David Houghton

Dr. David Houghton, associate professor emeritus of political science at Western Michigan University, retired from teaching and directing the Capital Intern Program in the spring of 2018. He retired in the summer of 2018 after 40 years of service to the University. His teaching focused on various forms of citizen participation at the local level and the factors that hinder or facilitate that participation. Citizen advisory boards, citizen slating organizations, and nonpartisan and partisan elections are among some of the participation modes studied. Field observation and surveys are frequently employed to gather data.

Dr. Houghton implemented the Political Science undergraduate internship program and serves as its sole director. He has been mentoring and sending out interns in the Kalamazoo area since 1978. The Capital Intern Program began in 1990, which sends interns to Lansing, and continues to represent one of the best internship programs the university has to offer. It has been a successful program for students to experience government, business, and law offices. The David G. Houghton Internship Endowment was created to assist the current intern program and expand its scope. The program plans to send more interns to Washington D.C.