N.C. Central University political scientist Jeffrey Elliot had several passions.

He collected African art. He was an amateur photographer. And he was devoted to his students.

So says Ansel Brown, an Elliot devotee and colleague who joined the NCCU political science department last year.

Elliot, 62, died of cancer over the weekend. He had worked at NCCU for 28 years. He was a prolific writer, with hundreds of books, articles and interviews to his credit.

And he was the best cocktail party guest you can imagine, Brown recounted today - the type of person who could be charming and funny talking about whatever was under discussion.

Though he'd been ill, Elliot still wanted his graduating students to know he was thinking of them.

So he penned this "Message from the Chair," which he sent to the political science department's latest batch of graduates shortly before he died.

Read more about Elliot in Tuesday's News & Observer.

At Duke University, political science students can now take courses from someone who weathered the storms of a campaign for governor.

Michael Munger, chairman of Duke's political science department, finished a distant third as the state's Libertarian gubernatorial candidate. He got about 3 percent of the vote. Sounds like he got trounced, right?

In fact, Munger is encouraged by his vote totals and says it enforces his belief that there is room for a real, viable third party in state politics.

In campaigning, Munger learned some valuable lessons.

One, he's no Paul Harvey. Also, at least three percent of North Carolinians would trust him with their cat.

He learned some other stuff as well and told us about it. Here's what he had to say:

Michael Munger, the Duke political scientist running for governor under the Libertarian banner, gets some pub in Reason Magazine.