The Donald Trump Presidency: Legacy and Record

April 6-7, 2023

The Department of Social Sciences, in conjunction with the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron, is hosting a conference entitled "The Donald Trump Presidency: Legacy and Record" April 6-7, 2023. The conference follows "The Barack Obama Presidency: Legacy and Record" conference hosted on Mount Union's campus in 2016. At the 2016 conference, more than 30 presentations were featured from scholars that represented 26 institutions across the country.

A call for papers is now open for interested scholars who plan on attending. See the tab below for more information.

President Trump

Call for Papers

The Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Mount Union, in coordination with the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron, is pleased to announce its THIRD PRESIDENTIAL LEGACY CONFERENCE.

This will be an even-handed, non-partisan, and scholarly examination of the actions and consequences of the Donald J. Trump Presidency on the United States and world from a variety of perspectives. We are soliciting paper proposals from across academic disciplines on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to: appointments, international and domestic issues, constitutional and legal questions, homeland and national security, electoral politics, race relations, media relations, economic and societal inequality, economic policy, immigration policy, and White House staff and the executive branch. We encourage conference participants to engage in conversations and research beyond the customary disciplinary territory, and welcome panels that include multi- and inter-disciplinary scholars across all fields.

Proposals should include a tentative paper title, a brief description of the paper (250 words maximum), institutional affiliation, and contact information including an email address. Proposal deadline is November 20, 2022. Proposals should be submitted electronically to: grossmmo@mountunion.edu. Please put “Trump Conference” in the subject line. Selected papers from this conference may be included in an edited volume.

Please direct questions to Dr. Michael Grossman, University of Mount Union: grossmmo@mountunion.edu or (330) 829-8740.

Thursday, April 6

8-8:30 a.m.

Welcome and Introductions | Continental Breakfast/Coffee
Cope Lobby Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

8:30-10 a.m.

Panel 1: Foreign and National Security Policy
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: John Recchiuti (University of Mount Union)

Leonard Cutler (Siena College):“Trump’s National Security Doctrine: A Preliminary Assessment”
Chris J. Dolan (Lebanon Valley College): “The Trump Administration and NATO: How Trump Took on the Transatlantic Alliance and Lost”
Wesley B. Renfro (Quinnipiac University): “Never Trumpism and the Contested Politics of Trump’s Foreign Policy”
Francis Schortgen (University of Utah-Asia Campus): “U.S. Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration: The Unmooring of America’s Global Leadership Role?”

10:25-11:45 a.m.

Panel 2: Domestic and Economic Policy
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: J. Cherie Strachan (The University of Akron Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics)

Jeremy S. Brueck (University of Mount Union) and Kimberly H. Brueck (Green Local Schools): “Education Policy under Trump: Affects, Effects, and Impacts in Northeast Ohio and Beyond”
Cory Haala (Central Lakes College): “Unraveling Midwestern Populism? Free Trade, Farm Politics, and the Trump Effect in the Midwest”
Aaron J. Howell (University of Mount Union): “Promise or Peril: Fair Housing and the Administration of Donald J. Trump”
Steve A. Stuglin (Georgia Highlands College): “The Carrot and the Stick: Trump’s Complicated Approach to the Domestic Auto Industry”

12:05-1:35 p.m.

Keynote Luncheon - Invitation Only
Newbold Room, Hoover-Price Campus Center

Mitchell S. McKinney (Dean of the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Akron), Coeditor of Democracy Disrupted: Communication in the Volatile 2020 Election (2022)
- Topic/Title: “Campaign Debates Like We’ve Never Seen Before: The Influence of Donald J. Trump on Presidential Primary and General Election Debates”

1:55-3:25 p.m.

Roundtable A: Covering Trump and Trumpism
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: Ron Ponder (Columnist at The Repository, Fmr Host of “The Ron Ponder Show” at WHBC)

Panel:

Major Garrett (Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News)
Don Gonyea (National Political Correspondent, National Public Radio)
Karen Kasler (Bureau Chief, Statehouse News Bureau)

3:40-5:10 p.m.

Panel 3: Communication and Rhetoric
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: Richard S. Conley (University of Florida)

Russ Crawford (Ohio Northern University): “Donald Trump’s Use of Sport as President”
E. Fletcher McClellan (Elizabethtown College), Kyle C. Kopko (Elizabethtown College), and Christopher J. Devine (University of Dayton): “A Big, Beautiful Award: Donald Trump and The Presidential Medal of Freedom”
Lance Svehla (The University of Akron) and William T. Lyons (The University of Akron): “The Audacity of Trump: The Rhetorical Strategy of President Donald J. Trump”
Robert Anthony Waters, Jr. (Ohio Northern University): “Donald Trump’s Unprecedented Presidency”

5:30-6:40 p.m.

Dinner - Invitation Only
Newbold Room, Hoover-Price Campus Center

7-8 p.m.

