Diversity and Inclusion Program Updates

Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (MFP 2002–2003) was elected in 2016 as vice president of the Brazil Studies Association. She also accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor in the Department of Africology (Africana Studies) at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Victoria Jackson (RBSI 2009) graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with her MA degree in government/political science, and is currently a first-year law student at The University of La Verne in Southern California.

Carolina Ferrerosa Young (RBSI 2008, MFP 2012) is now a fifth-year PhD candidate in political science at Columbia University, focusing on American politics and quantitative methods. She is currently pursuing research projects on representational inequality, legislative political behavior, and experimental methods, and is a 2016–2017 Visiting Scholar at APSA’s Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs. Young is also a 2012 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Columbia University Dean’s Fellow.

Announcing the 2017 Summer Institute in Political Psychology at Stanford University

August 6 – August 26, 2017

Applications are being accepted now for the 22th Annual Summer Institute in Political Psychology, to be held at Stanford University August 6-26, 2017.

The Summer Institute offers three weeks of intensive training in political psychology. Political psychology is an exciting and thriving field that explores the origins of political behavior and the causes of political events, with a special focus on the psychological mechanisms at work.

Research findings in political psychology advance basic theories of politics and are an important basis for political decision-making in practice.

SIPP was founded in 1991 at Ohio State University, and Stanford has hosted SIPP since 2005, with support from Stanford University and from the National Science Foundation. Hundreds of participants have attended SIPP during these years.

The 2017 SIPP curriculum is designed to (1) provide broad exposure to theories, empirical findings, and research traditions; (2) illustrate successful cross-disciplinary research and integration; (3) enhance methodological pluralism; and (4) strengthen networks among scholars from around the world.

SIPP activities will include lectures by world class faculty, discussion groups, research/interest group meetings, group projects, and an array of social activities.

Some of the topics covered in past SIPP programs include public attitudes and attitude change, race relations, conflict and dispute resolution, voting and elections, international conflict, decision-making, moral disengagement and violence, social networks, activism and social protest, political socialization, justice, and many more.

In 2017, SIPP will accept up to 60 participants, including graduate students, faculty, professionals, and advanced undergraduates. http://www.stanford.edu/group/sipp. Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until all slots are filled, so applying soon maximizes chances of acceptance. Any questions should be directed to: SIPP2017@gmail.com.

APSR Announces New Publication Format

The American Political Science Review (APSR) announces a new publication format, Letters. APSR’s traditional publication format of research manuscripts uses original work to advance the understanding of important political issues that are of general interest to the field of political science (maximum length 12,000 words). In contrast, Letters will address an important research problem or question, showing a novel perspective on existing research and encouraging scholarly debate in the discipline (maximum length 4,000 words).

With this new format, APSR is taking a new direction to publish important insights into research problems in political science. Some of these insights might not fit in the traditional, longer format of manuscripts, but fit well with the shorter format that is often used in other sciences to convey important new findings.

“The Letter format is very common in prominent scientific journals of more general interest, such as Science and Nature, where significant findings are often reported on 5 to 6 pages,” explained lead editor, Thomas Koenig, University of Mannheim. “The new Letter format of APSR accordingly attempts to increase the interdisciplinary recognition by broadening readership and eventually authorship from scholars of other disciplines that address an important research problem in political science,” he continued.

The editorial team noted two reasons for their decision to offer this new Letter format. The first is a substantive reason. While APSR presents various disciplinary developments in the subfields of political science, these subfields also strive to develop alongside their counterparts in related disciplines. Letters will provide an opportunity to report about original research that move these subfields forward and reach a broader readership. This includes, but is not limited to, a new theoretical perspective, methodological progress, and alternative empirical findings, as well as comments on and extensions of existing work. A Letter typically will have only a few figures and tables that directly communicate the new insights and the main takeaways from the research.

The second reason is that the format of APSR has changed in the past, for example, with the move of book reviews previously published in APSR to APSA’s Perspectives on Politics. The editors want to use this space to raise the attractiveness of APSR to diverse scholarly research. Although Letters will be peer reviewed like manuscripts, the difference in length means that Letters are going to be much more focused on one important result.

“Typically, a Letter will not have the long literature review that is standard in manuscripts and will have a much briefer introduction, motivation, analysis, and conclusion,” stressed Koenig. “We hope that this new format will stimulate scholarly discussion and disseminate findings that would otherwise be ignored in and outside of political science.”

The APSR editors encourage authors to submit original papers that address an important research problem or question, showing a novel perspective on existing research and encouraging scholarly debate in the discipline to the new Letters format. See more details at www.apsanet.org/apsr.