OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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I’ve been involved with political scientists at about a dozen universities conducting research on civil discourse in state legislatures. With a grant from the National Institute for Civil Discourse we designed a survey that was sent to every single registered state legislative lobbyist in the U.S. The survey asked questions such as years of experience, perceptions of legislative civility in recent years, ideas about how to create more civil legislative discourse, etc. This research culminated in an edited book with Washington State University Press using the data and to outreach efforts to citizen groups and universities. I coauthored two chapters of the book with our students:
Leanne Giordono, Brent S. Steel and Claire McMorris, “State Economic Inequality and Incivility,” Chapter 6 in N.P. Lovrich, F. Benjamin, W. Schreckhise, and J.C. Pierce, eds., Outside Looking In: Lobbyists’ Views on Civil Discourse in U.S. State Legislatures. Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 2021.
Claire McMorris, Brent S. Steel and Leanne Giordono, “The Rural-Urban Divide and Political Incivility in State Legislatures,” Chapter 7 in N.P. Lovrich, F. Benjamin, W. Schreckhise, and J.C. Pierce, eds., Outside Looking In: Lobbyists’ Views on Civil Discourse in U.S. State Legislatures. Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 2021.
We are now planning a follow up survey based upon our previous findings to be conducted in 2023.
Working with researchers from Portland State University, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and the University of Florida, the project explores how individuals, communities, groups, and organizations in fire-prone regions change and reorganize relationships to become better able to cope with increasingly large and intense wildfires.Through collaborative engagement with students, educators, stakeholders, policymakers, and resource managers, lessons and outcomes will be shared and made accessible to create communities and landscapes that are resilient in the face of increasing future wildfires.