Kristy Shew was the recipient of the 2010 Library Award for Undergraduate Research for her paper entitled “Influences on Israeli Settlement Policy and Their Effects on Executive-Legislative Relations.” Shew, a senior political science and theology major, is from Terre Haute, Indiana. The purpose of the award is to recognize and honor excellence in the use of library services, collections and resources by undergraduate student researchers. The winning student exhibits excellence and creativity in critical thinking, information gathering and synthesis.
About her award, Shew says: "In my political science senior seminar last fall, we explored executive-legislative relations. Each member of the class chose a research topic based on that issue, but each member narrowed the focus to a very specific aspect of executive-legislative relations. Since my political science concentration is in international relations, and since one of the issues with which I have been most intrigued throughout college is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I knew that I wanted to focus on Israel.
Together, using information from official Israeli government websites, Israeli political speeches, the U.S. State Department, news articles, books, academic articles, and the websites of both opposing and supporting groups of settlement activity, I was able to compile this research and apply it to my thesis. Sources offering different perspectives on issues surrounding settlement policy allowed me to use the information I had to make conclusions about the many influences that affect executive-legislative relations regarding settlement activity. The research opened my eyes to settlement policy as a polarizing issue in Israel today."
Shew, a Christ College Scholar, will be a social services specialist with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps in Milwaukee, Wis. in fall 2010.