Recognizing the central role that technology now plays in political science education, organizers dedicated Track Eight of the 2005 Teaching and Learning Conference to an in-depth exploration of how technology impacts pedagogy and learning. During the three-day workshop, 30 track participants from throughout the discipline shared a wide range of experiences and ideas about how instructional technologies might help improve student learning and engagement. Track discussions ranged widely, covering the use of technology in diverse settings ranging from small seminars and discussion groups to large introductory lectures and distance learning courses. Along the way, presenters highlighted a number of normative concerns raised by technology use in teaching as well as a range of practical challenges often faced by faculty using technology in the field.

One of the things that I recommend is for people to choose good parents and good genes, because then you will have a healthier life! My mom lived to 94 and she was very healthy until she had adult onset diabetes and didn't believe it. She did have a broken hip and a variety of things at the very end, but up until then she did fine. My husband's mother, my mother-in-law, went to 96; again, she was from a farm family and very active. Vincent [my husband] is 84 and he doesn't believe in retirement but at the time he hit 65 the rules were such that he had to go. So, some of us have options that colleagues who are a few years older did not. Vincent had no option but to retire. But Indiana University has been pretty good; they don't kick you out of your office. I am just flabbergasted with how one of my German colleagues hit 65 and, wham! he was retired and his office was closed up. He has been able to reestablish it but it took quite a bit of doing. We have a lot to be thankful for because we have a lot more choice: retirement was at 70 for awhile and now even that has changed.

In this article, I discuss an alternative way of conceptualizing and structuring essay assignments in political science courses. Generally, political science teachers have tried to encourage critical thinking about political issues by assigning essays that ask for argumentative writing. An argumentative essay format asks students to present several positions or concepts covered in a course, analyze them, and argue for their own position on the issues at hand. A better format, I suggest, is to ask students to engage in reflective writing. Reflective writing has four basic stages. First, students are asked to explain course materials. Next, they are challenged to reflect explicitly on how this material calls into question their preconceptions about the topic. Third, they analyze the conflicts, confusions, or questions that arise from engaging their preconceptions. And finally, they formulate plans to use the knowledge gained by the reflective process. In short, reflective writing invites students to search for the truth rather than develop rhetorical skills. My case for reflective writing is made here in the form of a reflective essay, so readers can take from this essay both a demonstration of the reflective process as well as an explanation. Thus, I will explore my pedagogical preconceptions and experiences with student writing, explain my initial understanding of reflective writing and my first attempt at using reflective writing in an introduction to American government course, and, finally, refine my pedagogy by analyzing the success of the assignment in light of a deeper reading of John Dewey and other theorists of reflective reasoning.

In recent years, sparked by the path-breaking reports issued by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) in 1991 (Wahlke 1991), the political science profession has paid an increasing amount of attention to the relationship between the structure of the political science major and student learning outcomes. A few studies have recently sought to examine this relationship empirically (Breuning, Parker, and Ishiyama 2001; Ishiyama and Hartlaub 2003; Ishiyama and Breuning 2003). However, these studies have focused largely on using the political science curriculum as an independent variable (i.e., affecting student outcomes) and in most cases have been limited to one or two institutions (with the exception of Ishiyama 2004). No study has broadly and systematically examined variations in curricular design across several institutions, nor has any study examined which factors affect how institutions have structured their majors in the way they have. This paper addresses this dearth by broadly surveying a number of liberal arts and sciences colleges and universities across 10 Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin) to determine how many political science programs structure their majors in ways according to the recommendations made by the Wahlke report.

Preparing for retirement is a multifaceted endeavor, varying according to individual and experience. In my particular case, I did not develop a specific retirement strategy which I can articulate today as the Prestage Plan for “how a female political science professor can fade into oblivion after 48 years in the profession.” Rather, What Was Planned—that is, the content of my remarks today—can best be described as What Happened. For me, what can be labeled as “Strategy” for the purposes of this roundtable is an ex post facto matter. That is, I must try to recall and reconstruct the retirement experience as it happened, and put some logical order to it, or try to.

Political science undergraduate students often have a difficult time understanding the processes and methods of social science research. The foci of courses in comparative politics such as Latin American Politics or European Politics are typically descriptive information, concepts and theories, and an overview of the principal debates and research findings. This stands in sharp contrast to undergraduate pedagogy in the natural sciences, where laboratory sections supplement classroom activities. For example, biology students learn the basics of the discipline in the classroom, and simultaneously use the tools and methods of scientists in the lab to replicate elementary experiments. This multi-method approach not only reinforces the students' understanding of biological concepts, but also gives them an appreciation for how their professors spend their time and the challenges, pleasures, and limitations of academic research.

People in political science.

After spending six years as a tenure-track faculty member and ultimately gaining tenure and promotion at my home institution of California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM), I was set to begin my first sabbatical in fall, 2002. As is no doubt true of many sabbaticals, one of the great successes of my semester-long break from teaching was a renewed interest in the classroom. “Renewal” is frequently identified as one of the primary purposes of a sabbatical; Good (1992, B3), after all, wrote that he became “surprisingly nostalgic for the company of students once the initial shock of being on leave ha[d] worn off.” But my renewed excitement for teaching came largely from once again entering the classroom as a student. Given my own experiences in returning to student life, I enthusiastically encourage faculty colleagues to take occasional opportunities to step away from the instructor's podium and enjoy a class as a member of the student body: not only did I have the opportunity to expand my perspective on interesting subject matter, but re-experiencing life from the student point of view reminded me of why I began teaching in the first place and reinforced important aspects of good teaching practices.[Editor's note: This manuscript was accepted for publication by PS: Political Science and Politics in September, 2004.]

