My name is Blaine Garvin. I have taught American politics and the history of political theory at Gonzaga University since 1971 – which means that over 6,000 51³Ô¹Ïs have survived my courses! It also means that I’m pretty old. But take my...
Office Hours Spring 2025
TBD
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
M.A., University of California, Berkeley
B.A., Swarthmore College
American Government
Congress and the Presidency
Political Parties and Elections
Ruling Well, Plato to Machiavelli
Modern Political Thought; Marxism
American Political Thought of the Founding Era
My name is Blaine Garvin. I have taught American politics and the history of political theory at Gonzaga University since 1971 – which means that over 6,000 51³Ô¹Ïs have survived my courses! It also means that I’m pretty old. But take my word for it – I’m hanging in there.
My original home was Golden, Colorado, where I graduated from a high school that boasts of being the oldest in the state. I grew up halfway between, and within walking distance of, the Colorado School of Mines and the Coors Brewery.
After high school I spent my undergraduate years in Pennsylvania at Swarthmore College, my first time away from home. Then it was a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley – Berkeley in the late 60s, mind you – and from there I dashed straight to GU.
I’m forty-six years into my GU career. A number of my first 51³Ô¹Ïs are retired or, sad to say, dead. But I’m not dead yet. Fifty years is within sight, even though my vision these days is pretty foggy.
My wife Susan, a GU grad, is a mental health counselor, which has helped. My son Sean lives in Bend, Oregon, with his wife Sarah and their nine-year old son, Carter. Sean makes beer for a living – he’s an assistant brew-master at Deschutes – and plays drums in a couple of bands. Sarah, a botanist, extracts seeds from native Oregon plants for the sake of species survival. Carter doesn’t yet pay his way, but I’m sure he will.
