MALCOLM GOGGIN

School of Public Affairs

Fulbright Scholar

Glasgow, Scotland 1993-1994

 

TEACHING AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC POLICY, AND AMERICAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Malcolm Goggin, clinical professor in the School of Public Affairs, spent a year at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, on a UK-US Faculty Exchange teaching American Government, Public Policy, and American Political Institutions to undergraduates in the Department of Politics. Several of his colleagues at the University of Strathclyde were interested in his research on abortion politics and governing biomedicine, especially his research as a Fulbright scholar on assisted reproductive technology in the U.S. and Europe. Goggin took a very careful approach to his class discussions, keeping in mind the apparent tensions between Catholic and Protestant student when framing the topic.

At the time, Goggin was a tenured professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston. Coming from the daily 100 degree temperatures and 90 percent humidity of Houston made the change in weather to Scotland "most welcome". When spring arrived, Goggin was ready for hill walking, which became one of his favorite pastimes. By the end of May, when it seemed as though there were 18-20 hours of daylight, Goggin would set out at 6 a.m. on a bus for the hills or lochs 25 miles away and would walk the entire distance back to Glasgow. "The next best thing to hill walking was pub crawling", he noted. He made new friends and spent many hours over some rewarding conversations.

“The experience created an awareness and appreciation of the freedoms that we enjoy in the US and the opportunities for the exploration of new ideas. Sometimes I ran across things at American universities that were taken for granted, such as the fact that our offices remained heated over the weekend and 24 hour access to the library.”

- Malcolm Goggin
School of Public Affairs