The last vote was counted in the 2004 presidential election and old debates began anew about the causes of low turnout of those between the ages of 18 and 24. Despite an unprecedented amount of time and effort spent on turning out the youth vote, the data suggest that only about half of the eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast a vote for president. The good news is that, indeed, this year's figures reverse a downward trend in voter turnout amongst the youth; the bad news is that every age bracket increased in voting and youth voting still lagged behind other age groups by significant margins. Scholars have once again cited evidence of political apathy and alienation among young people; they have referred to studies that reveal widespread ignorance of American politics and history in our nation's high schools and colleges. Dire predictions will continue about the bleak future of American democracy due to the ostensible lack of knowledge and interest in the American political system among our newest voters. Despite studies showing increases in volunteerism, service, and civic engagement, the low voter turnout will dominate the debate about civic education.The authors would like to thank David A. Caputo, president of Pace University, for funding PC2004.

One of the main goals of the Committee on the Status of Blacks (CSB) is to assess how well African-American political scientists are faring in the discipline. Given the nature of the academy, we believe an important element for success is effective mentoring. Our position is supported by the American Political Science Association (APSA) which established a Task Force on Mentoring in 2002 to address issues facing underrepresented groups within the profession. One of the initiatives is a Mentor Database designed to connect interested minority graduate students and minority faculty with political scientists who are willing to share their experiences and knowledge and give their advice and council to participants. The Committee is supportive of this initiative whose goal is to help underrepresented groups have satisfying professional careers.

Conrad Joyner, an astute observer, gifted teacher, and effective practitioner of the art of politics, passed away February 8, 2005, in Tucson, Arizona. Born October 21, 1931, he graduated from Earlham College in 1953 and received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1957. He taught political science at West Virginia University and the University of Southwestern Louisiana before arriving at the University of Arizona in 1961 for what would turn out to be a long and colorful career. He retired from the University of Arizona in 1992.

Teachers of international relations and comparative politics spend a considerable amount of time looking for ways to bring the politics of the world outside of the United States into their classroom to enhance student learning experiences through increased relevance or “reality.” Simulations are one method to make world politics seem more relevant (e.g., Dougherty 2003; Kille 2002; Shellman 2001; McIntosh 2001; Newmann and Twigg 2000; Kaarbo and Lantis 1997; Smith and Boyer 1996). The use of film is another popular method that enhances the drama and emotion of foreign cultures and politics (e.g., Waalkes 2003; Weber 2001; Kuzma and Haney 2001). Finally, the Internet and web-based technologies (e.g., Cogburn and Levinson 2003; Hauss et al. 2002; Bonham and Seifert 2000) and foreign newspapers (e.g., Schattle 2003) are also employed to connect textbook knowledge to the real world of foreign affairs.

This symposium stemmed from a 2002 panel at the APSA Annual Meeting in Boston, MA. The panel discussed the major professional contributions of several political scientists who graduated between 1935 and 1955. They attended graduate school during “separate but equal” in many Southern states. Yet, they achieved and made major contributions at many black and white universities. Many black students were motivated to study political science, enter graduate school, and pursue a pivotal career in political science and law. The preponderance of these early political scientists was employed at black or African-American universities. They established strong programs at these institutions and encouraged students to pursue degrees in political science and law.

The Association's 2005 Nominating Committee convened at the national office and agreed upon the following slate of officers and Council members. Members of the Association will have an opportunity to meet the nominees at the 2005 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Elections will be held at the Business Meeting on Saturday, September 3. The Annual Meeting Final Program will have the room location for each event. Procedures for nominations from the floor are set down in Article V (1,2) of the APSA Constitution.

Political scientists commonly use their courses to emphasize the pervasive nature of collective action problems, whereby group interests are undermined by individual incentives to “defect” or “free ride.” In a graduate seminar a faculty member may have students read classics in this area, such as Mancur Olson's The Logic of Collective Action (1965). Graduate students are often expected to model a collective action problem as a prisoner's dilemma and be able to understand the implications in such areas as establishment of interest groups, voting turnout, budgeting, and military relationships among nations. Even in lower division undergraduate courses political science instructors may integrate concepts from collective action theory. This orientation is also evident in some textbooks. Thus in their introduction to American politics, Samuel Kernell and Gary C. Jacobson (2003) offer an extensive discussion of collective action problems and the role of government, and return repeatedly to this topic throughout their book. Similarly, a focus on collective action problems is at the heart of Walter Stone's introductory American politics text, Republic at Risk (1990).

Community engagement through service learning has become well institutionalized in American education, yet there has been considerable debate over its effectiveness, especially with regard to its impact on explicitly political engagement. While participation in community service and volunteerism clearly has a positive impact on the propensity of young people to dedicate themselves to further service, the evidence of the effects of service on political engagement is, at best, mixed.

People in Political Science.

The pioneering career of Ralph Johnson Bunche in political science can only be briefly summarized in this limited space. Fortunately, an increasing number of works published in the last decade are rescuing his legacy for new generations. I have chosen to focus my comments on three aspects of his career: his education, his contributions to Howard University, and his contributions to the discipline of political science. (For his contributions to the APSA, see Henry 1983.)

International news.

Debates over methodology have long occupied a prominent role in political science and its various empirical sub-fields. Recently, these debates and occasional dialogues seem to have intensified. The Perestroika movement within APSA protested the perceived hegemony of rational choice and quantitative methods in journal publications and graduate training (Kasza 2001). Renewed attention has focused on the types of methodologies employed by studies published in the discipline's leading journals (Garand and Giles 2003; Bennett, Barth, and Rutherford 2003; Braumoeller 2003). The kinds of concerns over methodological diversity that motivate these studies also inform discussions about graduate training (Alvarez 1992; Dyer 1992; Schwartz-Shea 2003; Morrow 2003; Smith 2003).