{"id":7,"date":"2013-05-05T17:30:55","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T17:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2013-12-05T20:24:16","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T20:24:16","slug":"one-day-diana-evans","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/features\/one-day-diana-evans\/","title":{"rendered":"One Day – Diana Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mary Howard<\/em>
\nPhotographs: Nick Lacy<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Diana<\/a>

Professor of Political Science Diana Evans, right, with her research assistant, Eva Lauer ’14<\/p><\/div>\n

Diana Evans is a leading expert on legislative politics. Her book, Greasing the Wheels: Using Pork Barrel Projects to Build Majority Coalitions in Congress, won the prestigious Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for best book in legislative studies in 2004 and is considered
\nthe definitive work on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is truly an exceptional scholar, teacher, and individual,\u201d says colleague Stefanie Chambers, associate professor of political science. \u201cTrinity is fortunate that she has remained at the college, given her stature in our profession.\u201d On Thursday, March 14, the Reporter<\/em> spent the day with Evans.<\/p>\n

7:30 a.m.<\/strong> Evans leaves her Middle Haddam, Connecticut, home\u2014which she shares with her biologist husband\u2014and starts the 35-minute commute to campus.<\/p>\n

A member of Trinity\u2019s faculty since 1979, she enjoys the balance of teaching and research the College fosters. \u201cTrinity is a wonderful place, where faculty can focus on teaching and be well supported in their research,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Evans grew up in North Carolina in a family that \u201ctalked politics a lot around the dinner table.\u201d She describes her parents as \u201ciconoclastic,\u201d and says her father delighted in not taking conventional wisdom\u2019s point of view. By the age of 13, she was routinely reading
\nnewspaper editorials.<\/p>\n

As a first-year college student, Evans envisioned a future in law, but by her sophomore year, she declared political science as her major. \u201cI made the decision purely out of my love for the subject,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester. Her adviser was Dr. Richard Fenno, the scholar whose name graces the book award she received in 2004.<\/p>\n

8:00 a.m.<\/strong> Evans makes her daily stop at Daybreak in Glastonbury for a double latt\u00e9. The jolt of caffeine will come in handy. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a busy day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"Diana<\/a>

Diana Evans in her office<\/p><\/div>\n

8:15 a.m.<\/strong> In her office on the second floor of Downes Memorial, Evans \u201cfires up\u201d her laptop, checks her e-mail and scans The Washington Post<\/em> online. She also regularly reads The New York Times<\/em> and The Hartford Courant<\/em>. Keeping abreast of politics is Evans\u2019 job, but it\u2019s also her passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fascinated by the way politicians, specifically members of Congress, balance their goals\u2014their own interests with the interests of their constituents,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

This is why one of her favorite classes to teach is \u201cCongress and Public Policy (POLS 316).\u201d \u201cWe always have current events to engage students and illustrate the concepts they study in class.\u201d The New York Times<\/em> is required reading for students in this course. \u201cSome of them really take to it,\u201d says Evans.<\/p>\n

9:00 a.m.<\/strong> After her daily dose of the news, Evans grades her legislative interns\u2019 analytic papers. She\u2019s director of the Legislative Internship Program (LIP), where top Trinity students intern with members of the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA). Interns have a seminar with Evans on Thursdays, and their weekly papers integrate their observations at the Capitol with classroom readings.<\/p>\n

\"Diana4\"<\/a>\u201c[The internship] gives us a chance to see everything we learn in Dr. Evans\u2019 classroom play out,\u201d says Will Hermann \u201914, a political science major who interns with Connecticut State Representative David Alexander \u201903. (Alexander was an LIP intern and one of Evans\u2019 students.)<\/p>\n

Student interns are fully included in the day-to-day activities of the Capitol, says Evans. They write position papers, do research, and shadow legislators at meetings. During his internship, Mikhael Borgonos \u201908 testified in favor of a bill pending before the CGA\u2019s Government Administration and Elections Committee. \u201cThere is so much active learning going on,\u201d says Evans.<\/p>\n

10:15 a.m.<\/strong> The papers are graded, and Evans is pleased. \u201cThe interns are developing a lot more sophistication in their understanding of what\u2019s happening at the legislature,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Eva Lauer \u201914, Evans\u2019 research assistant, knocks on the door. The two have an appointment to review data Lauer is collecting on Connecticut State Senate candidates from recent elections. Evans is investigating whether public financing has made state legislative elections more competitive, giving challengers a better chance of defeating incumbents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned different aspects of data analysis from her that I couldn\u2019t have learned in the classroom,\u201d says Lauer, a political science major, with a minor in music.<\/p>\n

\"Diana5\"<\/a>10:45 a.m.<\/strong> Evans meets with Mary Beth White, her department\u2019s administrative assistant, to talk about the Legislative Internship Dinner, to be held on April 2. The dinner brings legislators, interns, and Political Science Department faculty together for an evening of good food and conversation.<\/p>\n

11:00 a.m.<\/strong> Back in her office, Evans settles down to write graduate school recommendations. She builds long-lasting relationships with her students, like Borgonos, who says he was inspired by his professor\u2019s \u201cthirst for all things political.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduation, he worked as an honors paralegal with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington. Now, in his last semester at Quinnipiac University School of Law, he credits his accomplishments to Evans\u2019 \u201cencouragement to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

1:00 p.m.<\/strong> Typically the LIP seminar meets on campus, and interns share their experiences with each other and Evans. \u201cI tend to prompt a lot of discussion,\u201d says Evans about her teaching style. But today, she\u2019s headed to the Capitol to meet her students for a talk by Paul Mounds \u201907, director of government affairs for Governor Dannel Malloy. (Mounds was also a student of Evans and an LIP intern.)<\/p>\n

1:30 p.m.<\/strong> Mounds centers his talk on his work, sharing thoughts about the budget process and working for Governor Malloy. He tells the interns that the General Assembly sometimes puts items in the budget that they don\u2019t expect to pass. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to
\nopen up dialogue,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Governor<\/a>

Governor Dannel Malloy at the Capitol with the Legislative Interns and Diana Evans<\/p><\/div>\n

Evans stays in the background as her students pose questions.<\/p>\n

Hermann\u2014who would love to work at the Capitol after graduation\u2014asks if Mounds prefers working in the legislative or executive branch of the government. Prior to his work with Malloy, Mounds as deputy state director for outreach at the office of U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.<\/p>\n

During the talk, Governor Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman drop by for a brief surprise visit with the interns.<\/p>\n

\"Diana2\"<\/a>2:45 p.m.<\/strong> Afterward, Evans and her interns head to the library in the Legislative Office Building for a training session with librarian Chris Graesser. The interns are shown how to use the advanced search functions on the CGA Web site.<\/p>\n

4:10 p.m.<\/strong> Evans is back on campus for her office hour, though it is by no means the only time she makes herself available to students. She appreciates the opportunities for one-on-one conversations that Trinity fosters. \u201cMy former students frequently tell me
\nhow important those close faculty-student ties were to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

5:00 p.m.<\/strong> Spring Break starts tomorrow, and Evans is back home packing a suitcase. In the morning, she\u2019ll catch a plane to Virginia for a visit with her father, a retired textile company manager. No doubt, they\u2019ll be talking politics around the dinner table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mary Howard Photographs: Nick Lacy Diana Evans is a leading expert on legislative politics. Her book, Greasing the Wheels: Using Pork Barrel Projects to Build Majority Coalitions in Congress, won the prestigious Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for best … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":36,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions\/217"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}