University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 1979. Research and teaching interests include Public Law, Political Theory and American Government. Speak is the author of American Democracy, 2/e & 3/e (NY: St Martins Press, 1989 and 1993) (with Lewis Lipsitz); Living Law: The Transformation of American Jurisprudence in the Early Twentieth Century, (NY: Garland, 1987); and the editor (with Creighton Peden) of The American Constitutional Experiment, (Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991). He has taught administrative law, ethics, and American government courses to MPA students.
Academic Area
American Politics, Methodology
Areas of Expertise
Public law, political theory and American government
Research Statement
David M. Speak did his undergraduate work in Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (AB ’73) and graduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (MA ’75, PhD ’79). He was an early recipient of the George Hart Award for Faculty Leadership. He has served as faculty advisor to various student organizations. He has served as Chair of the Academic Programs Committee, and on the GE and nascent IT Committees. He served on the Faculty Senate Representative to the ASI Senate. He co-chaired the Ad-hoc Academic Planning Committee which produced the plan adopted for Academic Affairs, which in turn served as the basis for the University Strategic Plan.
Speak has had the honor of serving as an official international election observer during four separate national elections in Central America (Nicaragua in 1990, El Salvador in 1995 and 1997, and Guatemala in 1999) during a period of significant domestic tension in those countries.
He is the author of Living Law: The Transformation of American Jurisprudence in the Early Twentieth Century, New York: Garland Publications, 1987, (part of the American Legal and Constitutional History Series edited by Stuart Bruchey of Columbia University and Harold Hyman of Rice University), and co-author (with Lewis Lipsitz) of two editions of a widely-adopted Intro American Government text, American Democracy, 2/e & 3/e, Lewis Lipsitz and David Speak, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989 & 1993. He edited, with Creighton Peden, The American Constitutional Experiment, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.
Academic Degrees
PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1979
MA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1975
BA, UC Santa Cruz, 1973
Publications
Speak, D.M. and L. Lipsitz. 1993. American Democracy. Independence, KY: Cengage Learning. (Link)
Speak, D.M. and C. Peden. 1991. The American Constitutional Experiment. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. (Link)
Speak, D.M. 1987. Living law: The transformation of American jurisprudence in the early 20th century. New York, NY: Garland Publishing. (Link)
