The countdown to the U.S. presidential race is in full swing, with less than two months remaining. While a majority of Americans may have the election on their minds, some individuals, such as tenured American political scientist Dr. Andrew Rudalevige, are currently living and breathing each moment of the political race. 

On Tuesday, October 8, Dr. Andrew Rudalevige, a government professor at Bowdoin College and honorary professor at the University College, London, will speak to Skeptics students about the evolving role of the presidency in contemporary American politics and the historical forces that have shaped the American government into where it is today.

With over a thousand copies sold of his combined three pieces of political non-fiction, Dr. Rudalevige, who holds his doctorate degree from Harvard University, looks forward to delving into the election. 

“I am excited to speak about important questions such as ‘What kind of executive does a 21st century, large, globally-engaged, internally diverse nation need?  Do we Americans have it?’” said Dr. Rudalevige in a pre-event interview. “One important aspect is what political scientist Charles O. Jones called ‘the presidency in a separated system.’ We need to look at not just the presidency in isolation but within the broader system of American institutions, including how our electoral system works.”

As he prepares to visit the hilltop for the first time to speak with young, optimistic students, Dr. Rudalevige remembers his own journey, starting out in a field that is especially hard on the young individuals with little experience.
 
“After college I started working for my local state senator, and had a chance to see ‘how the sausage is made’ legislatively at a time when state government in Massachusetts was in tough shape and a lot of new questions were being asked about the way things were done,” recounted Dr. Rudalevige. 

Luckily, his keen political instincts and nimble time management helped him navigate critical moments, including his own election. “I also got involved in city and town-level politics, especially in Boston and then in my hometown of Watertown, where I served a term on the town council. After my boss ran for governor in 1994, I parachuted into graduate school. I didn’t know it, but I had an advantage over my new colleagues in that I had a sense of how retail politics really worked, which helped me to assess the scholarly literature from a slightly different perspective.”

Though Dr. Rudalevige took advantage of opportunities as swiftly as they arose, he was able to do so because of how he saw things from a different angle. To his students today, he often urges them to take note of this lesson, and shares it with the Blair community.

“I’m a big fan of a wide grounding in the liberal arts, and even of core curricula, which expose you to big questions that have faced human civilization, before you focus in on one topic. This benefits even those who want to go into computer programming or subatomic physics.” 

“Be open to opportunities. Do things you find interesting and I suspect interesting opportunities will in turn come your way.”

All are welcome to hear Dr. Rudalevige speak in the forum of the Chiang-Elghanayan Center next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

History of Skeptics
 
The Society of Skeptics was established as a forum for students and faculty to discuss and debate important global issues; it has grown to become one of the premier high school lecture series in the United States. Each week, speakers from the political, social, scientific, economic and literary arenas share their unique perspectives with students, who are encouraged to engage with presenters, asking questions and debating points of view.

The program, which is funded in part by the Class of 1968 Society of Skeptics Endowment Fund, is an outgrowth of the Blair International Society, begun in 1937. Forty years later, former history department chair Elliott Trommald, PhD, Hon. ’65, established the modern Skeptics program as a regular forum for student discussion and debate; history teacher Martin Miller, PhD, took over in the mid-1980s and molded the program into a weekly lecture series, one that has since continued without interruption. Under the tutelage of Dr. Miller and his successor, history department chair Jason Beck, Skeptics has featured a wide variety of speakers who are thought-provoking, engaging, accomplished in their respective fields and often controversial. For a listing of upcoming Skeptics programs, please visit Blair’s website.