Although APSA's program year for 2012 ended in a whirlwind, with Hurricane Isaac compelling the cancellation of the APSA Annual Meeting, certainly strong winds of activity carried on throughout the year.
To start at the end of the year, under threat of Hurricane Isaac, APSA announced on Tuesday, August 28 that the 108th Annual Meeting, to begin in New Orleans August 30, must be canceled as the projected path and timing of the hurricane persistently kept shifting nearer. Preconference activities scheduled for August 29 already had been called off because of the storm threat. APSA staff were onsite in New Orleans preparing to open the meeting, if at all possible, when the cancellation decision was made.
2012 Meetings and Conferences
Program chairs Lynn Vavreck, University of California, Los Angeles, and John Carey, Dartmouth College, framed the meeting around the theme “Representation and Renewal.” A full program of more than 800 panels was fully organized, with nearly 200 special events also scheduled, including section meetings, receptions, award recognition ceremonies, and others. More than 5,500 participants and 99 exhibiting companies had preregistered for the meeting.
Operationally, all members, exhibitors, and sponsors received refunds of fees. APSA's Annual Meeting insurance covered these net lost revenues. Intellectually, the cancellation was, of course, a major disappointment as APSA President G. Bingham Powell, Jr. noted in his statement to the membership. Nevertheless, in response to the meeting cancellation, presenters, panel chairs, and division heads have been inventive in establishing alternative ways to present their work, including department-wide seminars, other scholarly conferences, and regional networks. These events have been tracked on the APSA website, which was quickly reprogrammed to allow scholars to identify when works had been slated for presentation elsewhere. The presidential address will be published in Perspectives in Politics, and President Powell will present the talk at an alternative venue.
Figure 1 Membership Chart
Table 1 Annual Meeting Registration
Table 2 Teaching and Learning Conference Registration
Figure 2 Annual Meeting Registration, 2011
Table 3 APSA Section Counts (As of October 2012)
Table 4 APSA Members 1974-2012
Table 5 Electronic Only Subscriptions to APSA Journals (As of October 12, 2012)
Because of its setting in Louisiana, the APSA Annual Meeting had been the site of extensive interest and conflict regarding its siting in a state that does not recognize same-sex partnerships that are legal in other states, and some members had opted to boycott. There was also keen interest in the efforts of the city of New Orleans and its region to recover from Hurricane Katrina. These and other issues had compelled the association to revisit its siting policy, and to adopt a structured way to engage with issues in the communities in which we meet. A siting and engagement committee had been formed several years ago amidst these discussions.
In 2012, the siting and engagement committee had planned a full scope of events for the Annual Meeting, aimed at connecting meeting participants with the local communities in which we meet on areas of mutual interest and concern. Larry Bagneris, Jr., executive director of the Human Relations Commission of New Orleans and a prior Human Rights Campaign award recipient, was to present a plenary address on the intersections of race, sexuality, gender, and social justice in New Orleans. Two plenary roundtables on the themes of race and recovery after Katrina and the responsibility of the profession were planned; bus and walking tours to local historical sights, volunteer opportunities at a local urban farm, and a short course bringing together New Orleans-based community organizers and political scientists were all scheduled for the 2012 meeting. Many associated groups had been active in supporting or complementing these efforts, including activities planned by the APSA Organized Section on Sexuality and Politics and a roundtable by the editorial team of Perspectives on Politics.
While opting not to move the meeting out of New Orleans, in 2008 the APSA Council had committed the association to make a public statement about the difficulties that states with legal restrictions on recognized same-sex partnerships place on the association. In 2012, the council wrote a public letter to Governor Jindal that said the state law is discriminatory and that APSA does not expect the association to meet again in Louisiana until this restriction is rectified. The letter received coverage in the New Orleans press prior to the dampening effect of Hurricane Isaac.
The 2012 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference
Earlier in the year, the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference proceeded smoothly in Washington, DC, February 17–19, 2012. The theme for the ninth annual conference was “Teaching Political Science: Relevance in a Changing World.” More than 300 meeting participants (up from the 226 participants at the 2011 conference) attended the meeting as either discussants or presenters. The conference continues to draw a diverse group of political scientists. Slightly more than half of the 196 respondents to the conference's survey were first-time attendees. Many institution types were represented: 15% of the participants came from community colleges; 34% from BA-granting institutions; 21% from MA-granting institutions; 23% from PhD-granting institutions; and 6% from other types. The meeting aims to create episodic and sustained community around teaching and is popular: virtually every attendee said that they would recommend the conference to a colleague.
