Recipients of Special Projects Fund Announced
In keeping with its mission to support excellence in political science scholarship and teaching and informed discourse about politics, policy, and civic participation, the American Political Science Association today announced ten recipients of the 2018 Special Projects Fund. Each funded project will receive up to $25,000 for a total of $250,000 across all projects aimed at advancing the political science discipline or addressing significant challenges facing the discipline. A review committee consisting of seven political science faculty members selected the recipients based on the quality of their proposals. The committee considered the merits of each proposal based on the importance of the issue being addressed, the wider benefits to the discipline, and the project’s practicability and efficacy. The Special Projects Fund committee received 58 applications, each of which was reviewed by at least two committee members.
The Special Projects Fund awards recognize an exceptional group of established and early career scholars, and supports projects focusing on a wide variety of topics, including climate justice, sexual discrimination and harassment, and the cross-national study of race in the Americas.
“I would like to congratulate the Special Projects Fund Award winners,” said Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director of the American Political Science Association. “Collectively, these exciting and important projects will help APSA members to advance the professional development of our diverse membership and the discipline of political science. I commend the scholars for their dedication and commitment to the discipline and the association.”
Smith noted that the Special Projects Fund will support a great deal of collaborative work, with projects led by a total of 32 scholars from public and private colleges and universities across the United States, as well as from South Africa and India.
“We at APSA were overwhelmed and gratified by the widespread interest in the Special Projects fund. The committee received far more first-rate proposals than it was able to fund,” said Kathleen Thelen, APSA President and Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT. “The special projects fund began as a one-off experiment but it is my great hope that we can institutionalize it as an annual competition. The success of this year’s program suggests that our members are full of wonderful ideas about how the association can support them in all aspects of their work and professional lives.”
2018 SPECIAL PROJECTS FUND RECIPIENTS
#MeTooPoliSci: Addressing Gender Discrimination in Political Science
Nadia Brown (Purdue), Rebecca Gill (The University of Nevada Las Vegas), Jennifer Merolla (The University of California Riverside), Melissa Michelson (Menlo College), Elizabeth Sharrow (The University of Massachusetts Amherst), Patricia Stapleton (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Dara Strolovitch (Princeton)
Looking Back and Moving Forward: The 20th Anniversary Workshop of the APSA Latino Caucus
Mario Guerrero (California State Polytechnic University Pomona), Valerie Martinez-Ebers (University of North Texas), Tony Affigne (Providence College), Jessica Lavariega Monforti (Catholic Lutheran University), Melissa Michelson (Menlo College)
Studying Chinese Politics to Integrate & Contribute to Political Science
Jean Oi (Stanford), Melanie Manion (Duke University)
Political Science Pre-Graduate School Workshops
Susan Scarrow (University of Houston), Jeffrey Church (University of Houston), John Ishiyama (University of North Texas), Gabriel Sanchez (University of New Mexico)
Research Coordination Network for Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Scholars
Alvin Tillery (Northwestern University), Rodney Hero (Arizona State University), Juliet Hooker (Brown University), Michael Jones-Correa (University of Pennsylvania), Jane Junn (University of Southern California)
Rethinking the Undergraduate Political Science Major: A Conference Proposal
John Ishiyama (University of North Texas), Marijke Breuning (University of North Texas), Terry Gilmour (Midland College), Fletcher McClellan (Elizabethtown College), Cameron Thies (Arizona State University), Renee Van Vechten (University of the Redlands), Sherri Wallace (University of Louisville)
The Collaborative Study of Race in the Americas: Team Building in the 21st Century
KC Morrison, (University of Delaware), David Covin (Sacramento State University)
The Effects of Women’s Mentoring Workshops on Career Outcomes in Political Science
Tali Mendelberg (Princeton)
Avoiding “Day Zero” in the US & Global South: Climate Justice in Teaching & Policy Action
Prakash Kashwan, (University of Connecticut), Frank Matose (Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa), Navnita Chadha Behera (University of Delhi, New Delhi), Lauren M. MacLean (Indiana University)
Visions in Methodology Conference
Caroline Tolbert (The University of Iowa), Jan Box-Steffensmeier (Ohio State University), Sara Mitchell (The University of Iowa)
How Can the Centennial Center Support You?
VISITING SCHOLAR PROGRAM CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The Centennial Center’s Visiting Scholar Program assists scholars from the United States and abroad whose research and teaching would benefit from a stay in Washington, DC, and access to the resources available in the nation’s capital. The Center can host scholars for short periods to extended periods of time, ranging from weeks to months.
Located within the association’s headquarters near Dupont Circle, the Centennial Center offers visiting scholars newly refurbished shared work space, telephone, personal computers, wifi, conference space, and a reference library. Visiting scholars are encouraged to contribute to the intellectual life of the association during their stay, including through brown bag seminars to discuss their research.
Senior or junior faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and advanced graduate students are all strongly encouraged to apply. The Visiting Scholars Program is free of cost to those with active APSA memberships. Applications to the Visiting Scholar Program are accepted on a rolling basis. More information about the Visiting Scholar Program is available at https://connect.apsanet.org/centennialcenter/visiting-scholars/.
CENTENNIAL CENTER RESEARCH GRANTS
The Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs is providing more research assistance to APSA members than ever before. A research grant from the Centennial Center can be used to cover the costs of travel, interviews, access to archives, costs for a research assistant, or assistance in publishing research. The typical Centennial Center grant for an individual scholar is between $1,000 and $2,500, but can reach a maximum size of $10,000 for workshops, events, or projects in support of the profession. Scholars at all professional levels with an active APSA membership are eligible to apply for a Centennial research grant. The Centennial Center reviews grant applications twice a year, with deadline on December 15th, and June 15th. More information about Centennial Center research grants is available at https://connect.apsanet.org/centennialcenter/research-grants/.
