News and Achievements

As we bring the 2024–2025 academic year to a close, we also say goodbye to Dr. Steven Stehr, as he enters retirement.

I was truly excited to write Ethical Omnivores: Better Eating for Everyone because it offered a chance to deeply engage with questions that matter to so many people: How to eat well, live ethically, and still enjoy food in all its richness.

On April 23, the faculty, students, and friends of PPPA gathered to celebrate undergraduate and graduate student successes.

Denny Johnston (’74 Poli. Sci.) grew up witnessing the power and importatnce of lifetime learning. His mother’s formal education was interrupted when her hometown was occupied by the forces of Nazi Germany

WSU political science researchers received a $3.9M Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative grant to help counter destabilizing disinformation campaigns and violent extremism in African crisis regions.

The Foley Institute hosted more than a dozen noontime conversations this fall focused. Recordings are available of most events on the institute’s YouTube channel.

On Oct. 14, visiting scholar Ana Ballesteros-Pena from Complutense University Madrid (Spain) presented a guest lecture on gender and policy on prisons and immigration detention.

In October, PPPA welcomed guest speaker Bradley Madsen from Texas A&M University. Madsen presented to faculty, staff, and students on the effect of television station consolidation on legislative responsiveness. 

Thessalia Merivaki, director of the Foley Institute, spoke with SciLine about how artificial intelligence is poised to impact the 2026 midterm elections.

Washington State University students who are registered to vote elsewhere in Washington can still cast their ballots in Pullman for the Nov. 3 general election, even if their ballots were mailed to their home addresses.

Thessalia Merivaki, director of the Foley Institute, joined The Journalist’s Resource as a panelist for an hour-long question-and-answer session about what’s top of mind for voters and election officials this fall from a journalist’s perspective.

Thessalia Merivaki, director of the Foley Institute, spoke with The Markup about what happens when more voters than ever are using AI to get election information, what election officials have done to make sure accurate information cuts through the noise, and how we all can work toward a more resilient electorate in the age of AI.

The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University is cosponsoring a nonpartisan panel debate on the three statewide initiatives on Washington’s November 2026 ballot in partnership with Braver Angels of Washington State.

Thessalia Merivaki, professor of government and director of the Foley Institute, was quoted in an CNBC article about election officials banning certain public workers from trading on prediction markets ahead of midterm elections.