The conference provided an opportunity for in-depth discussion of cutting-edge pedagogical issues from political science classrooms and attendee networking. The 2012 meeting featured 14 moderated working groups/tracks organized around themes such as civic engagement; diversity, inclusiveness and equality; integrating technology into the classroom; and program assessment. Two new tracks on teaching and learning at community colleges and conflict resolution were offered. Track summaries detailing the major points discussed by each working group appeared in the July issue of PS: Political Science & Politics.
Interactive workshops on topics ranging from the scholarship of teaching and learning to teaching campaigns and elections were also included this year. Participants also joined interactive plenary sessions such as the lunchtime roundtable “Pressing Issues and Innovative Approaches” and the Pi Sigma Alpha Keynote Address “Seeing through the Spin: Equipping Students to be Smart Consumers of Political Information,” delivered by Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the University of Pennsylvania.
The 2012 meeting also offered the first APSA Teaching and Learning Conference preconference short course on accessible cyberlearning in political science, led by Derrick Cogburn and the Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning and Institute on Disability and Public Policy teams of American University. Professor Cogburn's teams also provided live online coverage of a number of the tracks and plenary sessions—as they did for the 2010 and 2011 conferences.
Professional Development Programs and Resources
Along with activities planned within our annual meeting and conferences, APSA is also expanding programs and initiatives aimed at promoting professional development for undergraduate and graduate students, and junior faculty, in particular, as well as the overall discipline. These programs are administered through the various APSA program offices or departments and are based in part on input and feedback from APSA standing committees (e.g., committee on teaching and learning, departmental services committee, and status committees), members, research in higher education, and trends in the discipline. APSA has been committed to professional development support throughout its history. In 2004, the APSA Task Force on Graduate Education encouraged APSA to work with departments and members to provide mentoring on professional development and preparation in research, teaching, academic roles, and preparation for careers both in and outside of the academy. The task force report acknowledged that these programs, resources, and initiatives should be a joint effort of departments, APSA, mentors, advisors, and students. New technologies, such as webinars, and new focus on alternative career paths and career positions for PhD holders in political science have pointed APSA to a new and expanded round of efforts.
APSA meetings—the Annual Meeting and the Teaching and Learning Conference—provide opportunities for face-to-face professional development programming for meeting attendees. Supporting professional development among APSA members enables APSA to meet a number of its core objectives, such as promoting scholarly research and communication; promoting high-quality teaching and education; diversifying the profession and representing its diversity; increasing academic and nonacademic opportunities; and strengthening the professional environment for political science. To that end, the professional development section on the APSA website has been expanded and given its own website—linking to APSA and non-APSA resources and opportunities.
Several professional development resources for members are available online. Some programs also feature corresponding APSA Annual Meeting events. Among the key ongoing and new professional development activities and efforts that APSA supports for the discipline are APSA e-Jobs; the new APSA Political Science Jobs journal; the APSA Jobs and Career Resource webpage; APSA Job Market and Placement Report (which may be an online data webpage in the future); the Virtual Brown Bag series; the APSA Annual Meeting interview service; the APSA Mentoring Initiative; the PS sections The Profession and The Teacher; the APSA Graduate Student e-Newsletter; the APSA All Member e-Newsletter; and the APSA Graduate Student Connection.
In addition to APSA publications and brochures aimed at undergraduates and majors, (detailing internships, liberal arts major, getting a PhD, and careers in political science), APSA offers several educational and professional development initiatives for undergraduate students and their professors. The APSA Graduate School Information Fair, which is one of the many events offered at the APSA Annual Meeting, facilitates education and awareness about graduate programs in political science and graduate recruitment of all student groups. Representatives from political science graduate programs share information about their political science programs with undergraduate students who are local to the Annual Meeting host city.
The Spotlight on Undergraduate Research showcases faculty and departmental efforts to promote undergraduate research by highlighting individual and departmental undergraduate research initiatives and projects. APSA's recognition of these efforts was done in conjunction with the National Undergraduate Research Week.
The goal of the APSA Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) is to encourage students to pursue academic careers in political science. Each summer, the RBSI hosts 20 students, exposing them to the world of graduate study and political science research methods. For a final project, students prepare original, empirical research papers; selected students present their research at the APSA Annual Meeting.
