Speaking before an audience at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared: “Funds currently spent by the government on social science–including on politics of all things–would be better spent helping find cures to diseases.”

Founded in 1953, the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is the nation's oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship. More than fifty years later, the program remains devoted to its original objective of expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress. For nine months, select political scientists, journalists, doctors, federal executives and international scholars gain “hands on” understanding of the legislative process by serving on congressional staffs. Through this unique opportunity, the Association enhances public understanding of policy-making and improves the quality of scholarship, teaching and reporting on American national politics. For more information about the program visit https://www.apsanet.org/cfp. The assignments for 2012–13 are listed below.

I had seen once before, halfway around the world, what a new bridge could do to a border region. However, despite having worked in border towns and on border issues for more than a decade, I had never given much thought to the border in my own backyard. I remember crossing the Detroit River to visit the casinos in Windsor, Ontario, before Detroit had her own and seeing the lines of trucks waiting to cross the bridge and being unaware of the border's economic importance to the region and the country. I had studied the economic benefits of European integration, but never thought about how those lessons could be applied to the North American continent. However, last year as a 2011–2012 APSA congressional fellow working with my hometown congressman US Representative Gary Peters I had the opportunity to apply these overseas experiences to a border that mattered to my town, state, and country. The US-Canadian border is not only the world's longest nonmilitarized border, but is also the line separating my hometown Detroit, Michigan, from Windsor, Ontario; and it is the line preventing the region and the two countries from fully realizing their economic potential.

After a competitive application process, the APSA Africa Project Steering Committee is pleased to announce that the 6th annual Africa Workshop will take place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, hosted by the Institute for Governance and Development (IGD). The US-based workshop leaders are Leonardo Villalón and Kenneth Wald (both University of Florida). Their Africa-based colleagues are Einas Ahmed (Centre d'Études et Documentation Économiques, Juridiques et Sociales, Sudan), Augustin Loada (University of Ouagadougou and IGD, Burkina Faso), and Mahaman Tidjani-Alou (University of Abdou Moumouni, Niger). The theme of this year's workshop is “Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective,” and will be held from July 1 to July 12 at the IGD's Center for Democratic Governance.

The administrative committee consists of the president, president-elect, treasurer, and four other council members whose main duties include preparing agendas for council meetings and annual business meetings and acting on behalf of the council to dispose of policy issues deemed of insufficient weight to require decisions by the council.

Organized Section information is usually published in the January issue of PS, relying on information gleaned from Organized Section activities at the APSA Annual Meeting. However, because of the cancellation of the 2012 APSA Annual Meeting, a complete list was not available to meet the publication deadline for the January 2013 issue of PS; therefore this information is included in this issue. Be sure to check the sections' websites, or the APSA website (www.apsanet.org/sections) for more details or updates on each APSA Organized Section.

APSA is pleased to include here the names of individuals who have completed their doctoral dissertations at political science departments in the United States in 2012. The list is based on data collected in the APSA member database and includes information reported by both individuals and departments. Dissertations are listed by fields of interest as labeled by APSA, American politics, comparative politics, international relations, methodology, public administration, political philosophy and theory, public lawand courts, and public policy. (See also, table 1.)