October 28, 2008

 

Election ’08’s Impact on Michigan: Energy, the Environment, and the Economy

Grand Valley’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies and Michigan Radio hosted a panel discussion examining the policies of the presidential candidates and how they will impact Michigan. Experts on the environment, energy, and the economy were joined by advocates for the Obama and McCain campaigns to help explain their views in these important areas.

The panel was moderated by Jack Lessenberry. Mr. Jack Lessenberry is Michigan Radios senior political analyst. His Essays and Interviews can be heard each weekday on the station between 1 and 2 p.m. during Day to Day. Mr. Lessenberry’s resume boasts nearly thirty years of journalism experience. He has worked as a foreign correspondent and executive national editor of The Detroit News, during which time he reported from more than forty countries. His writing has appeared in such national publications as Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. He is a contributing editor and consultant for many other newspapers.

This segment includes words from Gleaves Whitney, Dustin Dwyer, and Paul Isely.

Dr. Gleaves Whitney is the first full-time director of Grand Valley’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. The creator of the Ask Gleaves column on the American presidency, he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colorado State University, did graduate work in history at the University of Michigan, was a Fulbright Scholar to Germany, and received an honorary doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He is a member of the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee, a senior scholar at the Center for the American Idea, and a senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. Dr. Whitney is author or editor of 13 books including, most recently (with Mark Rozell), Religion and the American Presidency and Religion and the Bush Presidency. His work has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Prior to his arrival at Grand Valley, Dr. Whitney worked 11 years in Michigan Governor John Engler’s administration, serving as senior writer, chief speechwriter, and historian.

Mr. Dustin Dwyer is a news reporter and producer for Michigan Radio. Mr. Dwyer began his public radio career as an intern for NPRs Talk of the Nation program. He has worked at Michigan Radio since 2005, first as a producer for the Jack Lessenberry Show, and then as a reporter. For the past several years, Mr. Dwyer has covered the automotive and business beats for the station, and his reports on the auto industry and Michigan's economy can frequently be heard on NPR stations across the country, as well as Michigan Radio. Mr. Dwyer is about to embark on a new phase of his Michigan Radio career, as he has just been named the stations new West Michigan reporter.

Dr. Paul Isely is associate professor of economics in the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University. Dr. Isely, who holds a dual B.S. in physics and economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as an M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from Purdue University, joined the Grand Valley faculty in 1995. Dr. Isely teaches courses on environmental economics, business cycles and growth, and economic modeling.

Dr. Isely’s research interests have led to numerous articles and reports about West Michigan’s economy and its relationship to the national and state economies, and about renewable energy sources and traditional energy pricing. His academic publications have focused on firm and government interaction. Recent publications have explored a firms ability to create new innovations and Grand Rapids recycling. He has also consulted on several projects to the Annis Water Resources Institute, aimed at providing economic information to assist local decision makers.