The Tower Center for Political Studies at SMU maintains an office in the Centennial Center
allowing us to link research activities of Tower Center faculty, fellows, and associates in
Dallas (the heartland) with scholars, institutes, and think tanks in Washington and around
the world. The Tower Center supports research and teaching in three areas: (1) international
and comparative political economy, including trade, migration, and finance; (2) foreign
policy, national security, and defense; and (3) American political development with an
emphasis on policy, institutions, and process. Seyom Brown, Tower Chair in National Security
and Director of Studies in the Tower Center, runs the national security program. Brown is
conducting research for his two current book projects—an updated edition of The
Faces of Power (Columbia University Press) and a new book entitled The
Higher Realism (Paradigm Publishers), which advocates a shift in foreign policy
after the 2008 election. Dennis Ippolito, McElvaney Professor of Political Science at SMU,
leads the Tower Center program on American politics. His recent publications include
Why Budgets Matter (Penn State) and he is working on a book entitled
Welfare Shift, examining the past growth and projected future of federal
social welfare programs and the federal budget.