Political Science Faculty & Staff

Robin L. Turner is an Associate Professor of Political Science, Chair of the Department of Political Science, Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and Coordinator of the African and Black Studies Minor at Butler University in the US A and an honorary research associate of the Society, Work, and Politics Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Dr. Turner served as the founding director of the  Social Justice and Diversity Butler University Core Curriculum  requirement from 2017 to 2019.  She earned a master’s degree and doctorate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley and a masters degree in social science (African politics) from the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Her research, writing, and teaching span multiple fields, including political science, gender studies, African studies, development studies, tourism studies, political ecology, and geography.

Dr. Turner’s research focuses principally on how public policies shape rural political economies, influence identities, and affect people’s behavior in southern Africa. She uses interviews, ethnography, and archival research to examine the interplay between state policies and local practices over time and to look closely at how past and present ways of structuring property and authority shape local political economies and influence constructions of identity. She has published on topics ranging from the politics of tradition; dispossession, property, and nature tourism; and field research to decolonial pedagogy in journals including Africa Spectrum, Development and Change, Journal of Modern African Studies, Peacebuilding, and Qualitative and Multi-Method Research.  

Dr. Turner teaches courses that help students better understand the perspectives, experiences, and political strategies of historically marginalized people in Africa, the United States, and elsewhere in the world. Her courses contribute to the political science major and minor, to the core curriculum, and to several interdisciplinary programs She led the the development of a new Global and Historical Studies course centered on the question, “What is Freedom,” with grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities,  

Her recent course offerings include:

GHS 206-SJD Resistance and Reaction: Resistance and Reaction: Colonialism and Post-Colonialism in Africa 

GHS 210-SJD Freedom and Movement in the Transatlantic World 

PO 151 Introduction to Comparative Politics

PO 350 African Politics

PO 351-SJD Politics of Gender & Sexuality in Africa 

PO 352 Comparative Political Economy 

PO 354-SJD Environmental Justice 

PO 490 Senior Seminar on Women and Politics across the World 

SW 245-PO Politics from the Margins

Bill Blomquist is a Visiting Professor in Political Science for 2021-22. He will be teaching courses in US politics, research methods, and international politics. Before coming to Butler he was a Professor of Political Science at IUPUI.

Siobhán McEvoy-Levy is Professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies and Director of The Desmond Tutu Peace Lab at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Her current research focuses on ‘everyday’ sites of international relations, youth and peacebuilding, and critical studies of political violence and peace (formation). She the author of Peace and Resistance in Youth Cultures: Reading the Politics of Peacebuilding from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games (Palgrave, 2018), American Exceptionalism and US Foreign Policy (Palgrave, 2001); the editor of Troublemakers or Peacemakers? Youth and Post-Accord Peacebuilding (University of Notre Dame, 2006); and a co-author of Peacebuilding after Peace Accords (University of Notre Dame, 2007). She has also published articles on youth and conflict, and on pop culture, reconciliation and peacebuilding. McEvoy-Levy holds a B.A. Hons degree (Politics and English) from Queen’s University, Belfast, and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.

At Butler she has taught:

• Introductionto Peace Studies (PO 102)
• Introduction to Politics (PO 101)
• Activism (PO 230)
• International Relations (PO 320)
• International Conflict and Peacebuilding (PO 322)
• Gender and Generation in War and Peace (SW 240 PO 01)
• Change and Tradition (ID 202)
• Politics of Youth and Conflict (PO 357)
• Art and Politics (PO 380)
• Understandingthe Israel-Palestine Conflict (PO 380)
• Northern Ireland Between War and Peace (PO 380)
• U.S.Foreign Policy (PO 355)
• Ethics of Peacebuilding (PO 380)
• The Politics of Harry Potter and the Hunger Games (PO 490)
• Belfast and (London) Derry Field Seminar on Gender and Generation in ‘Post-Conflict’Northern Ireland, Global Adventures in the Liberal Arts (GALA).
• She supervises undergraduate honors theses, independent studies, student apprenticeship and peace lab internships.

