Media & Service

Public Service: I have discussed electoral systems and post-communist politics in the US and international media. Selected examples include:

Above: I commented on the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on VOA News (March 29, 2022). The segment starts around 8:46.

Above: I participated in the PONARS Eurasia Ukrainathon on March 16, 2022.

Above: I contributed on background to a VICE News podcast about Ukraine (published March 3, 2022).

Above: On February 24, 2022, I appeared on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval to discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine. The segment starts at 54:00.
Above: On February 16, 2022, I contributed to an AlAraby story about Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Above: I contributed on background to a VICE News podcast about Ukraine (published February 10, 2022).

Above: On February 3, 2022, I participated in an online discussion of Russian aggression against Ukraine hosted by WVU.

Above: On August 28, 2021, I presented research from the CESCI group to the Strategic Multilayer Assessment Speaker Series.

Above: On May 7, 2021, I participated in a discussion about Ukraine's relations with the United States and Russia on Indus News (Scope).

    Above: On March 5, 2021, I was interviewed on the New Books Network about my 2020 book, Normalizing Corruption: Failures of Accountability in Ukraine.
    Above: On October 20, 2020, I participated in a discussion about the voting process for the WVU community.


    Above: On August 3, 2020, I spoke with Howard Monroe about postal voting on his radio program.

    Above: On November 9, 2018, my colleague Cynthia Buckley and I presented research on damage to civilian infrastructure in the Donbas War to the Daniyliw Seminar at the University of Ottawa.

    Above: In January 2017, I participated on a roundtable about the future of US-Russian relations at West Virginia University.

    Above: In June 2016, I participated in a discussion about election reform on "Прямим текстом." The episode aired in early July 2016.

    Above: In June 2016, I was interviewed on Hromadske TV about elections and corruption in Ukraine.

    Above: In June 2016, I discussed election rules and reform at Ukrainian Catholic University in L'viv. Please note that the audio and video are not fully in sync.

    Above: In November 2015, I contributed to a story about ballot history and design on 99% Invisible.

    Above: In October 2014, I was invited to discuss the conflict in Ukraine at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. My visit was sponsored by the University of Oslo and Professor Geir Flikke.

    Above: In 2010, I participated in the KU CREES 50th Anniversary Conference, discussing the relationship between area studies and social sciences. Please note that the audio and video are not fully in sync.

    International Service: I engage in a service agenda focused on professional development for social scientists from post-communist states. During the communist period, political science did not exist as a discipline (except in the form of Marxist studies, or political history). I have served as a mentor to visiting students and faculty members in several programs, including the US State Department's Junior Faculty Development Program, the Open Society Institute's Faculty Development Program, and Fulbright Program. I have also participated in projects with Ivan Franko National University (L'viv, Ukraine) and European University (St. Petersburg, Russia) to enhance social science instruction and research.

    I actively participate in election observation missions with several international organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Republican Institute, and the Committee for Open Democracy. I have been deployed on fifteen missions, including presidential elections in Georgia (2004), Ukraine (2004, 2014, and 2019), and Azerbaijan (2008); parliamentary elections in Russia (1999), Ukraine (2002, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2014, and 2019), and Moldova (2010); and local elections in Ukraine (2010 and 2015).

    Selected University Service:
    • Honors Faculty Fellow (West Virginia University Honors College, 2017-2018).
    • Received the George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award (University of Kansas, 2012).
    • Academic Advisor to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas (2011), coordinating a series of events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the USSR's collapse. The series included a visit by Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Ukraine, and Arzu Geybullayeva, an online activist and blogger from Azerbaijan. 
    • Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science (University of Kansas, 2010-2011), managing graduate student admissions and funding, and overseeing new initiatives in the program. 
    • Director of the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (University of Kansas, 2004-2007), managing strategic planning, programming, grant development and fundraising efforts. I was the principal investigator on successful US Department of Education National Resource Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship grants ($1.88 million), directed a US State Department-sponsored program that exchanged two dozen faculty members from KU and Ivan Franko National University in Ukraine over a three-year period, and spearheaded efforts to hold regular videoconference exchanges with institutions in Eurasia. 
    • Chaired several committees, including departmental searches and a college-level committee to develop a new BA in International Studies. Participated on departmental, college, and university committees, such as the Executive Committee of the Hall Center for the Humanities and Executive Committee of the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

    Selected Disciplinary Service:
    • Member, Electoral Assistance Task Force, American Political Science Association (2020).
    • Member, Professional Ethics, Rights, and Freedoms Committee, American Political Science Association (2018-2021).
    • Treasurer, Representation and Electoral Systems Section, American Political Science Association (2016-2018).
    • Chair of the Pi Sigma Alpha Award Committee, Southern Political Science Association (2015).
    • Program Director at the National Science Foundation: Political Science (2011-2014); Science of Organizations (2013-2014); I-Corps (2013-2014).
    • Member of the Frank J. Goodnow Award Committee, American Political Science Association (2012-2013).
    • Chair of the Committee on Organized Sections, American Political Science Association (2011-2013).
    • Member of the Executive Committee, Representation and Electoral Systems Section of the American Political Science Association (2009-2013). I also served as the Bibliographer (2002-2011) and Chair of the Longley Award Committee (2010).
    • Reviewed manuscripts for the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, American Politics Research, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Governance, Journal of Baltic Studies, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Politics and Policy, Polity, Problems of Post-Communism, Slavic Review, Social Forces, Social Science Quarterly, World Politics, American Councils, Cambridge University Press, CQ Press, Houghton Mifflin, KOLUM Program (Poland), Leverhulme Trust (UK), Michigan State University Press, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, Palgrave Macmillan, Roxbury, and the University of Michigan Press.
    • Member of the Editorial Board of Political Research Quarterly and the Michigan State University Press Series on the Political Economy of Eurasia.

    Contact: Please contact me at erik.s.herron [at] gmail.com for commentary on political developments in the post-Soviet region and international elections.

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