It is once again a distinct privilege to submit my executive director’s report in 2024. This report provides a great opportunity to share information about APSA’s extensive programming and operations and to invite feedback and accountability from our members. The past year has seen expanded and reinvigorated efforts to support our members in their research, teaching, and professional development. In 2023 APSA also increased attention to supporting the discipline, and higher education as a whole, in the face of new and deepening challenges. This has included continued expansion of APSA’s grant initiatives, holding the 17th Teaching and Learning Conference as well as the 6th TLC at APSA event, and a continued focus on professional development programming both at and outside of the Annual Meeting. It has been a great privilege to work with the APSA staff and numerous volunteers to support our members and the discipline.
GRANT INITIATIVES AND RESEARCH SUPPORT
In recent years, APSA has considerably expanded the opportunities and amount of grant funding and member assistance programs. In 2023, APSA continued to expand these resources in support of our members’ research, professional development, community engagement, and teaching:
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ADVANCING RESEARCH GRANTS
The APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants are a fulfillment of the APSA Strategic Plan to expand support for research that examines political science phenomena affecting under-served communities and underrepresented groups. The Advancing Research Grants complement APSA’s existing Diversity and Inclusion fellowships and grants—namely the APSA Diversity Fellowship Program (DFP), the Lee Ann Fujii APSA Diversity Fellowship Travel Grant, and the Fund for Latino Scholarship—providing additional research funding opportunities for scholars at multiple points in their professional careers. In 2023, APSA awarded a total of $38,000 in the fourth annual cycle of Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants for Early Career Scholars and for Indigenous Politics. The Early Career Scholars Grant supported nine projects for a total award amount of $18,000. The Indigenous Politics Grant supported 10 projects for a total award amount of $20,000.
FUND FOR LATINO SCHOLARSHIP
The APSA Fund for Latino Scholarship is an APSA Centennial Center Research Grant. It originated through a collaboration between APSA, the Committee on the Status of Latinos y Latinas, and the Latino Caucus. The Fund’s primary goal is to encourage and support the recruitment, retention, and promotion of political science students and scholars who study and research Latina/o politics (especially students and tenure track junior faculty). In 2023, the Fund supported 14 scholars’ research and their participation in the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting for a total award amount of $7,000.
DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM TRAVEL GRANTS
The APSA Diversity Fellowship Program (DFP) is a fellowship competition that provides support to students applying to, or in the early stages of, a PhD program in political science. The DFP Travel Grant Program provided professional development support for 19 DFP fellows and the Lee Ann Fujii DFP Travel Grant Program supported seven fellows’ attendance at the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting, thanks to the generous contributions of the Fujii Family and friends and colleagues of the late Dr. Fujii.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH IMPROVEMENT GRANT
In 2023, the National Science Foundation (NSF) made an award to APSA to continue administering the Political Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program (DDRIG), which promotes the progress of science by identifying and supporting doctoral dissertation research projects that have the potential to advance knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics. In 2023, the program’s fourth year, APSA received nearly 120 applications and was excited to disburse over $298,000 across 24 grants.
TEACHING AND LEARNING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMING
APSA’s core objectives include the promotion of high-quality teaching and the professional development of members. As scholars, practitioners, students, and educators navigate a challenging post-pandemic higher education and career environment, APSA has expanded its opportunities for instructors to further develop their curricula and teaching materials through APSA’s teaching and learning resources while also offering increased academic and professional development events and resources for political scientists both within and outside of the academy.
2023 TEACHING AND LEARNING CONFERENCE
The biennial Teaching and Learning Conference stand-alone event took place in Baltimore from February 10-12. More than 250 attendees coalesced around the theme “Re-Energizing Political Science: Innovations and New Opportunities.” The meeting featured six tracks, including “The Post-Covid Classroom: Innovations to Keep;” “The Inclusive Classroom: Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism;” “Civic Engagement;” “Simulations & Games;” “Teaching Research, Writing and Information Literacy: How to Handle Misinformation;” and “Rethinking the Political Science Education: Recruitment, Retention, and Advising.” Jyl J. Josephson gave the keynote on “Teaching Politics for Democracy’s Future” at the event.
I would like to extend my thanks to the 2023 TLC Committee: Co-chair Rebecca Ann Glazier, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Co-chair Young-Im Lee, California State University – Sacramento; Delina Barrera, Texas Southmost College; Kathleen Cole, Metropolitan State University; Anthony Kammas, University of Southern California; Eric Loepp, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater; and Matthew Platt, Morehouse College.
