A University of Mary Washington political science student has won a prominent, national essay competition, bringing to eight the number of times since 1995 that UMW undergraduates have claimed the top award in the political science honor society Pi Sigma Alpha’s annual contest.
“This record of academic achievement is unmatched, as no other school in the nation has won more than twice,” said Jack Kramer, chair of UMW’s Department of Political Science and International Relations.
Senior Nicholas Jacobs of Herndon recently won first place in Pi Sigma Alpha’s 2010 competition for the Best Undergraduate Class Paper. The work, “Professional Reputation: Why the First Year of the American Presidency is Overstated,” makes the case that the outcomes of the president’s first year cannot be used as a simple predictor of future success or failures because there is no connection between the two.
A political science and education major, Jacobs is UMW chapter treasurer for Pi Sigma Alpha and has been named to the Dean’s List. His essay also was a winner in the natural and social sciences category of Mary Washington’s 19th Annual Student Writing Contest. In addition, he presented the paper at the annual Virginia Social Science Association Conference in 2009 and received a UMW grant to conduct research on segregation in District of Columbia charter schools. He is in the process of writing an honor’s thesis on democratic education in public schools.
Pi Sigma Alpha is the only honor society for college students of political science and government in the United States with nearly 700 chapters on college and university campuses in every state of the United States and in Guam. The society promotes the study of political science by providing opportunities to share ideas through essay competition and journal submissions.