If it is time for an external review—or if the dean announces you are having one anyway—it almost certain that your first reaction as a department chair will be that this is bad news and that the red coats are coming! After all, at very least an external review is going to result in a considerable amount of extra work. And the review can be a moment of what a panel member who had served as a dean termed a time of “extreme danger”; a bad review can really damage a departments standing and prospects with the dean and university administration more generally. However at the 2009 Annual Meeting a distinguished group of political scientists (Evelyn Huber, Stephen Majeski, John Woolley, Michael Kraft, and Gretchen Bauer) chaired by Graham Wilson of the APSA Departmental Service Committee urged chairs to be positive. Having been on both the receiving and giving sides of the review process, panel members uniformly concluded that it can be a very positive experience for departments and their chairs.

Dr. Leonard S. Robins died on November 9, 2009, at the age of 71, from complications following major surgery. Lenny, as he was known to his friends and colleagues, received his undergraduate degree in political science at the University of Minnesota and went on to study public affairs at the University of Michigan. After several years working in public service and research organizations, he returned to the University of Minnesota for his Ph.D., which was awarded in 1975. In 1982, he took a position in public administration at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he stayed until his retirement in 2003.

On April 29, 2010, the Commission on the Future of Graduate Education in the United States released the report The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States. The report maintains that graduate education is key to U.S. global competitiveness, but the current system is vulnerable to losing ground as a world leader in education and research if a national strategy to increase degree completion and broaden participation is not adopted. The report also includes recommendations for universities, industry, and government to ensure that graduate school is a viable option for a growing number of U.S. citizens. Findings include:

David Apter, with whom, sixty years ago, I enrolled in the graduate program of Princeton University's department of politics, died on May 4 of this year. Along with other graduate students of that era, we shared the conceit that we would change the ways in which the discipline went about doing comparative politics. The moment for striking out in that direction seemed propitious. World War II had introduced countless Americans, among them many future political scientists, to “exotic” countries where political institutions and behavior appeared quite unlike anything they had learned in their undergraduate courses. War itself led to an explosion of interest in nation-reforming in the case of defeated totalitarian systems, and nation-building in those parts of the world where empires were breaking up.

The 2010 APSA Africa Workshop on “Global Perspectives on Politics and Gender” will be held from July 19 to August 6, 2010, in partnership with the Gender Centre at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. With the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, APSA continues a four-year effort to organize political science workshops in various locations in sub-Saharan Africa.

A preview of some of the articles that will be published in the April issue.

Professor Emeritus Robert E. Ward of Stanford University died at the age of 93 on December 7, 2009, in Portola Valley, California. Dr. Ward was a professor of political science and the first director of the Center for Research in International Studies at Stanford University from 1973 to 1987. He was also a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution. Dr. Ward received his B.A. degree from Stanford University in 1936 and his Ph.D. from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1948. During World War II, he served in U.S. Naval Intelligence, receiving the Legion of Merit award. From 1948 to 1973, Dr. Ward was on the faculty of the University of Michigan. Professor Ward joined the Stanford faculty in 1973, serving as a professor of political science from 1973 to 1987 and Director of the Center for Japanese Studies from 1965 to 1968 and 1971 to 1973.

Professor Gary C. Bryner passed away on March 10, 2010, at age 58. Gary courageously faced the challenge of pancreatic cancer with more concern about his wife, family, and friends than for himself. Gary personified the ideal colleague. He was unfailing in his willingness to assist others with their research and was a devoted teacher. He was always first to volunteer when help was needed. Although the cancer progressed quickly, he was grateful for the time he could spend after the diagnosis with his wife, his three children and their spouses, and his three grandchildren.

Samuel J. Eldersveld, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan and former mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, passed away in Ann Arbor on March 5, 2010, at age 92. This closed a chapter on an extraordinary association with the University of Michigan, the discipline of political science, and the city of Ann Arbor, associations that brought remarkable change to each.