TLC AT APSA
The 6th annual TLC at APSA, a full-day mini-conference held in conjunction with the APSA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, brought together nearly 150 political science educators in a highly interactive forum to share innovative tools and techniques for political science education, present research on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and reflect upon the enduring and evolving roles and responsibilities of political scientists in an age of mis- and disinformation. TLC at APSA will be held again at the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
SYMPOSIA AND OTHER RESOURCES
In 2023, APSA also held two teaching and learning symposia, with each event bringing together 15-20 teacher-scholars to produce concrete teaching resources in emerging substantive and pedagogical areas. An in-person symposium brought scholars together to advance their Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects while a virtual symposium focused on tools and resources to effectively teach qualitative methods in undergraduate political science classes.
Since 2020, APSA has expanded its virtual programming and resources to complement in-person events. Virtual workshops and webinars in 2023 including: teaching Congress in the wake of the historic speaker election in January 2023, including undergraduate students in research, and working effectively with librarians to incorporate information literacy in your classes.
APSA Educate, which was launched in 2020 with the support of the Ivywood Foundation, had another strong year in 2023. APSA Educate is a dedicated online library for political science teaching resources. Since 2020, APSA Educate has published nearly 400 teaching resources and 330 teaching-focused blogs, with teaching materials for undergraduate and graduate courses across all subfields of the discipline. All materials are free and allow users to easily search, upload, and “favorite” materials.
ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In recent years, APSA has increased the number of professional development resources and events for political scientists in both academic and non-academic careers. The 2023 APSA Annual Meeting featured professional development-focused panels and events, including dissertation workshops, roundtables on the job market and getting grants, and publishing related events.
APSA’s Departmental Services Program supports political science departments by providing resources for department chairs, data and reports on the profession, forums for departments to address common issues, and services for chairs, faculty, and students. Over forty Department Chairs gathered for the 2023 Department Chair’s Luncheon for networking opportunities and to listen to the roundtable “Increasing Enrollment in Political Science Majors: Opportunities & Challenges.” The Committee on Departmental Services released an updated Guidelines for the External Review of Political Science Departments and held a webinar on “How to Successfully Lead a Department Pedagogical Reform in Political Science.”
2023 APSA ANNUAL MEETING
The 2023 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition took place in Los Angeles from Thursday, August 31, through Sunday, September 3, alongside a virtual component. The event featured nearly 5,000 participants and around 4,000 were in person. The 119th Annual Meeting provided a forum for political science students, professors, researchers, and practitioners to share innovative research, engage with relevant issues, and network with colleagues. The meeting featured 27 pre-conference short courses, 1,250 panel sessions, 75 business meetings, and 36 receptions.
Program co-chairs Felicity Vabulas, Pepperdine University, and Zoltán Búzás, University of Notre Dame, created a program focused on the conference theme of “Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Mis- and Disinformation.” The program addressed a range of significant and timely issues including those highlighted in the plenary and breaking news panel discussions: “The Supreme Court and the Future of Affirmative Action,” “Examining CRT & DEI Mis(Dis)Information: The Intellectual, Policy, and Political Implications in the Academy and Beyond,” “The Debate over ’National Conservatism,’” “Generative AI and the Future of Political Science,” and “Mis- and Disinformation in the Age of Human Rights.” With the event located in Los Angeles, the program co-chairs incorporated a mini-film festival to the meeting, showcasing films such as “The Rise and Fall of Hong Kong,” “Unapologetic,” “Suppressed and Sabotaged,” “The First Step,” and “Navalny.” The APSA Oral History Project films were also shown, providing attendees the opportunity to view a collection of interviews that seek to amplify the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the Profession. APSA President Lisa Martin gave the Presidential Address ”Global Governance Confronts the Onslaught of Disinformation.”
Demonstrating our ongoing commitment to students and early career scholars, we also hosted onsite Interview Services, the Career Open House, and the fourth year of our Emerging Scholars Symposium, which allows undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to present their research in a panel format at the meeting.
Other key events included the APSA Awards Ceremony, which recognized nearly 500 scholars’ contributions to the discipline, and the sixth annual TLC at APSA. Around 150 attendees joined TLC at APSA on Saturday around theme was “Political Education in an Age of Mis- and Disinformation.”