APSA also awarded about $17,000 in research funds for the Small Research Grant Program to support research of political scientists who are not employed in PhD-granting departments. Awards average about $2,100 and support travel or field-work costs, purchase of questions on major survey instruments, or similar research expenses.
APSA Diversity Programs
APSA programs designed to enhance diversity and to support entrance and professional development of underrepresented students in the profession moved forward in 2012. These efforts include the APSA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), APSA Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI), and the APSA Minority Student Recruitment Program (MSRP).
The MFP, established in 1969, aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds in PhD programs in political science. To date, the program has designated more than 500 MFP Fellows and contributed to the successful completion of doctoral political science programs for more than 100 individuals. Fellows receive updates and announcements about APSA programs and other opportunities. Most recently, APSA is working to connect MFP alumni with current MFP Fellows through the APSA Mentoring Program. This year, the MFP Selection Committee, awarded the 2011–2012 APSA MFP Fellowship to 12 students. Each Fellow receives a $4,000 award. The 2012–2013 MFP Fellows were named in November 2012.
The RBSI, created in 1986, is an intensive five-week academic and professional development program to prepare students for graduate work in political science. The program provides academic credit, mentoring, and training in statistical analysis and the substantive area of race and ethnicity in political science. Under the leadership of Paula McClain and with the funding support from the National Science Foundation, Duke University, and APSA, this program simulates the graduate experience. The 2012 RBSI program concluded on July 3, 2012, with a closing banquet. APSA President G. Bingham Powell, Jr. addressed the 20 RBSI Scholars, faculty, and staff. Ten RBSI Scholars were invited to present posters at the 2012 APSA Annual Meeting. However, because the meeting was canceled, these students will present their posters at the 2013 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting. APSA is now reviewing the RBSI program and developing future APSA RBSI programming strategies.
The MSRP advances the benefits of diversity within the political science profession. In collaboration with undergraduate and graduate political science departments, the program identifies students from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in political science doctoral programs; provides information about political science graduate programs to them; and urges faculty to encourage their students to consider graduate school. To participate, faculty members submit student information, or students can enroll directly so that they can be actively recruited by APSA member departments. In the fall of 2012 250 students had enrolled. Information about the students was distributed to APSA recruiting graduate departments in late October, in time for graduate school recruitment. Currently 24 political science graduate departments participate in this year's MSRP. Each semester, APSA sends the participating political science departments updated student information for their recruitment and outreach use.
Departmental Services
Every major area in which APSA hopes to make strides supporting scholarship, teaching, and scholarly development involves the work of academic departments and department chairs. APSA's Departmental Services Program (DSP) has made substantial progress in these programs for supporting and promoting departments of political science and their chairs, with several projects and events:
• The Political Science Chair: The chairs e-newsletter is sent monthly to department heads at all member and nonmember departments. It includes department-related news from the Institutional Programs and DSP, relevant news articles from sources like the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Education, important events and dates that can be imported directly to calendars, and other related association news.
• Department Chairs Handbook: To revitalize the chairs handbook, DSP staff used the chairs workshop at the 2011 Annual Meeting as a boost. Panelists from the meeting submitted their comments in writing, and additional contributions were solicited. The Handbook, which is currently online at http://www.apsanet.org/content_81517.cfm, is a benefit of departmental membership. Plans in the year ahead include regularly adding essays to provide opportunities for chairs from all departments to make contributions to the discussion about the issues facing departments of political science.
• External Review Guidelines and List of Reviewers: For some time, the APSA has maintained a set of guidelines and a list of potential reviewers to assist departments in the review process. Both documents are now available to departmental members on request. Under the leadership of Professor Theiss-Morse, the committee has made additional revisions, solicited additional volunteers for the list of reviewers, and made the document available online (and as a hard copy) as a benefit of departmental membership.
• DSP and Data Webpages: Staff have redesigned and substantively enhanced DSP presence on the APSA website to make benefits of membership and information for all departments more accessible (http://www.apsanet.org/departmen talservices/ and http://www.apsanet.org/content_62030.cfm). Data pages have also been updated, making major and enrollment data current and readily available to all departments (http://www.apsanet.org/content_16886.cfm). This work is an on-going process as APSA continues to support departments.
• APSA Connect: A departmental community exists on APSA Connect to increase engagement among department chairs. Staff continue to make this an environment suitable and convenient for chairs to communicate among themselves and with the association.
