PoliTalk EDU

Professor Michael S. Yoder: A discussion - Project 2026: Oil, War, and the USMCA Review: Trump, and the World Cup—Is the Texas-Mexico Corridor the Last Stand for the Global Economy?

Episode # 20The Episode Description / "The Big Picture" "As the Iran conflict chokes the Strait of Hormuz and global sea lanes fall into chaos, the American economy has one remaining lifeline: the Texas-Mexico Corridor. But in 2026, that lifeline is under fire. In this high-stakes episode, join Mohsen Omar and Dr. Michael S. Yoder as they navigate a perfect storm: the Trump Administration’s aggressive posture toward the USMCA review, the looming political heat of the 2026 Midterm Elections, and the unprecedented logistical 'stress test' of hosting a World Cup on a continent at a crossroads. Dr. Michael S. Yoder Brief Biography Michael S. Yoder, Ph.D. is a geographer who received his doctorate at Louisiana State University in 1994 and his masters at The University of South Carolina in 1989. His early research addressed changing agricultural land-use patterns and related policy in the South Carolina Piedmont, Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, and the Mexican State of Yucatán. He is presently a Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and the Environment at The University of Texas at Austin. From 2008 to 2017 he was Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Central Arkansas, where he served as Director of the Master of Science in Community and Economic Development between 2010 and 2017. Most recently, he has researched industrial and transport geography in Northern Mexico and Texas, agricultural transportation, and economic development in small cities of Arkansas and South Texas. He is author of the book Geographical Scale and Economic Development: Lessons Learned from Texas and Mexico (Springer 2023).

Professor Tom Paterson: Donald Trump and Presidential Power: Do We Need a New Theory? Talking Trump, Political Parties and other relevant political issues.

Tom Patterson is Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is author of the recently published How America Lost Its Mind, which looks at the problem of misinformation. Earlier books include Out of Order, which examined the media’s political role and received the American Political Science Association’s Graber Award as the best book of the decade in political communication. Another is The Unseeing Eye, which looked at television’s impact on politics and was named by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the leading books on public opinion of the past half century. A Minnesota native, he earned his PhD at the University of Minnesota, where he studied after serving in the US Army Special Forces in Vietnam.

Professor Judith Norman & Professor Katherine Gillen: A discussion about Academic Freedom, Palestine and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Trump's Presidency, and dissolving the Dep. of Education.

Episode # 18 Bio - Professor Judith Norman Judith Norman has been engaged with community organizing for 20 years. She has worked with movements for economic justice, anti-militarization,educational justice, decarceration, and the liberation of Palestine. The latter is closest to her heart, and she has worked with Jewish Voice for Peace and San Antonio for Justice in Palestine. She is a Murchison DistinguishedProfessor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Trinity University. The opinions she expresses are her own, and do not represent her employer or any of the organizations with which she is affiliated *********************************************************************************************************** Bio – Professor Katherine Gillen Katherine Gillen is Professor of English at Texas A&M University–San Antonio. She is the author of Chaste Value: Economic Crisis, Female Chastity, and the Production of Social Difference on Shakespeare’s Stage (EUP, 2017) and several essays on race, gender, and economics in early modern drama and Shakespeare appropriation. She is working on a monograph tentatively titled Shakespeare’s Racial Classicism: Whiteness, Slavery, and Humanism, which examines Shakespeare’s use of classical sources within the context of emerging racial capitalism. With Kathryn Vomero Santos and Adrianna M. Santos, she co-founded the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, which has received funding from the Mellon Foundation and the NEH.

Professor Michael S. Yoder: A discussion and reflection on US-Mexico relations, especially trade . USMCA as an update of NAFTA in 2018, and the pending review of USMCA in 2026. The Trump Presidency.

Professor Michael S. Yoder: A discussion and reflection on US-Mexico relations, especially trade . USMCA as an update of NAFTA in 2018, and the pending review of USMCA in 2026. The Trump Presidency. Dr. Michael S. Yoder Brief Biography Michael S. Yoder, Ph.D. is a geographer who received his doctorate at Louisiana State University in 1994 and his masters at The University of South Carolina in 1989. His early research addressed changing agricultural land-use patterns and related policy in the South Carolina Piedmont, Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, and the Mexican State of Yucatán. He is presently a Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and the Environment at The University of Texas at Austin. From 2008 to 2017 he was Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Central Arkansas, where he served as Director of the Master of Science in Community and Economic Development between 2010 and 2017. Most recently, he has researched industrial and transport geography in Northern Mexico and Texas, agricultural transportation, and economic development in small cities of Arkansas and South Texas. He is author of the book Geographical Scale and Economic Development: Lessons Learned from Texas and Mexico (Springer 2023).

Interview with Professor Robert Yowell. Discussion about: “The Presidential Election in 2024.”

The topic: Interview with Professor Robert Yowell.  Discussion about: The Presidential Election in 2024.” The Guest: Professor Robert Yowell was born in the suburbs of Los Angeles during the twentieth century. Although Robert started his college education at Texas A&M University, his road to a bachelor's degree was long and winding, eventually concluding at Whittier College where he earned a liberal arts degree majoring in political science with a psychology minor.  Dr. Yowell studied in Washington, DC where he earned a Master of Arts in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University.  Robert returned to college again as a political science Ph.D. candidate at The University of Kansas, finishing his adventure with a dissertation on the effect of Ross Perot's presidential runs on U.S. House elections.  Dr. Yowell moved to the San Antonio area in summer of 2006 to be one of the inaugural full-time faculty embers at Northeast Lakeview College.