Dr. Phil Neisser                                     Chair, Department of Politics                                     State University of New York                                     College at Potsdam                                     Potsdam, N.Y. 13676                                     (315) 267‑2554                                     Fax (315) 267-2743                                     phil@unitedwefall.info                                     neissept@potsdam.edu

In Brief

I live in the far northern reaches of New York State and I teach political theory at SUNY Potsdam (not to be confused with nearby SUNY Plattsburgh). When I find time I also play drums in my rock band Sundog (sundoggrooves.com). My basic academic credentials are listed below, but first I would like to say something about my students. They're a wonderfully diverse bunch: they include locals who have never been to a big city, transplanted urban types like I was long ago, middle-aged working people doing double-duty, soldiers getting an education while on leave or training part-time, visitors from a host of different countries, and more. Some are more prepared for college work than others but they are all bright and of good will. They find plenty to disagree about, and my experience watching them argue and respect each other has helped to forge my commitment to the pro-disagreement perspective I express in United We Fall.

Some Credentials

Education
-- Ph.D.: Political Science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1990
-- M.A.: Government, Georgetown University, 1981
-- B.A.: Magna cum Laude, Political Science, SUNY Potsdam, 1979
-- Fields of Specialty: political theory, democratic theory, political economy, social welfare policy, race and politics, multiculturalism, politics of the family
-- Dissertation: The Family and Ambiguity: The Politics of Alternative Conceptions of Self and Society

Teaching and Administration
-- Chair and Professor, Department of Politics, SUNY Potsdam.  I teach or have taught Western Political Thought, Political Ideas, Introduction to U.S. Politics, The Politics of Social Welfare, Political Analysis and Methods, Politics and the U.S. Economy, Power and Democracy in the U.S., The U.S. Presidency, Senior Seminar, Politics of Black and White, Globalization and South Africa, and The Politics of the Family

Publications
-- United We Fall: Ending America’s Love Affair with the Political Center.  2008.  Greenwood Publishing Group.
-- “Citizen Congresses a Good Idea.”  October 19, 2007.  Watertown Daily Times.  A8 (Op-Ed Page).
-- “Political Polarization as Disagreement Failure,” 2006.  Journal of Public Deliberation, Volume II (http://services.bepress.com/jpd/).
-- “Targets.”  2002.  Collateral Language: A User=s Guide to America=s New War, John Collins and Ross Glover, Eds., NYU Press, 38-153.
-- Co-author with Sanford F. Schram.  “Tales of the State; The Anti-State Tale and Narrative Analysis,” PA Times, Vol.21, No 3 (March 1998): 1,8.
-- Co-editor, with Sanford F. Schram, Tales of the State: Narrative in Contemporary U.S. Politics and Public Policy.  Rowman & Littlefield, 1997.
-- “NAFTA Discourse: Tales of Sovereignty, Science, and Adjustment.” Tales of the State: Narrative in Contemporary U.S. Politics and Public Policy.  Philip T. Neisser and Sanford F. Schram, Eds.  Rowman & Littlefield, 1997.
-- “The Will to Harmony and the Pursuit of Family,” Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 20, no. 3 (Fall 1994): pp. 253-277.
-- Co-author with Sanford F. Schram, “Redoubling Denial: Industrial Welfare Policy Meets Postindustrial Poverty,” Social Text, no. 41 (Winter 1994), pp. 41-60.
-- “The Ambiguous Family,” Current: The Journal of North Country Action, 6, no 6 (July 1991): 1‑2.