• Chairs Events at the Teaching and Learning Conference: In February 2013, DSP will host a reception for registered department chairs. This event gives APSA and chairs an opportunity to meet other chairs and to network with other department heads. A panel or workshop for chairs at the Teaching and Learning Conference is also being considered.
Surveys and Research
In addition to annual APSA Departmental and Placement Surveys, APSA has redoubled efforts to expand more specialized surveys about activities in the profession this year, including a survey of PS: Political Science and Politics readership, an assessment of views of political scientists about rules for electing national legislatures, for the APSA Presidential Taskforce on Electoral Rules and Democratic Governance, an alumnus survey of the Africa Workshop program, an evaluation of participation in the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, and a member survey to support the executive director search.
Journals
New APSR Editors
This year APSA welcomed a new team of editors to steward APSA's flagship journal, The American Political Science Review. Lead editor John Ishiyama and colleagues Marijke Breuning, Steven Forde, and Valerie Martinez-Ebers from the University of North Texas (UNT) began their terms as APSR coeditors in July 2012. The APSA Council appointed the new team to a four-year term, renewable for an additional two-year term in 2016. Professor Ishiyama serves as the lead editor for the initial two years, after which time the lead editor role may rotate among members of the editorial team with the consent of the team and the APSA Council. The APSR has stood as the flagship scholarly journal in political science for over a century and continues to represent both fundamental scholarship in the discipline and new directions and developments in the field. The incoming editorial team has eagerly joined this tradition to advance the journal's service to the discipline. APSA is pleased to partner with the new team of editors and with the University of North Texas, which has committed significant financial and administrative support to the journal. The editors shared their plans for the journal with the discipline during the past year through presentations at various academic conferences and e-mail and online communications. Their vision statement—to “publish scholarly research that is of exceptional merit; that focuses on important issues; is of general interest; and understandable to as many scholars as possible”—is available online at www.apsanet.org/apsr. The APSA Council and Cambridge University Press thank the former editors led by Ron Rogowski for their leadership of the journal and service to the profession since 2007.
Perspectives 10th Anniversary
APSA also reached another milestone in journal publishing in marking the first decade of publication of Perspectives on Politics. Since launching in 2003, Perspectives has developed into an important publication for the discipline under the stewardship of its first three editors Jennifer Hochschild, Jim Johnson, and current editor Jeffrey C. Isaac and their respective editorial boards. Perspectives on Politics current mission states that the journal hopes to “provide a space for broad and synthetic discussion within the political science profession and between the profession and the broader scholarly and reading publics.” Editor Jeff Isaac devoted the September 2012 issue of Perspectives to the anniversary and provides his perspective on the founding principles of the journal and his vision for the journal as an “important public sphere for political science in general and for the American Political Science Association.” This issue also features research on the politics of reconstruction and post-Katrina New Orleans, themes relevant to the association as the site of its 2012 Annual Meeting and as an important public discussion of the legacy of Katrina. The Association News section of PS (this issue) features additional details on the 10th anniversary of Perspectives.
PS Reader Survey
Following up on the suggestions made by the APSA Publication Committee and the PS Editorial Board last year, staff prepared and conducted the PS reader survey in summer 2012. Based on the results, 65% of those surveyed are satisfied (very, somewhat) with the content of PS; most respondents read PS in print only, readers are satisfied with the quality of all the sections of PS, more than two-thirds rate PS Features and Teacher sections as very good or above average. In the PS report to the council, it was noted that PS authors' demographics reflect much of APSA membership, regarding professors, assistant professors, grad students, as well as male and female authors/members. Junior members are encouraged to submit articles. Goals for the year ahead include improving turnaround times, strengthening the reviewer pool, and looking for ways to recycle good content, either in print or online, as resources for members and others.
Electronic and Mobile Formats
Working with Cambridge University Press to distribute content in new ways, APSA offers several alternative formats for members to access the APSA journals.
Digital-Only Subscription Choice. In response to growing interest among members, APSA introduced a new “digital-only” subscription to APSA journals to give members a choice in how they read the journals. In January, members were offered the option to receive APSA journals solely in digital format, forgoing the printed edition. Members selected a digital or a digital-plus-print subscription for any, or all, of APSA's three journals and can change their selection at any time.
