Richard C. Kearney is professor and director of NC State’s School of Public and International Affairs, which houses the Department of Political science among other departments and programs. Kearney has published extensively on state and local government and politics, including the (co-authored) best-selling text, State and Local Government (7th edition, Houghton Mifflin, 2008). He is particularly knowledgeable in education policy, crime and criminal justice, environmental policy and politics, and health and welfare policy.

He is prepared to provide an overview of the 2008 election process and critical issues in state and local governments. This should be interesting to the Brazilian students, whose country shares a federal system with the U.S.

Kearney has traveled widely in Latin America, with extended stays in the Yucatan area of Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, and 1 ½ years in the Dominican Republic. He has not yet been to Brazil but plans a visit in the future, as his niece and a Brazilian partner have recently established an ecologically-friendly travel agency in that country.