Jeff Seward
Associate Professor
Department of Politics and Government
Contact information
Email: sewardj@pacificu.edu
Office: Marsh Hall 231
Phone: 503.352.2182
Fax: 503.352.3195
Education
Teaching
Professor Seward’s broad teaching interests include comparative politics (with a special emphasis on Brazil and Latin America), political philosophy, political economy, women in politics, and politics in literature and film. He also teaches regularly in Pacific’s interdisciplinary humanities-based freshman seminar.
Fall 2007 Courses
POLS 239 - Conquest of the Americas
POLS 310 - Markets, Politics, & Justice
POLS 401 – Senior Seminar & Thesis
Spring 2008 Courses
POLS 255 - Incan Peru & Modern Legacy
POLS 309 - Classics of Political Philosophy: Plato to Postmodernism
POLS 355 – Reinventing Europe
POLS 402 – Senior Seminar & Thesis
Publications and Professional Work
Professor Seward was a political reporter and documentary film producer for public television prior to his academic career. During eight years with KAID-TV in Boise, Idaho, and KCTS-TV in Seattle, Washington, he covered five sessions of the Idaho Legislature and one session of the Washington Legislature, interviewed dozens of major state and national political figures, and produced numerous film and video documentaries on major public affairs issues. Two of his documentaries received national recognition:
"A Place in the Sun," a half hour film analyzing a major UN conference on global development held in Seattle, was honored for outstanding local coverage of economic issues by the Economic Broadcasters Association.
"In the Best of Times," a half hour film analyzing the problem of African-American youth unemployment in Seattle, aired nationally on the Jim Lehrer-hosted "US Chronicles" series, was named best local production on economic issues by the Economic Broadcasters Association, and was nominated for a national Emmy for outstanding local public affairs programming by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Professor Seward's current scholarly projects include
Revising his dissertation manuscript, The Politics of Protectionism: Brazilian Informatics Policy, Regime Change, and State Autonomy, 1971-1992 for publication by Stanford University Press.
Preparing an article on the impact of democracy in Brazil on policy-making and local government, "What's Democratic About Democracy? Reflections on Two Brazilian Cases."
Production of a feature-length video on a group of women who were pioneers in the computer science professions in Peru, "The Grasshopper Women: A Peruvian Tale of Globalization."
Formation of an interdisciplinary faculty study group to read and analyze the Bible from historical and scholarly perspectives.
Extracurricular Activities
Professor Seward lives in Portland with his wife Maria and 15-year-old daughter Annamaria, loves to travel abroad (recent trips to France, Spain, Brazil, and Peru), is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish (and working on French), reads widely in comparative religion, and is an avid golfer, tennis player, and film buff.