Eight new members of the APSA Council have been elected in APSA's fifth contested election in recent years. The new council members are: Cristina Beltrán, Haverford College; Yun-han Chu, Academia Sinica/National Taiwan University; Mark A. Graber, University of Maryland; Evelyne Huber, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Thomas E. Mann, Brookings Institution; Joseph P. McCormick II, Pennsylvania State University, York; Julie Novkov, State University of New York, Albany; and S. Laurel Weldon, Purdue University. Mark Blasius was not elected.

For over one hundred years, APSA's Annual Meeting and Exhibition has provided scholars a unique opportunity to share research, present papers, and network with colleagues. And although each meeting has provided a distinct and worthwhile experience, the 106th Annual Meeting and Exhibition promises to bring one of the most stirring meeting programs yet. Aptly convening in the nation's capital, Washington, DC, more than 7,000 attendees will discuss the latest political science research and theory as it relates to the theme of “hard times” facing the world economy. Program chairs Lisa Martin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developed a theme that raises questions across many areas of specialization. With more than eight hundred panels organized by 50 thematic divisions, 60 related groups, APSA committees, and presidential task forces, these questions will be explored over the course of the four day event.

Gil Friedman, lecturer in political science at Tel Aviv University, passed away on July 16, 2009, at the age of 42 after a short bout with cancer. Much too young, and with so much promise, Gil's death was an unexpected shock to his relatives, friends, and colleagues. His loss is all the more tragic because those who knew Gil were struck by his seemingly boundless energy, his enormous intellectual curiosity, his constant stream of ideas, and his incredible work ethic—all fed by a seemingly insatiable desire to read everything (ever) written in the areas of his current interest.

We report here on the journal's operations during the year from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. In doing so, we want first to express our thanks to the APSA: its staff, Council, and Publications Committee, both for good advice and for important material support. The impact of both is documented, albeit only partially, in the following article. The APSR Editorial Board and its Executive Committee have also been invaluable, and we have benefited particularly from the concentrated counsel that a subcommittee provided during a two-day site visit to UCLA in July. Editorial Board members have also given unstintingly of their time to serve as guest editors on UCLA-connected submissions that might otherwise raise conflicts of interest. We owe very special debts of gratitude to our Senior Editor, Joseph Riser, whose serene and wise disposition seems never to falter; our graduate editorial assistants (EAs), Megan Gallagher, Diana Ichpekova, Rebekah Sterling, and Matt Spence; two of our original co-editors, Kathleen Bawn and Michael Chwe, who gave extraordinarily dedicated service but decided to leave the group effective July 1, 2009; and Gary Cox (UCSD) and Arthur Lupia (Michigan), who agreed to join our weekly meetings via videoconference—in Gary's case, for the long term; in Skip's, temporarily. Finally, we thank the authors of the nearly 700 papers submitted to us and the over 2,000 referees who gave, unremunerated and anonymously as always, their astute and often admirably detailed counsel.

Founded in 1953, the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is the nation's oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship. More than 50 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 policymaking and improves the quality of scholarship, teaching, and reporting on American national politics. For more information, please visit http://www.apsanet.org/content_3031.cfm?navID=41. The 2010 office assignments are:

Dr. Betty Glad, 82, died August 2, 2010. She enjoyed a truly distinguished career as a scholar of American politics and foreign policy. Betty was the Olin D. Johnston Professor of Political Science and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina. She was an exemplary scholar and an expert on the American presidency, U.S. foreign policy, and political leadership. She was the author of Jimmy Carter: In Search of the Great White House; Charles Evans Hughes and the Illusions of Innocence; Key Pittman: The Tragedy of a Senate Insider; and, most recently, An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter, His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press, 2009). Betty was also editor or co-editor of The Psychological Dimensions of War, The Russian Transformation, and other books. In addition, she published dozens of articles, book chapters, and commentary. Her first book, Charles Evans Hughes, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.