DeWine to Start Teaching Two Courses on Politics
By Jonathan Riskind, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Jan. 10–WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Mike DeWine is becoming Professor DeWine, at least to his students at Miami and Cedarville universities.
The Ohio Republican lost his bid for a third Senate term when he was defeated Nov. 8 by Democrat Sherrod Brown. DeWine wasn’t commenting yesterday on whether he is interested in running for governor in four years, saying “Let’s let (Democratic Gov.) Ted Strickland be sworn in.”
But DeWine, who is in the process of moving his family back to their Cedarville house from suburban Washington, was more than happy to expound on the classes he will be teaching at the universities near his Ohio home.
He begins Thursday with a class on “leadership and decision-making in modern American politics” at Cedarville, where he will “try to give students insight into how elections work and how the Senate works today,” DeWine said.
At Miami, DeWine will start teaching in a few weeks a similar course on “inside American politics,” in which he will explore such issues as his involvement with the so-called Gang of 14 bipartisan group of senators who forged a compromise on President Bush’s judicial nominees.
But first, DeWine will hold a series of lunch seminars with small groups of Miami students and faculty members. Topics will include Haiti, child welfare and education, all areas of interest of his during his Senate career.
“It should be fun,” DeWine said. “I’m pretty excited about it.”
At both Cedarville and Miami, DeWine said, he will design the courses but will work in conjunction with a current faculty member.
At Cedarville, DeWine will lecture with Mark Caleb Smith, director of the university’s Center for Political Studies, and consult with the school on its new semester in Washington program, which is scheduled to start next year, the school said in a release.
Ryan Barilleaux, Miami’s political-science chairman and De-Wine’s co-teacher there, called the former lawmaker’s presence a “wonderful opportunity for Miami students to learn from a senior statesman with a long career in Ohio and Washington.”
DeWine, a 1969 Miami graduate, was a U.S. House member and Ohio lieutenant governor, among other elected offices, before winning his Senate seat.
Miami, a state school, is paying DeWine $25,000 for the semester, a university spokeswoman said. Cedarville, a private Baptist institution, doesn’t disclose salaries, a spokeswoman said.
DeWine said he also “will be doing some other things” in addition to the college classes, but he declined to elaborate yesterday, saying his other projects still were under discussion.
Meanwhile, Miami also announced yesterday it will be receiving DeWine’s official papers from serving in the Senate and House.
jriskind@dispatch.com
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.