I am very appreciative of the outstanding leadership of the conference program co-chairs, the division and related group chairs, and staff for making the program possible. Along with the 2024 Program Co-Chairs Danielle Allen, Harvard University, and Michael Neblo, The Ohio State University, I am looking forward to welcoming political scientists from across the world to Philadelphia from September 5-8, 2024; the conference theme is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.”
VIRTUAL EVENTS
In Spring 2023, we began creating and planning our inaugural Virtual Research Meeting to take place in February 2024 around the theme “Challenges in Political Science.” We are grateful to Pippa Norris, Harvard University, chair; James Curry, University of Utah; Rebecca Ann Glazier, University of Arkansas, Little Rock; and Joe Klesner, Kenyon College for their contributions to the planning process.
We also produced a number of webinars including the timely topic of “Making Sense of the 118th Congress: What’s Happened and What to Expect” in January 2023 and several others on professional development and pedagogy.
PUBLICATIONS
In 2023, APSA publications focused on promoting cutting-edge research in the association’s journals, helming editorial transitions, and promoting ventures including APSA Preprints and the association magazine, Political Science Today. Perspectives on Politics transitioned to new editorial teams in summer 2023 with Wendy Pearlman and Ana Arjona of Northwestern University taking the lead as co-editors for the research articles, while a team in Europe comprised of Anne Wolf, the University of Oxford, Sarah Bufkin, University of Birmingham, and Kathrin Bachleitner, University of Salzburg, edits the book reviews. The APSA publications team worked closely with the new editors to ensure a smooth transition. A new editorial team was selected for the American Political Science Review to begin in mid-2024.
Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, the seventh APSA-owned organized section journal and our first fully Open Access title continued its second year as an APSA publication. Journal of Experimental Political Science will transition to a fully Open Access journal in 2024, and due to Cambridge University Press’ “transformative agreements” with institutions, an increasing percentage of articles in our flagship journals are also being published Open Access, providing the association the opportunity to better serve members across the discipline in that format.
Three additional APSA publication initiatives continued growing in 2023. The association magazine, Political Science Today, completed its third volume. The quarterly magazine, which is available to all members in print or online, includes news about the discipline, member spotlights, and association updates. APSA Preprints continues to serve as an important resource for scholars to share research. By December 2023, the site had 1,000 articles, 535,000 views, 340,000 downloads, and has been cited over 300 times. Additionally, an agreement was signed with DeGruyter to publish two new book series on teaching civic engagement and professional development in political science, expanding the reach of APSA’s book program in those fields.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
APSA is committed to fostering dialogue between scholars, students, and researchers with non-academic audiences to help develop a better understanding of the value of political science amongst the public and to share practical insights from the discipline. APSA’s Public Engagement programming supports, develops, and encourages members’ engagement with their communities, policymakers, the media, and other audiences within the broader “public”.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMING
APSA is very proud to offer public engagement programs and opportunities for our members. APSA provides support for the Pracademic Fellowship Program, which aims to support mid-career scholars placed within federal agencies in performing research and providing a “practical academic” perspective in government. APSA staff are currently accepting proposals for Pracademic Fellows for 2024. In addition, APSA staff have initiated the re-launching of our virtual Media Training Workshop in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) SciLine project. This workshop is a day-long training for scholars and APSA members who are interested in developing skills on engaging with members of the press. APSA staff are working with AAAS to make the workshop a consistent, annual event. The Workshop was held March 22, 2024.
APSA staff routinely engage with and strategize on potential future public engagement programming with many of our committees, including our Public Engagement Policy Committee, Civic Education Committee, and Election Assistance and Policy Committee.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS & ADVOCACY
APSA advances the interests of the association and the discipline of political science through its government relations efforts. In order to educate policymakers about the value of political science scholarship and defend against political attacks on the discipline, APSA is committed to developing relationships with Members of Congress, federal agencies, and other key stakeholders. We are active participants in several advocacy-oriented coalitions to coordinate efforts with partner organizations in the higher education space, including the Consortium of Social Science Associations, National Humanities Alliance, Coalition for National Science Funding, Coalition for International Education, Coalition for National Security Research, and National Coalition for History. APSA assists with the annual advocacy fly-in days for many of these organizations.
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS
APSA continues to collaborate on a variety of initiatives that extend our global network and provide research and professional development support, particularly for early-career scholars from the Global South.
