The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Timothy O’Rourke was appointed July 2007. As the academic vice president, Dr. O’Rourke is responsible for all affairs and personnel within the academic division, including the faculty. Dr. O’Rourke is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from Duke University. He has over 37 years of experience in higher education as both a faculty member and administrator, and has earned the rank of Professor. Dr. O’Rourke’s more recent administrative responsibilities, which in some cases included dual administrative and faculty appointments, include: Professor and Head, Department of Political Science at Clemson University (1992–1995); Teresa M. Fischer Professor of Citizenship Education (joint appointment as Professor of Educational Leadership and of Political Science) at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (1995–2002); Dean, Fulton School of Liberal Arts, and Professor of Political Science at Salisbury University (2002–2007); and his current position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Publications, Professional Papers
Books
State and Local Government: The Third Century of Federalism (Prentice-Hall, 1988), co-author with Richard H. Leach.
The Impact of Reapportionment (Transaction Books, 1980), one of CHOICE’s Outstanding Academic Books of 1980.
Dimensions of State and Urban Policy Making (Macmillan, 1975), co-editor with Richard H. Leach and others.
Articles in Books, Journals
“Assessing the 1990s South Carolina Congressional Districting Plan,” 19 Political Geography 189-211 (2000), co-author with Carmen Cirincione and Thomas Darling.
“The Impact of Reapportionment on Congress and State Legislatures,” pp. 195-224 in Voting Rights and Redistricting in the United States, ed. Mark Rush (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998).
"Thomas Coleman Andrews," pp. 168-70 in Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Volume 1 (Aaroe-Blanchfield), ed. John T. Kneebone et al. (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998).
“The Local Election System,” in Handbook for Mayors and Municipal Council Members, 4th Ed. Rev., ed. Sandra Wiley and Mary Jo Fields (Richmond: Virginia Municipal League, 1998).
“Shaw v. Reno: The Shape of Things to Come," 26 Rutgers Law Journal 723-73 (1995), reprinted with “Epilogue” in Affirmative Action and Representation: Shaw v. Reno and the Future of Voting Rights, ed. Anthony A. Peacock (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1997), pp. 43-95.
"Shaw v. Reno and the Hunt for Double Cross-Overs," 28 PS: Political Science & Politics 36-41 (1995).
"The Voting Rights Paradox," pp. 84-113 in Controversies in Minority Voting: The Voting Rights Act in Perspective, ed. Bernard Grofman and Chandler Davidson (Brookings Institution, 1992).
"The Contemporary Relevance of the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788," pp. 129-44 in The David A. Sayre History Symposium: Collected Lectures, 1985-89 (Lexington, Ky: Sayre School, 1991).
"The Demographic and Economic Setting of Southern Politics," pp. 9-34 in Contemporary Southern Politics, ed. by James F. Lea (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988).
"Resurgent Governors in the Federal System," 1 Political Science Teacher 5-7 (Fall 1988), co-author with Rickey Vallier.
"Justice Black, Local Control, and Federalism," 38 Alabama Law Review 331-356 (1987), co-author with Abigail M. Thernstrom; reprinted in Tony Freyer, ed., Justice Hugo Black and Modern America (Univ. of Alabama Press, 1990).
"Racial Polarization in Vote Dilution Cases Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act: The Impact of Thornburg v. Gingles," 3 Journal of Law & Politics 295-353 (Fall 1986), co-author with Paul W. Jacobs, II.
"Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982: The New Bailout Provision and Virginia," 69 Virginia Law Review 765-804 (1983).
"Constitutional and Statutory Challenges to Local At-Large Elections," 17 Univ. of Richmond Law Review 39-98 (1982).
"The Impact of Proposed Election Reforms on the Federal System," 3 Southern Rev. of Pub. Administration 21-31 (1979).
"Communication: Trivial Shifts in Presidential Elections," 72 American Political Science Review 1360-61 (1978).
Selected Articles for the Center for Public Service, University of Virginia
"The Local Election System in Virginia's Cities and Towns," 68 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (June 1992); reprinted in Handbook for Virginia Mayors & Council Members, ed. Sandra H. Wiley and Mary Jo Fields (Richmond: Virginia Municipal League, 1993).
"Voting Rights Under the Constitution: A Historical and Contemporary Profile," 61 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (July 1985).
"The Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982," 59 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (Feb. 1983). This is an abridgment of two law review articles published in 1982 and 1983.
"Virginia's Local Executive Constitutional Officers: A Contemporary Profile," 58 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (May 1982), co-author with George Asimos, Jr.
"The Frostbelt-Sunbelt Controversy," 57 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (April 1981).
"Welfare Policy in Virginia and the Nation," 56 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (Oct. 1979).
