APSA welcomed nearly 6,500 political scientists from around the world to Boston for the 114th Annual Meeting August 30–September 2. At the meeting, APSA colleagues, including faculty and students, policymakers, journalists, and citizens interested in political science gathered for four days of panels, roundtables, and special events for scholars to present, learn, and network at the largest political science conference. Attendees explored an exciting program, which brought together more than 1,200 sessions on the latest scholarship in political science. The 2018 Annual Meeting Program Chairs, Henry Farrell, The George Washington University, and Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University, organized the meeting around the theme “Democracy and Its Discontents.”
Figure 1 Above: Annual meeting attendees mingle at one of the many receptions held during the meeting. Top Right: APSA swag that was available at the APSA Booth in the Exhibit Hall. Right: An attendee signs in for an interview at the eJobs Interview Service.
Activities began on Wednesday, August 29, with registration and 24 preconference short courses. These programs allowed for a deep dive in a focused environment. They were professional-development focused, subfield specific, or thematically of the same spirit or accomplishing the same knowledge-sharing and learning goals. The day concluded with the APSA Awards Ceremony, where the association celebrated and recognized 29 individuals for notable career and research achievements.
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Figure 3 Above: An attendee views a research poster as a part of the iPosters section of the Exhibit Hall. Many attendees had the opportunity to present their research to passerby. Left: The APSA Prize Wheel where attendees won free swag for filling out an APSA Member of the Month form.
Thursday, August 30, marked the official beginning of the meeting and featured two breaking news panels, “Facebook and Democracy” and “The Humanitarian Crisis of Family Separation and Migrant Detention under Trump’s Zero-Tolerance Policy.” The first session of the APSA Bystander Intervention Training also occurred in the afternoon and provided session participants with concrete skills to safely intervene in a situation or interaction that is potentially harmful to another. The first day of the meeting culminated with a presidential address by APSA President Kathleen Thelen, MIT, on “The American Precariat: US Capitalism in Comparative Perspective.” The address was followed by the Opening Reception and the International Attendee Reception.
Figure 4 Above: Attendees lined the Registration Hall in order to print their badge and receive a program book. APSA staff was there to assist members. Behind registration was the Exhibit Hall. Right: A poster featuring the many sponsors and contributors to the 2018 Annual Meeting.
On Friday, The APSA Presidential Task Force on Women’s Advancement held the first APSA Diversity and Inclusion Hackathon. Hackathon teams developed strategies to address key challenges facing the profession and built partnerships and plans to move forward. Participants also attended the breaking news panel “International Alliances in the Age of Anxiety” and the John Gaus Award Lecture.
Saturday featured the inaugural TLC at APSA event. Hundreds of attendees at this full-day event met around the theme “Political Science in Contentious Times.” It provided an interactive forum for scholars to share innovative tools for political science education and research on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Additionally, Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, presented the plenary address, “In Defense of a Democratic Republic: Scholar-Citizens from Federalist to the Present.”
Attendees also networked throughout the weekend, attending a variety of evening events like the Reception Honoring Women of Color in the Profession, APSA’s Evening of Appreciation, the Graduate Student Happy Hour, the RBSI/Minority Fellow Program Reception, university alumni receptions, the family ice cream break, and a variety of APSA Organized Section annual meetings and receptions. Many attendees visited eJobs Interview Services, which provided onsite interview space for APSA members and university departments. A majority of attendees used a variety of “green” options for navigating the conference content, whether it was the interactive online program, the mobile app, or the ePDF program.
Figure 5 Above: Kathleen Thelen, APSA President during the 2018 Annual Meeting, gave her Presidential Address “The American Precariat: US Capitalism in Comparative Perspective” the evening of Thursday, August 30 to a well-attended room. Right: Badges print from the registration printers.
The 2018 meeting also continued the use of APSA’s iPosters in the Exhibit Hall. With features such as the ability to enlarge graphics and images, as well as include video and audio clips, the iPosters provided a much more interactive experience for poster authors and attendees alike. In addition to viewing posters onsite in Boston, APSA attendees and members may view 2018 Annual Meeting posters pre- and post-conference online: https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2018/iposters/, providing a much wider window of engagement for authors to receive feedback as well as a convenient way for APSA colleagues to share feedback or find opportunities for collaboration.
The packed APSA exhibit hall featured nearly 70 organizations including political science publishers, news and media outlets, educational technology companies, research organizations, foundations, and nonprofit organizations. A robust variety of sponsored social events on the exhibit show floor also provided valuable opportunities for networking outside the sessions, including the Headshot Lounge which allowed APSA attendees to have new professional photographs taken. As always, the APSA Lounge offered a comfortable space where attendees could meet to discuss issues of mutual interest.
Figure 6 Above: Attendees participate in the Diversity and Inclusion Hackathon, the first-of-its-kind event at an APSA Annual Meeting. Right: Executive Director Steven Rathgeb Smith delivers remarks at the Department Chairs Workshop and Luncheon.
APSA would also like to express our deep appreciation to our sponsors: Cambridge University Press, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, Lynne Rienner Publishers, MIT Political Science, Pearson, Pi Sigma Alpha, the Program on Governance and Local Development, the Quality of Government Institute, CQ Press, and the V-Dem Institute.
We are very much looking forward to our next annual meeting in Washington, DC, August 29–September 1, 2019. See you there!