Since launching the digital subscription, about 20% of members opted for the digital subscription of all three APSA journals and at the highest rates for PS and Perspectives, with roughly 24% of North American and 26% of members in countries outside the United States (so-called rest of the world or ROW) choosing digital subscriptions of these two journals. Student members slightly edged out other members in selecting the digital-only subscription of any APSA journals at a rate of 27% to 24%.
New Journal Apps for Mobile Reading. In tandem with the new digital-only subscription choice option, APSA worked closely with Cambridge University Press to offer two enhancements to the digital APSA journal formats. Members can view both formats using their MyAPSA login credentials. Members are encouraged to provide feedback about these developments (publications@apsanet.org).
Digital “Page Flip” Edition. APSA journals now offers readers dynamic “page flip” editions that look just like the printed journal and contain all of the published content, plus many enhanced tools such as marking favorite articles, making private notes, and linking to online content. Readers can also download journal contents to their Kindle.
Smartphone/Tablet App. With the APSA journal mobile app editions members can view contents from smartphones and tablet devices. The journal pages on the app look like the published page, plus include specialized tools to interact with the content: members can read and download articles to their device, save private notes, and tag articles as “favorites” for retrieval later. Visit the iTunes Store and Google Play Market to download the journal apps to your devices.
Renewed Journal Publishing Contract with Cambridge University Press
APSA began a new five-year journal publishing contract in 2012 with Cambridge University Press after a year-long bidding process involving several other leading social science journal publishers. The new contract provides the association and its members additional benefits including the new journal apps and electronic subscription choices as earlier described as well as greater value for the journals in total revenue share and support for editorial operations.
Political Science Jobs Journal, Retiring of PS Supplement
In July 2012, APSA launched an online journal Political Science Jobs. This follows in a sequence of approaches for circulating job listings. Over a decade ago, APSA moved job listings from a newsletter to an online job listing board, with the option for a downloadable pdf version. In the mid-2000s federal regulations regarding academic hiring non-US citizens called for placement of job openings in a “print” academic journal, and visas were disallowed for scholars hired when the only listing had been posted online. APSA then responded by incorporating job listings into the journal PS: Political Science & Politics in the form of the PS Supplement to meet this requirement. The Supplement format allowed APSA to generate the job listing as close to journal distribution dates as possible. In 2011, the Department of Labor revised its interpretation of the regulations to allow listings in an “online” journal. In response, APSA retired the PS Supplement and began publication of the Political Science Jobs online journal. APSA's eJobs online job board is updated daily and remains accessible to members, and the new online journal lists all jobs current as of publication.
Public Engagement Initiatives
The public good provided by political science may be obvious to the discipline and association, but this knowledge does not extend automatically to the public and policymakers. Among the evidence of this is the recent threat to the National Science Foundation's political science program by the Flake Amendment passed by the House of Representatives in May 2012.
In this context, APSA recently initiated a public engagement initiative to educate and promote political science to the public. The preliminary plan is informed in good part from the report issued by the APSA Ad Hoc Committee on Public Understanding of Political Science and specific consultation with co-chairs Bruce Cain and Lynn Vavreck about priorities emerging from the committee report and in consultation with the APSA Council at its spring and fall 2012 meetings. The public engagement program is organized under APSA Institutional Programs.
The APSA Public Engagement Program seeks the education and promotion of political science to journalists, policy makers, and the larger domestic and international community. The program connects political scientists to journalists, policy makers, and the public; communicates the significance of political science research and other accomplishments for public policy; collaborates with political scientists to increase self-promotion and direct engagement in extra-disciplinary activities and experiences; and, creates programs for the promotion of BA degree in political science and more general public civics education.
The most obvious and current steps to achieve these goals are the development of a new public-facing website Political Science Now (www.poliscinow.com) and the social media tools such as a Facebook page (Political Science in the News) and a presence on Twitter for the website and the Facebook page.
While APSA has taken several initial steps, the APSA Public Engagement program is in the early stages of development. It will remain dynamic and responsive to the needs of our members and the ever-changing political and public environment.
Task Forces
A decade ago the APSA Council launched an initiative to sponsor presidential task forces to expand the public presence of the discipline of political science. These task forces put the best of political science research and knowledge at the service of critical issues that have major public policy implications and share with the broader society what political scientists know about important trends and issues in areas of public concern. Task forces are named by the President-elect with advice and consent of the council, with the aim to represent broadly the perspectives and approaches from the discipline pertaining to the specific topic. Their reports speak from the task force itself, not the association, though the reports are received by the APSA Council as the association's acknowledgement of the professional caliber of scholarship considered.