Director of Academic Affairs for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Faculty Director of Butler in Asia Program, Center for Global Education 

Su-Mei Ooi joined the Department of Political Science and Peace & Conflict Studies program in 2010  as  Assistant  Professor, shortly before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto with a joint specialty in international relations and comparative politics. 

Prior to settling down in Indianapolis, Ooi studied and worked in many different parts of Asia, Europe, and North America. Her lived experiences have shaped Ooi into a dedicated educator who believes strongly in the importance of critical global citizenship education in the United States. At Butler, she teaches courses in international relations and Asian politics with the express purpose of helping students to understand that there are many different ways of being in this world. She particularly encourages students to seek better solutions to global problems by re-imagining new possibilities for a better world. Ooi grew up in Singapore and Malaysia. Since 2017, Ooi has also led students to Malaysia and Singapore on the Butler in Asia program, which offers students the unique opportunity to live and work in Asia for 7 weeks in the summer.

As an affiliate faculty of the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, Ooi also believes in a diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning and working environment for all. At Butler, she works closely with senior administration in her role as the Director of Academic Affairs for DEI. In terms of curricular affairs, she is also responsible for Asian and Pacific American representation in the Core Curriculum, as she led a team of excellent colleagues in the development of GHS 212: Asian Americas. She works closely with students as well and is the faculty advisor of the student group Asian and Pacific Islander Alliance (APIA).

Although Ooi’s research expertise is in democratic development and human rights in East Asia, she has expanded the scope of her research in response to issues and problems beyond her core interest. More recently, her scholarship addresses peace building on the Korean Peninsula, US-China relations, global education, the well-being of faculty in teaching-focused institutions  and  the  leadership  experiences  of  minoritized  faculty. She also believes in integrating teaching and scholarship and has mentored students in the research and publication process at Butler.

In her personal time, Ooi enjoys the company of her husband, daughter and a pet hamster named Coco. She is also an active member of the Asian and Pacific American community in Indianapolis. She is on the Board of the Indianapolis Chinese Community Center, Inc.,  the Council of the Indiana Association of Chinese Americans, and is also a member  of  Hoosier  Asian  American  Power.

Teaching Expertise:

International Relations, US-China Relations, East and Southeast Asian Politics, Chinese Politics, Human Rights and Humanitarianism, International Political Economy

Research Specialization:

Comparative Democratization, Transnational Activism, Human Rights, East Asian Politics and International Relations, Global Citizenship Education

Education:

PhD Political Science

University of Toronto (Canada)

MA (Southeast Asian Studies)

National University of Singapore (Singapore)

LLB (Bachelor of Laws, with Honors)

University College London (United Kingdom)

Publications:

http://works.bepress.com/sumei_ooi/

Awards/Fellowships

Korea Foundation Fellowship

Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Fellowship

Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Fellowship

Dr. David Chu Scholarship

Political Science Award, University of Toronto 

Volkswagen Foundation Fellowship 

David J. Remondini is a flight instructor, attorney, civil mediator, news media consultant and mortgage foreclosure case mediator for five Marion County civil courts. In August of 2020, he began teaching a course in Community Mediation at Butler University and also  taught Poverty Law and Access to Justice in the Spring of 2021. In prior careers he was a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, a long-time executive level manager for the Indiana Supreme Court, and a corporate jet pilot. While with the Supreme Court he helped establish the Court’s IOLTA and Pro Bono and Pro Se projects.  In addition, he also organized the Supreme Court’s statewide mortgage foreclosure facilitation program. He graduated from Ripon College in Ripon, Wisc., and the Indiana University McKinney School of Law. He serves as an arbitrator for the financial services industry and in early 2021 he began hearing unemployment benefit appeals for the State of Indiana. His hobbies include hiking, birding, and biking. He is on hiatus from a quest to see as many of America’s National Parks as he can.