As President Barack Obama prepares to speak to the nation in his first State of the Union Address on critical issues, including the economy, job creation, national defense, health care and energy policy, experts on these issues as well as those who can offer historical context, insight into the speech writing process and political analysis are available to speak to the news media before and after the President’s speech.
General Political Analysis
James Henson
Director, Texas Politics Project and Lecturer in the Department of Government
College of Liberal Arts
512-471-0090
j.henson@austin.utexas.edu
Henson runs the Texas Politics Project, which seeks to educate students and Texans about state government, politics and history through a dynamic Web site and a speaker series. It also conducts quarterly statewide issues polls.
Daron Shaw
Professor of Government
College of Liberal Arts
512-232-7275
dshaw@austin.utexas.edu
Shaw was an analyst and consultant in the 1992, 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. He has written two books on voters and election campaigns and teaches classes on survey research analysis, public opinion and voting behavior, campaigns and elections, political parties and American government.
Bruce Buchanan
Professor of Government
College of Liberal Arts
512-232-7212
bruceb@austin.utexas.edu
Buchanan is a nationally renowned expert on politics and government. He has written multiple books on the American presidency and is frequently quoted in media stories about state and national politics.
Sean Theriault
Associate Professor of Government
College of Liberal Arts
512-232-7279
seant@mail.utexas.edu
Theriault’s research includes American political institutions, primarily Congress. He also studies party polarization in Congress. Theriault has published articles on subjects ranging from presidential rhetoric to congressional careers.
Executive Leadership
H.W. Brands
Professor of History
College of Liberal Arts
512-475-7238
hwbrands@mail.utexas.edu
Brands has written more than 20 books on such leaders as Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his most recent book “Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”
The Economy
James K. Galbraith
Professor of Government
LBJ School of Public Affairs
512-471-1244
galbraith@mail.utexas.edu
Galbraith is the author of the best-selling novel “Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too.” He is a frequent contributor to mainstream publications on a wide variety of economic topics.
Job Creation
Veronica Vargas Stidvent
Director, Center for Politics and Governance
LBJ School of Public Affairs
512-471-2760
vsttidvent@austin.utexas.edu
Stidvent was assistant secretary for policy for the U.S. Department of Labor from 2004 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. Her research focuses on a myriad of labor issues, including immigration reform, worker health and safety, and job training.
Health Care Policy
David C. Warner
Professor of Public Affairs
LBJ School of Public Affairs
512-471-6277
david.warner@mail.utexas.edu
Warner’s major teaching and research interests are health policy and health finance. He is working on projects related to improving health insurance coverage, the integration of the U.S. and Mexican health care systems, diabetes policy, public health funding and U.S.-Mexico border health.
Jacqueline Angel
Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology
512-471-2956
jangle@mail.utexas.edu
Angel has published extensively in the sociology of aging and how it is affected by the life course and social policy. She also is an adviser to professional committees, non-governmental organizations and other agencies that provide basic services to the elderly.
Climate Change
Josh Busby
Assistant Professor of Public Affairs
512-471-8964
busbyj@mail.utexas.edu
Busby is the author of several studies on climate change, national security, and energy policy from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution and Center for a New American Security. His research interests also include energy security and the foreign policy of advanced industrialized countries.
Pakistani Relations
Snehal Shingavi
Assistant Professor of English
College of Liberal Arts
512-471-8114
snehal.shingavi@mail.utexas.edu
Shingavi’s interests include Anglophone South Asian literature, Hindi/Urdu literature, literature in translation and translation theory, theories of “the nation” (anticolonialism, nationalism, statism, postcolonialism, postnationalism, cosmopolitanism, globalization) and classical Marxism.
National Security/Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Alan J. Kuperman
Assistant Professor of Public Affairs
512-471-8245
akuperman@mail.utexas.edu
Kuperman’s expertise focuses on nuclear non-proliferation, U.S. military intervention and American foreign policy. His research focuses on U.S. foreign relations with Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea.
Latin American Affairs
Nicolas Shumway
Professor of Spanish Language and Literature
College of Liberal Arts
512-471-8336
shumway@mail.utexas.edu
Shumway’s scholarship explores Latin American history and culture with particular emphasis on Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
Crisis Management in American History
George Forgie
Professor of History
College of Liberal Arts
512-473-8995
512-475-7231
forgie@mail.utexas.edu
Forgie’s major teaching fields are U.S. political and cultural history from 1763 to 1877 and the U.S. Constitution. He is studying northern political writing during the Civil War.
The Craft and Challenges of Speechwriting
Tom Zigal
Chief Speechwriter
The University of Texas at Austin
512-475-7003
tom@po.utexas.edu
