Political Science Educator: volume 25, issue 2

Dear section members:

First, I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year as we enter 2022! I know that I have sounded like Pollyanna in the last few newsletters, but really, this year has got to be better– and I’m saying that as the Omicron variant is spreading at a very rapid rate and we are once again beginning a semester with a lot of unknowns. I know that all of us want a return to some sort of normalcy.

It was so exciting to see so many of you in Seattle for the annual meeting. Even all masked-up, it was great to see so many faces in person. The highlight of our business meeting was the announcement of the award winners:

• The Craig Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research & Mentoring went to Judithanne McLauchlan (University of South Florida).
• The Best APSA Conference Paper went to Christopher Brown, Jeannie Grussendorf, Michael Shea, and Clark DeMas, all from Georgia State University for their paper entitled, “Changing the Paradigm? Creating an Adaptive Course to Improve and Outcomes in Introductory Political Science Classes.”
• The Distinguished Service Award went to Juan Carlos Huerta (Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi).
• The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Michelle Deardorff (University of Tennessee- Chattanooga).

Many thanks to the award committees for their hard work in choosing the winners. The PSE section helped to co-sponsor the reception at TLC at APSA and also the reception for the book launch of Political Science Internships: Towards Best Practices edited by Renee Van Vechten, Bobbi Gentry, and John Berg (published by APSA).

A plethora of good things are happening with members in our section. First, John Ishiyama (University of North Texas) became the President of APSA. John has worked tirelessly for our section and it is exciting that he now leads the organization. For the annual meeting to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, September 15-18, 2022, John has chosen the theme of “Rethink, Restructure, and Reconnect: Towards A Post-Pandemic Political Science.” Certainly, this pandemic has forced all of us to rethink how we do what we do. Juan Carlos Huerta (Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) was also installed as a Vice-President on the APSA Council and Mary McHugh (Merrimack College) was elected to serve on APSA Council. Michael Rogers (Arkansas Tech University) is serving on the APSA Committee on Professional Ethics, Rights, and Freedoms, serving as co-chairs of TLC@APSA in Montreal are Julio Carrion (University of Delaware) and Allison Rank (SUNY-Oswego). In 2023, we will resume our TLC stand alone

conference at a location still to be decided. Program chairs for the PSE section at the conference are Bobbi Gentry (Bridgewater College) and Laura Roost (Newberry College). Please let us know if you are serving APSA in any capacity so you can be recognized!

Michelle Allendoerfer, Director of Teaching and Learning, for APSA along with Bennett Grubbs have a full schedule beginning this Spring. There are five teaching & learning symposia planned so far in 2022: American Politics (March); Race, Ethnicity and Politics (April); Social and Economic Inequality (Summer); Community College (Summer); and Global Politics (Fall). They continue to offer resources on the APSA Educate web site³, so check them out! Mary McHugh and I are serving on the APSA Teaching & Learning Policy Committee. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please send them to either of us.

Beginning this summer, the Journal of Political Science Education⁴ will have a new editorial team. Editor-in-Chief is Charity Butcher (Kennesaw State University); Lead Editor is Alasdair Blair (De Montfort University); and Associate Editors are Tavishi Bhasin, Elizabeth Gordon and Mala Carter Hallward (all of Kennesaw State University), Alison Rios Millett McCartney (Towson University), and Simon Usherwood (Open University.) Congratulations to this new team!

We also want to thank the current editorial team who has done an outstanding job! Currently serving are Editor-in-Chief Victor Asal (University at Albany) and Section Editors for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Mitchell Brown (Auburn University) and Shane Nordyke (University of South Dakota); for Political Science Instruction: Joseph W. Roberts (Roger Williams University); for Reflections on Teaching and the Academy: Mark Johnson (Minnesota State Community and Technical College), and for Book, Teaching Tools, and Educational Resources: J. Cherie Strachan (Virginia Commonwealth University).

I want to thank all that are serving on the Political Science Education section council: Vice- Chair/Secretary Michael Rogers (Arkansas Tech University), Joseph Roberts (Treasurer), Colin Brown (Northeastern University), Megan Becker (University of Southern California), Rachel Bzostek Walker (Collin College), Maureen Feeley (University of California-San Diego), Mark Carl Romm (Georgetown University), J. Cherie Strachan (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Patrick McKinlay as Immediate Past President (Morningside College.) Simply put: this is the best group of people ever to work with! Finally, we welcome Colin Brown (Northeastern University) and Matt Evans (Northwest Arkansas Community College) as newsletter co-editors. All of us welcome your feedback and suggestions.

Very best,

Terry Gilmour Midland College