"City and County At-Large Elections and the Problem of Minority Representation," 55 Univ. of Virginia News Letter (Feb. 1979).
Book Reviews
Review of Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction, by Morgan Kousser, in 20 American Review of Politics 107-11 (Spring 1999).
Review of A Decade of Devolution: Perspectives on State-Local Relations, ed. E. Blaine Liner, 21 American Review of Public Administration 157-59 (June 1991).
Review of Whose Votes Count: Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights, by Abigail M. Thernstrom, 4 Benchmark 83-87 (Winter 1988).
Review of Electoral Laws and Their Political Consequences, ed. by Bernard Grofman and Arend Lijphart, 81 American Political Science Review (APSR) 1427-28 (1987).
Review of The Nationalization of State Government, ed. Jerome T. Hanus, 76 APSR 137-38 (1982).
Review of Fiscal Retrenchment and Urban Policy, ed. John P. Blair and David Nachmias, 74 APSR 813-14 (1980).
Selected Newspaper, Popular Magazine Articles, Other Publications
Teacher’s Guide to the 2002 Elections in Missouri, prepared for Kids Voting Missouri, distributed to 10,000 teachers.
“How the West Began,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16, 2002, p. B7 (co-author with Jacqueline Chambers).
“America’s Turnout Problem” and “Voting Rights Under the Constitution: Two Cases,” 25 The Citizenship Educator 1, 4-7 (October 1999), published by the Missouri Bar Advisory Committee on Citizenship Education.
"The Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights," 99 The Scottish Rite Journal 15-18 (Nov. 1991).
"Constitution Is What the American People Make It," The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), Sept. 13, 1987, p. C3.
"The Constitution's Virginia Roots: Six Lessons for Living Under a Constitutional Democracy," The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), July 5, 1987, pp. C1, C2. Reprinted, 8 Magazine of History (for Teachers of History) 9-11 (Summer 1994).
Selected Testimony, Submissions to Congressional Committees
Participant in May 25, 1994, Roundtable on the Voting Rights Act, before U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcom. on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Voting Rights, 103rd Cong., 1st and 2nd Sess. (1994), pp. 353-80.
Testimony on Presley v. Etowah County Commission, before U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcom. on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Voting Rights Act: Bilingual Education, Expert Witness Fees, and Presley, 102nd Cong., 1st Sess. (1992), pp. 478-95.
Testimony on S. 675, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Equal Access to Voting Act of 1989, Hearing of S. 675, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. (1989), pp. 162-175.
Written testimony "Regarding the Proposed Rules for 28 CFR Part 51, Procedures for the Administration of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act," in U.S. House of Rep., Com. on the Judiciary, Subcom. on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Proposed Changes to Regulations Governing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985), pp. 29-42.
Selected Presentations at Professional Meetings
Chair, Panel Discussion of “David B. Robertson, The Constitution and America’s Destiny,” at national Policy History Conference, Charlottesville, June 1-4, 2006.
Paper (with Carmen Cirincione & Thomas Darling), “Respect for Traditional Districting Principles: A Computer Intensive Evaluation of Redistricting in Louisiana and Virginia and A Look Ahead.” American Political Science Association Annual Meeting (hereafter, APSA), Boston, Sept. 3-6, 1998.
Paper (with C. Cirincione & T. Darling), “Assessing Race-as-Predominant Factor Claims: A Computer-Intensive Method,” Geographic Information Systems and Redistricting Conference, sponsored by the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, SUNY at Buffalo, Oct. 24-26, 1997.
Paper (with C. Cirincione & T. Darling), “Does the Supreme Court Have It Right? Toward a Quantitative Standard for Evaluating Congressional Redistricting Plans After Shaw v. Hunt and Bush v. Vera,” APSA, Washington, D.C., Aug. 28-31, 1997
Paper (with Carmen Cirincione and Thomas Darling), “Race and Congressional Redistricting: A Computer-Intensive Evaluation of the 1992 North Carolina Plan,” APSA, San Francisco, Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1996.
Paper, "Crazy Quilts Then and Now: Shaw v. Reno and the Legacy of Baker v. Carr," presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Albuquerque, March 10-12, 1994.
Panel Chair, Plenary Roundtable Discussion of "The Voting Rights Act: A 25-Year Retrospective," 1990 Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Atlanta, November 8-10, 1990.
Commentator, "Conference on the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Law and Society," The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., October 19, 1990.
Chair, Panel on “Teaching the Constitution,” National Conference of Social Studies Teachers, New York, Nov. 14, 1986.
Presenter on “Virginia Court Days Series,” at American Bar Association Conference on “We the People: Community Forums on the Constitution,” St. Paul, May 9-11, 1986.