In March 2023, APSA held a three-day Research Development Group (RDG) on “Political Trust in Africa’s Age of Coronavirus and Coups,” hosted by the African Centre for the Study of the United States at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. This RDG workshop was attended by over 20 scholars from across Africa and the United States and is a reoccurring project of the African Politics Conference Group organized section, with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
In July, APSA organized a Publishing Workshop for Southeast Asian Politics, hosted by Singapore Management University. Attended by 20 early-career scholars, the program focused on how to work through some of the difficult decisions associated with preparing a research article for publication, as well as broader career issues such as navigating the job market, fieldwork, and networking.
With support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, APSA extended our engagement with early-career scholars from the Arab MENA region. In the fall, APSA launched a series of MENA Methods Trainings that combine intensive in-person instruction on research methods with longer-term virtual engagements that are directly tied to research outputs. The inaugural workshop on “Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences: Regression Analysis” was held in partnership with the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies and the Arab Political Science Network (APSN). 22 scholars attended the two-part program, which commenced with three virtual sessions in November followed by a three-day in-person workshop in December. APSA also worked with partners at the American University in Cairo (AUC) to hold the 10th annual MENA Workshop, which focused on developing graduate student research proposals related to “Studying Political Behavior in MENA.” The workshop was attended by 20 fellows and commenced with a Zoom session in October 2023 followed by a six-day in-person workshop in Cairo in January 2024. Alumni were given three years membership to APSA and the opportunity to apply for small grants to support their research.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PROGRAMMING
APSA values diversity, equity, and inclusion. The APSA strategic plan states that one of APSA’s overarching goals is to promote and encourage diversity and inclusion in the profession, and the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Programs include longstanding programs to increase diversity, inclusion, and access within the discipline of political science across all levels and at APSA meetings and events. APSA Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship and Grant programs (such as the Diversity Fellowship Program, the Advancing Research Grants, and the Fund for Latino Politics, among others) awarded a total of $137,044 in FY23.
APSA MENTORING PROGRAM
The APSA Mentoring Program was created in 2003 and connects undergraduate, graduate students, and junior faculty from all backgrounds to experienced and senior members of the profession for professional development support on a wide range of academic and career topics. Mentorship is vital to the success for women, scholars of color, first-generation scholars, and other underrepresented groups in the profession. Mentor matches are made twice a year, once at the beginning of the fall semester and once at the beginning of the spring semester. Mentor matches can be short-term (one semester) or long-term (for one academic year). The program celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. In spring 2023, APSA staff matched 62 mentors and mentees. In fall 2023 APSA staff made an additional 67 matches.
RALPH BUNCHE SUMMER INSTITUTE
One of the most prominent of APSA’s diversity and recruitment programs is the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI), established in 1986 to increase diversity within the political science discipline. In 2023, 15 undergraduate students participated in the annual, intensive five-week program hosted by Duke University on May 28 – June 29, 2023, under the direction of Dr. Paula D. McClain. The 2024 institute will be held May 26 - June 27, 2024. The program is funded in part by the National Science Foundation, Duke University and APSA. In 2019, Dr. McClain was awarded a $462,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the APSA Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) for 2019-2021. Due to the pandemic interrupting the normal cycle of the program, Dr. McClain has requested and received no cost extensions to fund the program possibly through 2024.
RESPECT CAMPAIGN
A key component of APSA’s efforts to create a diverse, inclusive, and respectful environment at APSA meetings and events is the RESPECT Campaign, which always encourages “professional respect” by and towards all APSA annual meeting attendees and participants, was featured at the 2023 Annual Meeting through email messaging, signage, and buttons. RESPECT stands for Respectful, Equitable, Safe, Professional, and Ethical Conduct Towards All. The APSA Sexual Harassment Survey Report and Anti-Harassment Policy (code of conduct) addresses the importance of facilitating a climate of respect at the annual meeting. The goal is to promote a respectful climate throughout the profession. The presence of APSA resources like the APSA Meetings Ombuds and the onsite DEI or Bystander Intervention Training, which were available during the 2023 meeting onsite and virtually, also embody this message of RESPECT.
