2014 RBSI Program Concludes

The 2014 Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) program was held at Duke University June 2–July 3, 2014. APSA president John Aldrich and APSA executive director Steven Rathgeb Smith attended the closing event on July 2, 2014. A group of the 2014 RBSI class presented their final research papers in poster form at the 2014 APSA Annual Meeting.

Minority Fellows’ Institutions Announced

As part of the APSA Minority Fellows Program, we announce the graduate schools that the 2014–2015 APSA Minority Fellows will attend. Noted here are the students, their undergraduate institution, and their graduate institution (noted in italic):

Elias Assaf, University of Central Florida; The Ohio State University

Alvie Coes III, Georgia Southern University; TBA

Justine Davis, Elon University, American University of Paris (MA); University of California, Berkeley

Garland Doyle, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University (MPA); Wayne State University

Maraam Dwidar, University of California, Davis; University of Texas-Austin

Liana Gonzalez, Texas A&M University; Texas A & M University

Erica Lee, Howard University; New York University (MA); TBA

Eden Mesfun, Rutgers University; University of Kent (MA)

N’Kosi Oates, University of Delaware; TBA

Mariah Prensa, SUNY Buffalo State; SUNY Stony Brook (MA)

Sergio Sanchez, University of Maryland, University College; California State University, Chico (MA); TBA

Briana Vargas-Gonzalez, Brevard Community College; University of Central Florida; TBA

Interim Editors of PS: Political Science and Politics Announced

Phillip Ardoin, professor of political science at Appalachian State University (left), and Paul Gronke, professor of political science at Reed College, and Daniel B. German Distinguished Visiting Professor, Appalachian State University (right), have been appointed interim coeditors of PS: Political Science and Politics (PS). The editorial search committee, Frances Lee, University of Maryland, and Lara Brown, George Washington University, and Steven Rathgeb Smith, executive director of APSA, made the appointment August 4, 2014, after a months-long search and selection process.

The team takes over for retiring Robert J-P Hauck, who has served as editor for more than 25 years. During Hauck’s editorship, PS grew from a quarterly journal of essays and association news, to a journal of peer-reviewed feature articles, articles about the profession, and teaching. It continues to be the only professional news and commentary journal in political science.

“We are excited about the opportunity to assume the editorial leadership of PS and work with the Association to position this vital outlet for political science scholarship, pedagogy, and association news in the new environment of academic publishing,” said Ardoin and Gronke about their appointment. Their one-year term began August 31, 2014.

Their task as an interim editorial team will be to maintain PS over the next year, helping to inform APSA as it moves to a permanent editorial team starting in 2015. In announcing the appointment, the committee remarked, “We are very enthusiastic about your potential leadership of the journal, especially given this important transition time.”

“There is no reason to make major changes in the short term to what is a successful formula. Robert Hauck has served with distinction as editor for a quarter century, and has left PS in an enviable position to navigate the transition to a possible new model of academic publishing,” explained Ardoin and Gronke.

APSA sponsored “And the Winner Will Be..: An APSA Congressional Briefing” on presidential election forecasting. Current research published in the PS: Political Science and Politics symposium edited by Michael Lewis-Beck (standing, on left) (University of Iowa) and Mary Stegmaier (seated, on far right) (University of Missouri) was presented on Capitol Hill to members of Congress and their staff and other interested policy makers, journalists, academics, and the public. Mark Blumenthal (Huffington Post), Matthew Dickinson (Middlebury College) (seated, center), Drew Linzer (Daily Kos), and Lynn Vavreck (University of California, Los Angeles), delivered their findings on the hows, whens, and whys of election forecasting in a lively discussion before a standing-room-only crowd. More than 70 attended the May 28, 2014, event.