Durham, NC - President Barack Obama completes his first year in office on Jan. 20. The following Duke University experts can comment on the president's first-year performance on key issues, and look ahead to how he might handle these issues in the coming year.

Categories:

Economy/Jobs
Education
Environment
Homeland Security/Terrorism
Politics/Race
Presidential/Congressional Elections

Economy/Jobs:

Campbell Harvey, professor of international business at the Fuqua School of Business. Specializes in financial markets, global risk management, portfolio management; has been a visiting scholar at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Editor of the Journal of Finance. (919) 660-7768; cam.harvey@duke.edu.

John Coleman, professor of economics at the Fuqua School of Business. Specializes in macroeconomics, monetary economics, international economics, international financial policy, international finance; has worked as an economist in the International Finance Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (919) 660-7962; coleman@duke.edu.

Education:

Helen Ladd, professor of public policy studies and economics at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Specializes in public school financing, school accountability and vouchers; editor of "Holding Schools Accountable: Performance-Based Reform in Education" and co-author of "When Schools Compete: A Cautionary Tale." (919) 613-7352; hladd@duke.edu.

Kristen R. Stephens, assistant professor of the practice of education at the Program in Education. Specializes in No Child Left Behind issues and gifted child education; serves on the board of directors for the North Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented and the National Association for Gifted Children. (919) 660-3083; kstephen@duke.edu.

Environment:

William L. Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment. Specializes in climate science and policy; member of National Academy of Sciences; former chief scientist for Environmental Defense Fund. (919) 613-8004; bill.chameides@duke.edu.

Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Specializes in climate and energy legislation and policy; served as senior environmental counsel to Sen. Lieberman. (919) 613-8709; tim.profeta@duke.edu.

Homeland Security/Terrorism:

David Schanzer, associate professor of the practice at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Specializes in national security and defense; director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (919) 613-9279; schanzer@duke.edu.

Politics/Race:

Kerry L. Haynie, professor of political science at the Department of Political Science. Specializes in race and ethnic politics, state level politics, Southern politics, race and poverty issues. (919) 660-4366 (office); (919) 452-7877 (cell); klhaynie@duke.edu.

Presidential/Congressional Elections:

Michael Munger, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science. Specializes in congressional and presidential elections; Libertarian candidate for North Carolina governor in 2008. (919) 660-4301 (office); (919) 369-6453 (cell); munger@duke.edu