Introducing: Dr. Eric Kasper

With this blog post, I wanted to give my mentor a proper introduction. The mentor that I have chosen to work with over the Summer to complete my research on free speech on public college campuses is Dr. Eric Kasper. Dr. Kasper is a political science professor and a municipal judge in Rice Lake Wisconsin. He started his academic career at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with his bachelor's degree. Then, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to complete his Master’s degree and later, his Juris Doctorate. Since becoming a professor at UWEC, he has taught many classes about Constitutional Law and Judicial Politics.

With his education alone, I would have considered him as a mentor, but another reason has everything to do with his academic publications. He has published many articles about free speech and he has published academic articles about free speech on college campuses specifically. When I first reached out to him to discover my research question, he sent me an article that he authored on a similar topic. He sent me his article, “Public Universities and the First Amendment: Controversial speakers, Protests, and Free Speech Policies”. After reading his article, I found that his research was very similar to what I envisioned mine to look like. Many of the cases that he suggested that I look at to help me arrive at a research question, were the same ones that he referenced himself in his article. He offered a significant amount of help even in the very beginning stages before I had asked him to be my mentor for this project. Picking Dr. Kasper as my mentor almost felt like it had to happen since he had assisted me as much as he did before I had even asked him to be my mentor. Beyond his research in Constitutional law, he has conducted a substantial amount of research on the judicial process and on judges.

Since the beginning he has helped me draft grant proposals and has connected me to other funding opportunities for this research process. Dr. Kasper suggested I apply for funding through the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies, especially since my research is Constitutional Law related. Through this process he helped me draft the proposal and we exchanged emails to fine tune it. I have since been awarded a grant through the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies. I said it before, and I’ll reiterate it in this post, I do not believe I could have picked a better mentor to work on this project with.