APSA President (2007), Dianne M. Pinderhughes: full professor in the departments of Africana studies and political science, University of Notre Dame; Ph.D. University of Chicago.The authors would like to dedicate the biography of APSA President Dianne M. Pinderhughes to the celebrated legacy of Linda Faye Williams (1949–2006). Once graduate school roommates, their friendship has undoubtedly contributed to their career success as political scientists of great distinction.

Political scientists from around the world will convene from August 28 through August 31, 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts, the “Athens of America,” to discuss the latest research on political science and politics and to network with colleagues.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and UNESCO Assistant Director for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan recently signed an agreement at UNESCO headquarters in Paris pledging cooperative efforts to build a World Digital Library web site. The World Digital Library will digitize unique and rare materials from libraries around the world, including manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, sound recordings, films, prints, and photographs, and make them available for free on the Internet. The objectives of the World Digital Library include promoting international and intercultural understanding; increasing the quantity and diversity of cultural materials on the Internet; and contributing to education and scholarship.

A Look at the Centennial Center for Political Science & Public Affairs.

Stacie Pettyjohn is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of politics at the University of Virginia, and is currently working on her dissertation entitled “Talking with Terrorists: American Policy toward the ANC, PLO, Sinn Fein, and Hamas.” Her dissertation examines United States policy toward nationalist terrorist organizations, and identifies when the U.S. will begin a public dialogue with a terrorist organization. She also explains the conditions under which a policy of engagement can help to transform nationalist terrorist organizations into legitimate political parties, and when it will encourage further violence.

The United States is currently in the midst of a war in Iraq and a broader “war on terror.” What will be the long-term consequences of these conflicts on the American state?

Fall of 2007 will remain etched in the memory of all my colleagues as a period when each one of us, individually and collectively, turned a new leaf in our lives. Over the past two weeks, the six of us international fellows arrived separately in Washington, D.C., to take part in the U.S. Congressional Fellowship program of the American Political Science Association (APSA).

Here's a preview of some of the articles that will be published in the April 2008 issue of PS: Political Science and Politics.

For years journal articles from the natural sciences have been characterized by multiple authors, reflecting the collaborative nature of the research. The articles have also conformed to a professional norm in giving credit to the authors and, at least implicitly, indicating their relative contributions. Although such collaborative research has grown significantly in political science, the discipline is still wrestling with any standard to indicate who gets credit and the nature of multiple authors' relative contributions. This is an issue with which political scientists from the most junior to the most senior continue to deal.

Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, is proud to announce the winners of its 2007 Chapter Activity Grants Competition. In this annual program Pi Sigma Alpha chapters submit proposals for activities they would not be able to carry out without funding. The maximum grant to any chapter is $2,000. The proposed activities may be in areas such as chapter and student development, social service, and the like. A grants committee reviews the proposals competitively and makes awards based on the quality and feasibility of the activity proposed, the completeness and appropriateness of the budget, and other factors. Chapters may submit proposals for one or two activities. Some proposals received full funding, some received partial funding with instructions on how to scale back the activity, and some were rejected. This year the committee funded proposals for 103 activities. Now in its 27th year, the Chapter Activity Grants program is the biggest and most important of the honor society's award programs both because of the size of its budget and the very large number of students who benefit from it.

Long Island University's political science department will offer a course in spring 2008 that will help students examine the background, conduct, and implications of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Economic, political, and military interests will be examined; connections will be drawn to the history and politics of the Middle East, the future of U.S. democracy, the role of the political opposition, the perspectives of other domestic and international actors, and more. The course will explore the events leading up to the invasion; internal politics within the Bush administration; the domestic and world reactions to the war; developments in Iraq and the region; the significance of oil in the world economy; the role of the media; consequences of U.S. methods upon human rights standards; opposition to the war; and the impact of the war at home. The participating faculty are John Ehrenberg, professor of political science and department chair; J. Patrice McSherry, professor, political science and director, Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Jose Ramon Sanchez, associate professor of political Science and chair of urban studies; and Caroleen Marji Sayej, assistant professor of political science.

Association news.

The Pisa conference was also the occasion for presenting three of the ECPR's prizes. The first was the ECPR's Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding contribution to European political science, which went to an American: Philippe Schmitter (European University, Florence, and formerly Stanford University). Second, the annual Jean Blondel Ph.D. Prize was awarded to Tanja Aalberts (Leiden University) for her dissertation on the politics of sovereignty. Finally, the Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize in European Political Sociology went to Giovanni Sartori (professor emeritus, University of Florence and Columbia University).

In the following essay, Benoît Rihoux, Bernhard Kittel and Jonathon W. Moses outline the recent developments in European political methodology and highlight their own work in developing a number of projects with the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) that include establishing a Standing Group in Political Methodology, the ECPR Summer School in Methods and Techniques and the forthcoming ECPR/Palgrave Macmillan Research Methods Book Series.

APSA international membership by country and upcoming international events.

Organized section update.

Information on 2008 award deadlines and new awards for 2008.

In order to keep members informed about APSA financial practices, the APSA Trust and Development Board, which is charged by the APSA Constitution to oversee Association assets, reports from time to time on Association investment practices.

2007 annual business meeting minutes.

This list celebrates the generous contributions of our members in giving to one or more of the following programs from 1996 through 2006: APSA awards, programs, the Congressional Fellowship Program, and the Centennial Campaign. APSA thanks these donors for ensuring that the benefits of membership and the influence of the profession will extend far into the future. APSA will update and print this list annually in the January issue of PS.