MCCLAIN TASK FORCE ON SYSTEMIC INEQUALITY
In 2022 the final report and recommendations from the APSA Presidential Task Force on Examining Issues and Mechanisms of Systemic Inequality in the Discipline was shared widely with the discipline, in particular department chairs. Convened by former APSA President Dr. Paula D. McClain, the Task Force conducted research in the following four areas of concern, led by four co-chairs:
• Tenure and Promotion Standards: Burdens of Faculty of Color: Cathy Cohen, University of Chicago
• Citation Patterns and Inequities: John A. Garcia, ICPSR
• Climate and Context: Carol A. Mershon, University of Virginia
• Graduate Training and Graduate Student Experiences: Niambi Carter, Howard University
The task force report includes recommendations for APSA and for departments of political science regarding strategies for ameliorating the effects of, and removing, systemic inequalities. To engage these recommendations, the Task Force held a roundtable at the 2023 Annual Meeting entitled "Implementing a Departmental Equity Plan: APSA Task Force on Systemic Inequality Roundtable.” On March 31, 2023, the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department and the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality hosted 26 scholars and association leaders for a convening in Washington D.C. The goal of the convening was to assist faculty leaders with laying the groundwork for engagement and implementation of the key recommendations for removing barriers to equity in graduate departments and across the discipline. The convening was jointly sponsored by APSA, The Ivywood Foundation, and the Social Science Research Foundation.
HISTORY OF THE PROFESSION: APSA ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
During the 2023 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia, the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department conducted a series of oral history interviews. This new video series, Contributions by Scholars of Color, contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the profession and investigate the history of race and racism in the political science profession. It further builds upon the APSA-Pi Sigma African American Alpha Oral History Project (1988-1994) and is motivated by the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality in the Discipline (2022). The videos premiered at the 2023 annual meeting during the film festival.
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
APSA strives to connect with members and the general public through email newsletters, social media, numerous events, and various websites developed by APSA to encourage communication between scholars, students, and researchers. By spreading awareness of APSA’s program initiatives, the Association aims to encourage a better understanding of political science, provide members with ample learning opportunities, and enhance the capacity of political scientists today.
PSNOW
Political Science Now continues to grow and evolve as the storytelling arm and content hub of the American Political Science Association, which is designed to highlight all aspects of the Association and political science community. This includes daily Association announcements, news, and updates–featuring the latest political science research from APSA’s leading journals, teaching and learning trends, current program opportunities and support for political scientists, insightful interviews with scholars, grant and award recognition, professional development resources, Association meetings and events, and much more.
APSA CONNECT
We continue to provide support and resources for APSA Connect users, an online community for APSA members to share, connect and network with one another. APSA Organized Section microsite administrators and officers make up more than 50% of APSA Connect users on the platform. Currently, APSA hosts and supports a total of 83 microsites managed by APSA staff, committees, and organized section officers. Approximately 30 of APSA hosted web platforms are section microsites.
SUPPORT FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
In line with one of APSA’s core objectives of defending the legitimacy of scholarly research into politics and government, APSA leadership has, over many years, made public statements on issues pertaining to the rights and freedoms of political scientists and scholars. As researchers, students, practitioners, and educators face threats to their academic freedom, APSA will continue to issue statements and engage with the proper authorities to support the scholarly independence and academic freedom of political scientists in the United States and around the world.
APSA OPERATIONS
In Spring 2022, a multi-year renovation of APSA headquarters in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, was completed. The renovation includes a new HVAC system, replacement of rear windows, and refurbishment of the original front-facing windows that date to the 1880s. This renovation along with technical and equipment upgrades will permit APSA to continue serving members through a collaborative environment for staff. General improvements such as a sprinkler system in the front of APSA’s headquarters and security cameras for general staff and building safety were also added this year. APSA staff returned to the newly renovated headquarters building in Spring 2022 and are currently working in a hybrid format. Additional renovations were also completed at an adjacent property that APSA leases to a small private school. As of March 1, 2024, we are proud to announce that both APSA’s headquarters and adjacent property are now fully leased. APSA’s rental income helps provide a diversified income and investment portfolio that, through careful fiscal management, maintains APSA’s strong financial position. Also, as of July 2024, APSA’s mortgage with Bank of America will be paid in full.
CONCLUSION
This past year, APSA staff continued to work to expand programming to better serve the membership and discipline, with a particular focus on increasing virtual events and resources alongside our in-person events. I would like to acknowledge the APSA staff, who continuously support these initiatives. I would also like to thank our many members who devote time and resources in support of APSA’s extensive programming, annual meeting, and publications. Finally, I will be retiring in September 2024, after 11 years at APSA. It has been a great honor to serve as the APSA executive director and I look forward to working with the APSA staff and our members in the remaining months to advocate for academic freedom, support political research and teaching, promote professional development, and further engagement in the public sphere.