The task force on “Electoral Rules and Democratic Governance: Context and Consequences” launched by G. Bingham Powell, Jr., in 2011 continued its work throughout 2012, meeting at the Southern Political Science Association annual meeting in January and continuing drafting its findings and conclusions through the rest of the year. Chaired by Mala Htun (University of New Mexico), the report assesses the primary contributions of political scientists both in forging understanding of the relationship between electoral institutions and a range of democratic outcomes and through contributing expertise to the design, implementation, and reform of electoral institutions
International Programs
For the fifth consecutive year, APSA sponsored a summer workshop for political scientists in Africa. The program is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program will continue at least through the summer of 2014. In 2012 APSA partnered with the faculty of social sciences at the University of Botswana, Gaborone, one of the top African universities and a first occasion to hold the workshop in southern Africa. Twenty-two Africa-based early career political scientists and four US-based advanced graduate students came together to present research, discuss findings, and build international research networks while focusing on the theme of “Local Communities and the State in Africa.” The workshop was led by Parakh Hoon (Virginia Tech), Lauren MacLean (Indiana University, Bloomington), Joseph Mbaiwa (Okavango Research Institute, Botswana), Sethunya Mosime (University of Botswana), and Lungisile Ntsebeza (University of Cape Town, South Africa). Over the course of two weeks, participants sought to conceptualize and systematically study the informal and extra-legal political institutions by examining their interactions with the state and the many linkages that connect local, national, and transnational actors. The workshop also aimed to strengthen the collective capacities of scholars to engage in primary data collection in the field to rigorously analyze the dynamic interactions between local communities and the African states.
For the first time, this leadership team included an alumna from a previous workshop, Sethunya Mosime, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the workshops and the advancement of the outstanding scholars who take part in the annual sessions. Indeed, these points were underlined by a four-year review of the program undertaken in January. In addition to high overall satisfaction ratings, the survey also made clear that the Africa Workshops have attracted some of the best and brightest emerging scholars who have gone on to win prestigious post-doctoral positions, taken leadership roles within their departments, and published in an increasing variety of scholarly outlets.
This year, APSA expanded its regional scope and funding base through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to hold similar two-week workshops in the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2013–2014. Like the Africa Workshops, the MENA Workshops will be led by a steering committee consisting of senior scholars from the region, the United States, and Europe. The Steering Committee includes Lisa Anderson (American University in Cairo, chair), Mustapha Al-Sayyid (Cairo University), Henry Brady (University of California, Berkeley), Nancy Bermeo (Oxford University), Joseph Jabbra (Lebanese American University), and Amaney Jamal (Princeton University).
APSA continued to play an active role in the International Political Science Association (IPSA). Helen Milner, Princeton University, was elected IPSA President at the IPSA World Congress in Madrid this summer, and Dianne Pinderhughes, University of Notre Dame, was elected to the IPSA Executive Council.
Congressional Fellowship Program
APSA welcomed its 59th class of APSA Congressional Fellows in 2011–2012. Founded in 1953, the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program (CFP) is the nation's oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship, placing select political scientists, journalists, doctors, federal executives, and international scholars in working fellowship positions on congressional staffs.
As with all successful programs, maintaining one's strength and effectiveness is an active process of change. The collectivity of fellows in the program continues to cut across a varied range of sectors, including political scientists and journalists supported by the CFP endowment, medical professionals, international scholars, and federal agency senior staff, supported by a variety of foundations and professional development programs. Ongoing discussions continue with the US Department of Homeland Security for possible sponsorship of fellowship candidates, and discussions continue with the US Department of State in an effort to place the APSA Congressional Fellowship on a more competitive and more level playing field with the Pearson Fellows. The CFP is guided by a distinguished advisory council including members of the House and Senate and leading scholars in the field. The council is currently taking steps to broaden its membership, to increase greater diversity in its members, and to reach out to a newer generation of scholars.
Centennial Center
APSA also continues to maintain Centennial Center office space in its building to host scholars working in the city and to build funds to support these scholar visits as well as research activity elsewhere. In spite of a variety of dislocations resulting from APSA's upgrade of our building and its infrastructure, all the available office space in the Centennial Center has been committed through the end of 2012 and a number of offices have been committed into 2013 including both residential scholars and scholars engaged in field research.
