CAMARILLO, Calif., Feb. 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CSU Channel Islands (CI) Professor of Political Science Sean Kelly, Ph.D. will serve on a national council designed to help Americans get a deeper understanding of how the U.S. Congress works.
Kelly is one of ten scholars chosen from across the U.S. to be on the Dirksen Congressional Center's National Advisory Council.
Located in Pekin, Illinois, the Dirksen Congressional Center is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization seeking to promote a better understanding of Congress through research, extensive archives and a wealth of educational programs.
"I'm honored by the appointment," Kelly said. "And I am so pleased that I will have an opportunity to give back to an organization that has supported my research over the years, and does something as important as promoting understanding of an institution that I have dedicated a career to tying to understand, the U.S. Congress."
Kelly and the rest of the council will help the Center's Board of Directors as they develop programs to help historians, political science and others who teach and study the inner workings of the people's branch of government.
Among other responsibilities, the Council will help the Board of Directors evaluate applications for the Center's Congressional Research Grants.
Since 1978—two years after the center was founded—the Center has invested nearly $950,000 in more than 425 research projects.
Kelly was among the recipients of several of the grants. He and Scott Frisch, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Political Science, held a 2012 conference called "Politics to the Extreme" with help from a special projects grant from the Dirksen Center.
Material gathered for the conference was later compiled into a book by the same name.
Dirksen Center spokesman Frank Mackaman said Kelly was selected in part because he has been active in the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, of which the Center was a founding member.
"Sean has a well-established reputation for scholarly production paired with a passion for teaching," Mackaman said. "He represents the breadth of experience we seek in the council membership."
For additional information, contact Sean Kelly, Professor of Political Science, at 805-437-3309 or sean.kelly@csuci.edu.
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