KU News Release

Burdett Loomis

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More Information

• Read Loomis' blog here
• Department of Political Science
• Burdett Loomis on Facebook

LAWRENCE — Burdett Loomis, professor of political science at the University of Kansas, will travel to Nepal and Bangladesh from July 31 to Aug. 14 to speak about U.S. politics and the Obama administration. His trip is at the invitation of the U.S. State Department.

As he did during a similar State Department assignment this spring, Loomis will blog about his 15-day trip on his Web site.

While overseas, Loomis will meet with regional leaders, journalists, students and faculty. In Nepal, he is scheduled to visit universities in Kathmandu and Pokhara. In Bangladesh, in addition to attending university meetings, Loomis will visit the Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

Loomis, who traveled to Iraq in February and China, Malaysia and Singapore last year for State Department assignments, said he has found that the students and others he meets “tend to be interested in how things get done here.” In countries where party politics can be seriously divisive, Loomis said he has encountered active interest in “how political battles are kept within institutional boundaries.”

In Nepal and Bangladesh, he plans to review the 2008 election and its effect on the U.S. Congress as well as the impact of media on U.S. politics. This allows for room to talk about civility, the consequences of elections for both parties and the relationship of the media to politics and policy-making, Loomis said.

“In the end, this is an historic time, and the Obama administration proves a useful vehicle to address American politics and policies,” Loomis said.

Loomis also has completed speaking tours in Brazil, the British West Indies and Mexico. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Argentina.

In addition to teaching, Loomis is writing a new book about Kansas politics. He is focusing on the tremendous change that took place in Kansas politics from 1960 to 1975, when “the state was yanked out of the 19th century, into the late 20th century, for better or for worse.”

Loomis’ books include “The Contemporary Congress,” “Time, Politics and Policies: A Legislative Year,” “The New American Politician,” “Esteemed Colleagues: Civility and Deliberation in the United States Senate” and “The Sound of Money,” written with Darrell West. He is co-editor of “Choosing a President” and co-author of “Republic on Trial.” He and Allan Cigler, professor of political science at KU, are co-editors of seven editions each of “Interest Group Politics” and “American Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings.”

Loomis was director of administrative communication for former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2005 and interim director of KU’s Dole Institute of Politics from 1997 to 2001. He has directed KU’s Washington, D.C., and Topeka internship programs since the 1980s. Loomis is also director of the KU School of Law’s Legislative Clinic, through which students intern with Kansas legislators during the legislative session. This spring, he was a Hall Center fellow at KU. Loomis was a Brookings Institution guest scholar in 1984, 1996 and 2000. In 1984, he directed the Congressional Management Project at American University in Washington, D.C., and edited “Setting Course,” a guide for new members of Congress.

Loomis received KU’s W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in 1996 and a congressional fellowship with the American Political Science Association in 1975.