I am happy to report that Perspectives on Politics continues to thrive. In the roughly three-and-a-half years since we assumed editorial control of the journal, in June 2009, we have succeeded in strengthening journal operations and procedures and in projecting a new and growing excitement about Perspectives and the role it can play in contributing to the invigoration of the discipline.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, APSA participated in the 19th Annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill, showcasing the National Science Foundation funded research of Professors Martha Kropf (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) and David Kimball (University of Missouri, St. Louis) on “Better Ballot Design.”

A new report from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences offers recommendations for academia, government agencies, and the private sector to help maintain America's leadership in science, technology, and medicine.

The Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) is now accepting submissions for the 2014 Conference. SPSA invites anyone interested in attending the 2014 Conference in New Orleans to look at the 2014 Call for Proposals. Conference dates are January 9–11, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Based on a generous future bequest by the 2013 APSA Gaus Lecturer Beryl A. Radin, APSA announced the creation of the APSA Pracademic Program supported by the Beryl Radin Fund. Professor Radin described herself as a “pracademic” because she has moved back and forth between the world of the practitioner and that of the academic. Beryl A. Radin's government service included an assignment as a special advisor to the assistant secretary for management and budget of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as well as other experiences in the Office of Management and Budget and HHS. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, editor of the book series “Public Management and Change” at Georgetown University Press, past president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, former head of the APSA public administration section, and has held faculty positions at the University of Southern California, the University of Albany, and American and Georgetown universities. As the title suggests, this will be a fellowship aimed at providing APSA member academics in the fields of public policy and public administration with practical, hands-on experience that the recipients can take back to their institutions and classrooms to help build bridges between the worlds of academe and applied politics.

Serving as an APSA Congressional Fellow had been a goal of mine since I started graduate school. The fellowship provided an opportunity to examine the congressional policy-making process first hand. And while I had worked on congressional campaigns, in state legislative offices, and supervised student internships, I had no direct experience working on Capitol Hill for Congress. In addition, the program was highly recommended by senior colleagues who had served as fellows themselves. Nearly all of them had worked on the staffs of individual congressional members and found the experience served to better inform both their research and teaching. When I found out I would be serving as a fellow for the 2012–13 academic year, my plan was to spend that year in a congressional member office as well.

From July 1 to 12, 2013, approximately 30 scholars from across Africa and the United States will gather at the Institute for Governance and Development in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for this year's Africa Workshop, titled “Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective.” Now going into its sixth annual iteration, the APSA Africa Workshop program is an academic conference series funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support political science research and teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also forms a major component of APSA's efforts to support research networks linking US scholars with their colleagues overseas and engage political science communities outside the United States. Previous workshops have been held in Gaborone, Botswana (2012); Nairobi, Kenya (2011); Dares Salaam, Tanzania (2010); Accra, Ghana (2009); and Dakar, Senegal (2008).

APSA lists upcoming international meetings, conferences, and call for proposal on the APSA website: Visit www.apasanet.org/conferences for updates and new details or submit information.

An emergency meeting of the American Political Science Association Council was held in Washington, DC on October 6, 2012. The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by President Mansbridge.