee, the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners and is currently a member of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. Diehl served as Chair of the Wayne County Council Against Family Violence, served on the Governor’s Task Force on Children’s Justice, on the Community Advisor Board for the Junior League of Detroit and the Archdiocesan Review Board, Archdiocese of Detroit. Diehl completed her Political Science degree at WMU in 1975.

2005

Richard Reed is an attorney at the firm of Lewis, Reed, and Allen in Kalamazoo. Mr. Reed earned his BA in Political Science from WMU in 1957 and went on to complete his JD at the Detroit College of Law in 1962. He is well-known as a participant in municipal tax disputes, frequently appearing as counsel to townships and other municipal interests. Mr. Reed has been very active in the legal profession, as a commissioner of the State Bar, a member and chairman of the State Bar Representative Assembly, and a member of the Attorney Grievance Commission. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society. He visited campus in November, 2005, and led a discussion of "The Constitution, 'Under God', and the Pledge of Allegiance".

2004

His Excellency Ambassador Omar Bader Al Dafa of the State of Qatar. Ambassador Al Dafa earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Western Michigan University in 1975 and went on to earn a Master's degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University in 1979. Ambassador Al-Dafa is a career diplomat with more than twenty-five years experience. His diplomatic career began in 1976, when he was made diplomatic attaché at Qatar's Foreign Ministry in Doha. He served as ambassador to Spain from 1982 to 1988 and to Egypt from 1988 to 1993. While serving in Cairo, Ambassador Al-Dafa was also his country's permanent representative to the Arab League. From 1993 to 1995 he was ambassador to France. From 1995 to 1998 he served as ambassador to the Russian Federation. He then served as director of European and American affairs at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Doha, Qatar. He was named Ambassador to the United States in September 2000 and continues in that post. He was the 2004 College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award Recipient. He appears in the photograph with Dr Judith Bailey, WMU President.

2003

Christopher C. Womack received his B.S. in Political Science from WMU in 1979 and his MPA from American University in 1985. Mr. Womack worked in Washington DC from 1979-1987, servingas a Legislative Aide to Re. Leon Panetta and as Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Personnel and Police for the Committee on House Administration. Mr. Womack was employed by the Alabama Power Company in 1988 as their Federal Governmental Affairs Representative. Mr. Womack is now the Senior Vice President and Senior Production Officer for the Southern Company, which is the largest producer of electricity in the United States. Mr. Womack serves on seven boards including the Birmingham Museum of Arts, the Alabama Charitable Business Trust Fund, and the National Hospice Organization.

2002

John Daniel received his M.A. from WMU in 1970. Daniel is currently Director of Research for the Human Sciences Research Council that is South Africa's national social sciences research facility. Prior to this appointment in 2001, he served for eight years at the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa, first as professor and then chairperson of political science. Professor Daniel presented a university lecture and also spoke with political science students during his October visit to campus.

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