A new faculty member joining the Wilkes Honors College in the Fall of 2005, Political Scientist Martin Sweet, is a co-winner of the Edward S. Corwin prize for 2005, which is awarded annually for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public law, broadly defined to include the judicial process, judicial behavior, judicial biography, courts, law, legal systems, the American constitutional system, civil liberties, or any other substantial area, or any work which deals in a significant fashion with a topic related to or having substantial impact on the American Constitution. Edward S. Corwin was a former president of the American Political Science Association who consulted with many academics as well as politicians involved with constitutional issues, most notably Franklin D. Roosevelt when President Roosevelt considered a Supreme Court reorganization ("court packing") plan. Past winners of the Corwin Award have gone on to become among the leading scholars in public law.

Prof. Sweet received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, and taught at Dickinson College before joining the Honors College. In the Fall semester he will be teaching Honors Government of the U.S., Honors Research Methods, and a team-taught seminar on Bioethics, law and politics with Philosophy Professor Amy McLaughlin.