U.S. Senate confirms Nelsen nomination

Dr. Brent Nelsen

GREENVILLE, S.C.—The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Furman University political science professor Brent Nelsen to the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Nelsen was nominated for the position in April by President Barack Obama, and the Senate confirmed the nomination Aug. 1.  His term begins immediately and will expire Jan. 31, 2016.

Nelsen has served as chairman of the South Carolina Education Television Commission since 2011 when Gov. Nikki Haley appointed him to the position.

“All of us at Furman congratulate Brent for being selected to serve in this very important national position,” said Carl Kohrt, Furman’s interim president.  “It is quite an honor, and I am certain he will be a great asset for the work of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

Nelsen has been a member of the Furman faculty since 1990 and served as chair of the political science department from 2003 to 2009.  He teaches courses on the politics of Europe and the European Union, as well as a course on the politics of the international economic system. He has been president of the South Carolina Political Science Association, and is a member of the American Political Science Association.

Nelsen’s books include The State Offshore: Petroleum, Politics, and State Intervention on the British and Norwegian Continental Shelves and Norway and the European Community: The Political Economy of Integration. He also teamed with former Furman student Alexander Stubb, who is Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade of Finland, to publish a textbook, The European Union: Readings on the Theory and Practice of European Integration.  A new book co-authored with Furman political science professor Jim Guth, Religion and the Struggle for Europe, will be published by Georgetown University Press in 2014.

A native of Wisconsin, Nelsen is a graduate of Wheaton College and holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967.  The steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting, it helps support the operations of more than 1,300 public television and radio stations nationwide.

For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.