Keynote Address
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for the Performing Arts

Major Garrett (CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent), Coauthor of The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie” (with David Becker) (2022) and Author of Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride: The Thrills, Chills, Screams, and Occasional Blackouts of an Extraordinary Presidency (2018)
- Topic/Title: “The Unyielding Truths of Trump”

Friday, April 7

8-8:30 a.m.

Welcome and Introductions | Continental Breakfast/Coffee
Cope Lobby Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

8:30-10 a.m.

Panel 4: Electoral and Power Politics
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: Lara Brown (Former Director and Professor, The Graduate School of Political Management, The George Washington University Graduate School of Public Management)

Jeff Bloodworth (Gannon University): “The 2016 Election as Realignment”
Philip A. Grant, Jr. (University of West Georgia): “The Congressional Elections of 2018 in the Midwest”
Michael Loughlin (Ohio Northern University): “Can Trumpism Be Understood in Terms of an Extreme Right-Wing Authoritarian/Fascistic Spectrum or Continuum that is a Kind of Wittgensteinian ‘Family Resemblance’?”
Eric Matthews (Notre Dame College): “Playing Games? The Trump Administration and Game Theory”

10:15-11:45 a.m.

Roundtable B: Trump and the Remaking of the Federal Judiciary
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: Lara Brown (Former Director and Professor, The Graduate School of Political Management, The George Washington University Graduate School of Public Management)

Panel:

Christopher P. Banks (Kent State University Department of Political Science)
Sheila Vélez Martínez (University of Pittsburgh School of Law)
CJ Peters (The University of Akron School of Law, Constitutional Law Center)

12:05 -1:35 p.m.

Keynote Luncheon - Invitation Only
Newbold Room, Hoover Price Campus Center

Richard S. Conley (University of Florida), Author of Donald Trump and American Populism (2020)
- Topic: “Donald Trump's Populist Style in the American Experience”

1:55-3:25 p.m.

Panel 5: Executive Branch and the Unitary Presidency
Presser Recital Hall, Giese Center for The Performing Arts

Chair: Theresa Davis (University of Mount Union)

Anne Cizmar (Eastern Kentucky University): Trump’s Persistent Executive Vacancies: Causes and Consequences"
David B. Cohen (The University of Akron) and Karen M. Hult (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University): “Mission Impossible: The White House Chief of Staff in the Trump Presidency”
Chad Kinsela (Ball State University): “President Trump’s Intergovernmental Relations Policies”
Douglas Mock (Morehead State University): “Building the Record: President Trump, Executive Orders and Capriciousness”
Laura Ellyn Smith (Richmond the American International University): “Actions Foreign and Domestic: Donald J. Trump and the Imperial Presidency”