APSA Membership
Membership in the association during 2012 has shown a small rebound from the declines following the economic downturn in 2008. After 2008, membership overall had decreased about 2% from the growth years before it. It now stands at 14,375, compared to a mean of 14,642 in the years 2005–2008. APSA first reached more than 14,000 members in 2003. These figures describe the number of paid-up members at one time. Like other membership associations, APSA has extensive and regular turnover in membership in any one year, with between 3,200 and 3,500 individuals not renewing in any one year—and cycling back into membership later.
The professoriate itself, incidentally, shows positive trends as well, with job listings for assistant professor and open-rank positions continuing to rebound from the economic downturn. For example, 802 such listings were posted in 2012, close to the 2003–2007 average of 835 (although still well below the 2008 high of 1,007 openings.)
APSA Finances and Operations
A full financial report from the APSA Treasurer appears separately from this Executive Director's report, so only a brief note of APSA finances is provided here. Finances are in order and in balance. APSA has total assets at June 30, 2012 of $28.6 million. Assets have remained steady over the year, primarily as a result of limited opportunities for investment growth. APSA assets include APSA's market investments for what is commonly called “endowment” for APSA awards, specialized programs, APSA Congressional Fellowship Program and Centennial Center, and general operations, plus the association's ownership of two buildings.Footnote 1
APSA made a major commitment to the upgrade of the headquarters building in DuPont Circle in Washington by replacing failing heating and cooling systems with a building-wide upgrade to state-of-the-art- and energy-efficient systems. In the course of this upgrade, a significantly enlarged, and better located, meeting space was added—that has already hosted a meeting of the APSA Council and the presentation of the Gaus Award Lecture, relocated from New Orleans. Two of the five floors of the headquarters building remain fully rented.
APSA's second building, on contiguous land, is currently leased to the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, a nonprofit program to bring high-school juniors to Washington, DC, for semesters of study focused on ethical thinking skills, leadership development, and international studies. It is a delight to have such a compatible use in our space, and a long tenancy is anticipated.
There are no major changes or issues to single out in this year's financials. Revenues are largely in line with expected levels as of this time last year, as are expenses. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2012–2013 calls for operating revenues of $6.93 million and expenses of $6.91 million, resulting in a projected operating surplus of $26,000. These figures assume a 3% increase in total operating revenue and total expenses over the current-year budgets. The proposed budget is also projecting a final net income of $259,000.
Member dues will not be raised for FY13. Surcharges that had in the past been added to international memberships, ostensibly to cover international mailing of journals are being eliminated. Reduced levels of physical mailing and international shippers have made it inappropriate to add extra mailing charges for international members. This surcharge also no longer accurately reflected costs to the association for international mailing and has, in turn, become a tax on international professional members (student members outside the United States did not pay the surcharge).
APSA staffing levels remain at 27 regular full-time positions and one part-time position. This staffing mix is relatively unchanged over the years, and includes management of the international summer projects and the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program as well as other APSA operations. Viewed in broad terms by FTE allocation, the staff is broken down into a number of functional areas. The number of senior political scientists/senior directors and support professionals are as follows: programs, external relations, committees, and Centennial Center (3.5 senior/6 support); membership, finance, and facilities operations management (2 senior/6 support); meetings and conferences (1 senior/2 support); website, communications, journals, and publications (1 senior/2 support); governance and general administration (1 senior/1 support); and the Congressional Fellowship Program (1 senior/1 support).
Looking Ahead
A vigorous agenda is set for next year for the association as APSA approaches its 110th anniversary in 2013. Planning committees are being formed for review of publications, membership, website, and public engagement, governance, and other initiatives. Staff are gearing up for generational upgrades to the APSA's association management software (AMS) and related systems—APSA was ahead of the curve on such systems for many years, and now will leapfrog the technology again. The upgrade of APSA's physical space is complete, and count on enhanced public engagement in the building itself, with more public events. Presidential task forces continue, and the first Middle East/North Africa workshop occurs shortly after a continuing Africa workshop. APSA is counting on strong meeting participation following our unexpected down time due to Hurricane Isaac. For me, the upcoming year will also be the final one for my tenure as executive director. Later, I will reflect in more depth on the fascinating complexity and pleasure of helping to lead the association. For now, let me say it is a privilege.
