The process of transforming students from novices into experts relies on active learning and the development of an appreciation for the links among topics. Since rote or stimulus-response learning is preferred by a majority of students who are beginning their programs of study but does not optimize learning and understanding, the first step in the process is changing students' preference to active learning. As students progress from 100- to 400-level courses, this outcome can be accomplished by reducing the amount of class time that instructors dedicate to lectures that introduce new material and increasing the amount of time dedicated to active learning strategies. Because of PowerPoint's linear structure, teachers can foster learning by supplementing traditional slides with tables, charts, graphs, and concept maps that explicate the links among topics. Concept maps also lend themselves to assessing students' mastery of concepts and the value added by class discussions. Both measures enable instructors to enhance their teaching effectiveness and, over time, use class sessions more efficiently.

After careful consideration of suggestions from the APSA membership and organized groups, the Nominating Committee has agreed on the following slate of political scientists as its nominees for elective office in the association. In developing the final slate of proposed candidates, the committee was guided by the association's bylaws that require “due regard to diversity, geographical distribution, fields of professional interest, type of institution, and academic/nonacademic employment status,” as well as by mandates from the APSA Council and the charge from the APSA president, Henry E. Brady, and by a commitment to selecting candidates with distinguished records of achievement in advancing the multiple goals of the APSA.

Fred Wirt—a leading scholar of American politics for 30 years and a pillar of integrity in the University of Illinois' department of political science over that same span of time—died on August 21, 2009, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, at the age of 85.

Dr. Robert B. Highsaw, formerly head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama, died of pneumonia in Oklahoma City on November 17, 2009.

In 2010, the 106th annual meeting of the American Political Science Association will take place in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. There could not be a more appropriate location for the APSA annual meeting to convene, particularly in these economically challenging and uncertain times. On September 2, 2010, scholars from around the world will assemble to discuss research, present papers, and network with colleagues.

Stanley Duff Hopper, emeritus professor of political science, died of cancer on February 5, 2010, his 59th wedding anniversary, in Palmdale, California, where he had lived near one of his sons after retirement. He was 81.

Fourth grade students at a public elementary school in Houston, Texas, participated in a one-week exercise intended to mimic the process of creating a public good through a democratic process. The exercise involved students in four separate classes designing a class party with different characteristics (theme, music, and food) through a voluntary but personally costly voting procedure. The students then held the party that they had created. A formal assessment of learning objectives and a debriefing were also part of the exercise. Some ideas investigated include the disconnection between the actual party's characteristics and the revealed preferences of the students during the debriefing—a lesson of collective action—and the satisfaction and learning outcomes experienced by a minority of students as the result of being political activists and having their preferences realized in the makeup of their class party.

Make plans now to attend the 2010 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, September 2–5, 2010. Join more than 7,000 of your colleagues at the largest annual gathering of political scientists, held this year in Washington, DC.

APSA is pleased to recognize the recipients of campuswide and departmental awards for teaching excellence during the 2009–10 academic year. Pi Sigma Alpha hosts these recipients each year at the Reception Honoring Teaching at the APSA Annual Meeting.

The editors of a proposed interdisciplinary book exploring the concept of success and the role of violence in achieving movement goals invite chapter proposals of 500 words or less. The book ventures to present essays examining the notion of success related to terrorism and political violence. We seek essays concerning the theoretical analysis, perception, and framing/re-framing of what it means to be successful or unsuccessful in the use of violence as a tactic in achieving movement goals. We also seek essays addressing this concept from a broad terrorism/political violence perspective as well as case studies examining regional or group specific successful/unsuccessful uses of terrorism/political violence. Questioning and perhaps refocusing the concept of success and whether violence can ever be a successful tactic, we seek to better understand the role and selection of violence as a tactic in pursuing movement goals, if violence can be a successful strategy, and how violence can be a successful strategy. Deadline for proposals is August 1, 2010. Contact Gabriela Guazzo, gmguazzo@tamu.edu.

Our friend and colleague, Arthur Kalleberg, passed away peacefully on October 3, 2009, at the age of 78. He had been in retirement for the past 15 years. He was born in 1931 in Minneapolis and spent his youth there. After serving in the Navy during the Korean Conflict, he attended the University of Minnesota, where he received his BA (with honors), MA, and Ph.D.

The Executive Director's Report is an annual report on the state and activities of the association, and for 2009 it is hard not to reach outside the literal bounds of the association to reflect on the discipline, the academy, and the economy as a whole. Simply put, the American Political Science Association has weathered the financial storms of the past year well, though we know as well that reverberations from the economic downtown will continue for some time, with the potential for a sustained period of change.

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

The assignment before me was far more ambitious than any story I'd ever pitched to an editor. I wouldn't have dared to try, for fear of being laughed out of the newsroom. But I was now away from journalism, spending eight months as an APSA Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill. I was told to think big.

Stanley Kelley, Jr., a creative scholar and legendary teacher at Princeton University, died on January 17, 2010, at the age of 83.

Paul Mullen passed away at his home in Savannah, Georgia, on December 24, 2009. Paul had been our graduate student and remained our friend. His sense of humor was legendary: mordant, witty, and always to the point. His untimely death brought to an end a life filled with accomplishment. Paul Mullen had managed to fill his life with several careers. His first career had been as an attorney. As well as working in private practice for several years, he also was Assistant Attorney General for the state of West Virginia. He specialized in labor law and was head of the section in the Attorney General's Office responsible for litigation in that field.

The rapidity, duration, and intensity of it all caught me by surprise. Nearly at a full run, I dashed through a corridor and down a winding staircase to my first morning meeting. I took a place along a wall with a few other staff, but my eyes were fixed upon the principals. Gathered around a vast table were the chairs, the majority leader, and my boss—the house majority whip. The discourse was mostly heavy—President Obama's historic election, the burden of leadership, and the daunting task to balance politics and policy in order to deliver on the promises and hopes of the people who sent them. The immediate business was expanding children's health insurance and a stimulus package to turn around an economy teetering on the brink. The majority leader was resolute. Congress would need to deliver bold actions in order to overcome the deep anxiety of the times and to build confidence for the long struggle ahead. The whip was equally resolute as he summoned back hard lessons from lost eras—Roosevelt's New Deal and Truman's Fair Deal. Congress could not allow mistakes of the past to be repeated. With a clear appreciation of history, the whip made the case for a 21st Century New Deal that ensured the poor and most vulnerable would not be left behind. No sooner did I try to reflect upon this special moment and it was time to rush off once again.