Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 24, 2004|Volume 33, Number 4

David R. Mayhew

Mayhew lauded for his studies of party politics

David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science, is this year's winner of the Samuel J. Eldersveld Award, given by the American Political Science Association to a scholar "whose lifetime professional work has made an outstanding contribution" to the study of political organizations and parties.

The citation notes that in a career spanning 40 years, Mayhew has "established himself as our most perceptive, productive and influential scholar of American party politics. ... [H]e has repeatedly illuminated our understanding of the role of political parties in the broader political system. Indeed, no decade has passed without a major work from Mayhew recasting the way we think about some important aspect of the organization and impact of parties."

Mayhew's numerous works include "Party Loyalty Among Congressmen," his first book; "Congress: The Electoral Connection," which examines the behavior of reelection-seeking members of Congress in an environment where parties are weak; "Placing Parties in American Politics," which surveys the status of traditional party organizations in American states and cities through the first half of the 20th century; "Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and Investigations, 1946-1990," which challenges the decades-long assumption that unified partisan control of government facilitates effective policy-making; and, most recently, "Electoral Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre," which scrutinizes the basic tenets of the "science" of realignment theory, used to predict changes in the political landscape.

"All of this work demonstrates the unmatched historical knowledge, analytical creativity and instinct for the right questions that make Mayhew such a worthy successor to his own mentor, V.O. Key Jr., among scholars of American party politics," notes the award citation.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Grant to support research on role of viruses in cancer

Series honors graduation of Yale's first Chinese student 150 years ago

Program marks 35th anniversary of Afro-American Cultural Center

Study: Recreational gambling can be good for seniors' health

Yale launches $1 million United Way drive

Symposium to explore past and future of suburbanization

Event honors late historian of American South

New bioscience company at Science Park offering . . .

Exhibit showcases work of long-ignored landscape artist

Mayhew lauded for his studies of party politics

Congress' only Holocaust survivor to discuss . . .

Noted playwright to speak about his life, Jewish religion

Prize-winning poet Adrienne Rich will read from her work

Older marathon runners are making greater strides . . .

Cultivating a culture of trust was topic of inaugural conference

Dwight Hall interns devote the summer to causes in New Haven

Reimbursements now available through direct deposit

IN MEMORIAM