Donald Grasse, a native of Flossmoor, Illinois, was enticed to come to the University of Kentucky by an academic scholarship and strong debate team.  While he planned originally to major in International Studies, he quickly added Political Science as a second major after taking Prof. Emily Beaulieu’s introduction to Comparative Politics.  Her course, and others that followed, taught him the importance of using systematic research procedures when trying to answer important questions – an insight that, he tells us, can be just as important as understanding the content of the subject matter.

               Donald has excelled since arriving at UK.  A Political Science major with minors concentrating in Islamic Studies and History, he carries a 3.9 GPA while also being a Chellgren Fellow. His biggest claim to fame, though, may be his successes as an active member of the UK Debate Team.

               Currently, collegedebateratings.weebly.com ranks Donald’s two-person team 6th nationally as a result of many Top 20 awards (including from recent meets at Harvard, Texas, Miami, Georgia State, and Kentucky). Donald’s success has been one of the primary reasons why the National Debate Tournament, in its Spring 2015 report, ranked the University of Kentucky as #1 on its list of “Movers” (schools that are climbing the rankings). Way to go Donald!

               Donald speaks highly of many of his political science professors and the time they took to help explain course material. In addition to Prof. Beaulieu, Donald praised Department Chair Ernie Yanarella and his political theory course, which he says tied together classic political philosophy with a contemporary context.  He enjoys his class with Prof. Horace Bartilow and said he benefits from their extensive discussions after class.  Prof.  Clayton Thyne’s emphasis on statistics and research design played a vital role in Donald’s respect for scientific methodology. 

               So what’s next for Donald? Donald expects to graduate in Spring 2015.  After that, he plans to go to graduate school, earn a Ph.D. in political science, and either enter academia or go into the private sector.  While he does not have his graduate school picked out, he appears confident and ready to take the next step.