3:25-3:35 PM

Conference Closing Remarks

	Christopher P. Banks, J.D., Ph.D., is a professor of political science at Kent State University. He regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the judicial process, constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, American political theory, public administration, American politics and comparative law. His research concentrates on U.S. Supreme Court politics, the American legal profession, law and politics, federalism, terrorism, and human rights.
	Lara M. Brown is a former director and professor of the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) at The George Washington University. A political scientist, she is the author of Amateur Hour: Presidential Character and the Question of Leadership (Routledge, 2020) and Jockeying for the American Presidency: The Political Opportunism of Aspirants (Cambria Press, 2010), and a co-editor of two other recent books: The Presidential Leadership Dilemma: Between the Constitution and a Political Party (SUNY Press, 2013) and Campaigning for President 2016: Strategy and Tactics, 3rd edition (Routledge, 2017). Prior to joining GW in 2013, Dr. Brown served as an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Villanova University. She also served as a political appointee in President William J. Clinton’s administration at the U.S. Department of Education. She earned a B.A., M.A., and Ph. D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a M.A. from the University of Arizona.
	Richard Conley is professor of political science at the University of Florida, where he has taught since 1998. He completed his BA at the University of California-Irvine (1989), MA at McGill University in Montréal (1993), and PhD at the University of Maryland-College Park (1998). He is author or editor of 13 books on the presidency and presidential -congressional relations. His most recent book, "Donald Trump and American Populism" was published in 2020 (Edinburgh University Press). His research and teaching interests include the presidency, comparative executive and legislative politics in Ireland, Canada, and France, and Native American Politics.
	Major Garrett was named CBS News' chief Washington correspondent in December 2018. As chief Washington correspondent, Garrett reports for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. Garrett is also the host of "The Takeout," a weekly multi-platform interview show on politics, policy and pop culture available on CBS News Streaming, top radio stations across the country and all podcast platforms. From 2012 until 2018, Garrett served as the Network's chief White House correspondent. In 2015-2016, Garrett spent 16 months on the road covering the Republican presidential campaign, including every GOP debate, both major party conventions and every day of the general election. During the transition, Garrett broke numerous cabinet appointments, including Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Garrett has covered every major domestic and foreign policy story of the Trump administration.
	Don Gonyea, National Political Correspondent for NPR News, spends much of his time traveling the United States covering campaigns and the political climate. Gonyea got his start at NPR in 1986, and has reported full-time on every Presidential election since 2000. He was NPR White House Correspondent during the presidencies of George W Bush and Barack Obama. Don also appears on NPR podcasts and at npr.org. He’s contributed to PBS NewsHour, the BBC, CBC, Columbia Journalism Review and others. He also periodically teaches college journalism courses. A recipient of numerous awards for his reporting, Gonyea was part of the team that earned NPR a 2000 George Foster Peabody Award for the All Things Considered series “Lost & Found Sound.”
	Anna Huntsman covers Akron and Canton government and politics for Ideastream Public Media, Northeast Ohio’s NPR member station. She’s a fill-in host for “Morning Edition” and “Sound of Ideas” and a board member of the Akron Press Club. She will serve as a moderator for Akron's mayoral primary debates. Before joining Ideastream, Anna completed a News21 Fellowship at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, where she traveled the country reporting on natural disaster recovery.
	Karen Kasler is a lifelong Ohioan and has spent her entire journalism career here, working in both commercial and public broadcasting in Cleveland and Columbus. Since 2004 she’s been in the Statehouse Bureau Chief for Ohio’s public radio and television stations, covering state government, policy and politics. She’s moderated major debates and events, including the Republican US Senate debate last March, in which she fact-checked seven candidates throughout a 90-minute forum. She's produced features for NPR and PBS Newshour, and has been interviewed by the BBC, CBS, NBC and stations around the country and as far away as New Zealand. She and her team have won a bunch of awards, but they’re most thrilled by being recognized by listeners and viewers who appreciate their work.
	Mitchell McKinney is a professor of political communication and dean of the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences. He has served as a moderator for gubernatorial and congressional televised debates; and consulted with numerous civic organizations in planning state and local candidate debates and forums. McKinney also taught at the University of Oklahoma, the University of Kansas, Johnson County Community College, Missouri Southern State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author or co-author of 10 books and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters focusing on political communication and presidential debates
	Christopher J. (“C.J.”) Peters is a Professor of Law at The University of Akron School of Law. He joined the Akron Law faculty as Dean in June 2017 and served in that position until February 2022. Peters has been a legal educator for more than twenty-five years and has won multiple teaching awards. He teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, legal and constitutional theory, civil procedure, and law and leadership. His articles have been published in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the Columbia Law Review, among other journals, and he has authored or edited two books of legal theory.
	Ron Ponder was a deputy mayor of the city of canton and former NAACP president. He also has a long a and illustrious career in the media. He was radio talk show host of Ponder in the Morning, publisher/editor of TheStarkCountyAdvantage newspaper, a guest columnist for the CantonRepository, a producer of numerous documentaries. He produced programs for PBS affiliates, network affiliates, cable systems and corporate clients and documentaries, such as the history of Stark County and “The ESPN2 Local Sports Break”.
	Sheila I. Velez Martinez is the Jack and Lovell Olender Professor of Asylum Refugee and Immigration Law, the founding Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice, and the Director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She is also the co-founder and Principal Investigator of the School of Medicine Human Rights Clinic. She also recently established the Heinz Afghan Asylum Project to represent Afghan asylum seekers that have recently arrived. She is also part of the Pittsburgh Ukrainian Relief Coalition (PURC). She has practiced immigration law for more than 20 years and has participated in national litigation to secure the rights of immigrants and refugees. She has lectured extensively on immigration and asylum related issues. Her other research interest include immigrant women, critical pedagogy, internal displacement and critical theory. She is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Latin American Studies. She serves on the Board of Friends of Farmworkers of PA and the Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory Inc. (LatCrit). Professor Velez Martinez also serves as the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative for the University of Pittsburgh. Originally from Puerto Rico, she lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their two children.

The city of Alliance, Ohio is located on Route 62 which is off Interstate 77. The city is approximately 1.5 hours south of Cleveland and north of Pittsburgh.

The nearest Airport is the Akron-Canton Regional Airport (CAK). The airport services many direct flights from major cities and is approximately 30 minutes from the University by car. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport also provides convenient service to Northeastern Ohio and is approximately 1.5 hours from Alliance.

Amtrak also has service to the city of Alliance.

Campus Map

The following hotels are within 1-2 miles of the University of Mount Union. (Shuttles will be provided for conference participants upon request)

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Alliance

2341 West State Street, Alliance OH

1 (888) 465-4329

Use online corporate ID 786851450 for a discount.

Comfort Inn

Carnation City Mall

2500 W. State Street, Alliance, OH

(330) 821-5555

Hampton Inn and Suites Alliance

1831 W State St, Alliance, OH 44601

(330) 680-4052

Use online corporate ID 003117568 for a discount (insert in special rate field).

Additional hotels are available in the city of Canton (about 30 minutes by car from Mount Union).