The American Political Science Association is returning to Chicago, Illinois, for the 2013 APSA Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Join APSA in this exciting and beautiful city to share and discuss the latest scholarship in political science and address issues related to the theme “Power and Persuasion.” The 2013 APSA Annual Meeting and Exhibition will have something for scholars in every stage of their careers, including an exhibition of publishers, eJobs placement service, plenary sessions, and networking receptions. More than 6,000 political scientists, publishers, and other scholars are expected to travel to Chicago to take part in this largest annual gathering of political scientists.

APSA published a new book in February, Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen, edited by Alison Rios Millett McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion, and Dick Simpson. Preface author Rick Battistoni notes the importance of the book as a timely resource to educate for political engagement and as the culmination of over a decade of work by political scientists and APSA. These include numerous conference events, papers, and articles, (many of which appear as chapters in this book), association-sponsored online activities and resources, and a special service learning section in the September 2000 PS. In the foreword, APSA executive director Michael Brintnall echoes Battistoni's assessment of the work as “a rich collection of research and innovative pedagogy that helps reaffirm APSA's voice in civic engagement and advances and reshapes the commitment with which the association began.” Brintnall notes that the book emerges in tandem with “the intellectual laboratory” of the annual APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, work of APSA committees on teaching and learning and civic education and engagement, the Alma Ostrom and Leah Hopkins Awan Civic Education Fund of the APSA Centennial Center, and other current related association activities.

Films used for political science instruction are typically political or historical and are selected to examine concepts developed by the filmmaker within the context of a curriculum. This approach may not be appropriate for introductory American government classes given students' weak foundation of political knowledge and lack of interest in politics. This article examines an alternative model of film use employing the seemingly nonpolitical film The Big Lebowski. Viewed early in the semester, the film highlights the ubiquitous presence of politics in society and government's relevance to everyday life. Clip montages of the movie characters were used to enhance discussion of the First Amendment, voter identification, social capital, and foreign policy throughout the semester.

APSA is currently soliciting applications from political scientists interested in serving as co-leaders for the 2014 APSA Africa Workshop. Submissions must come from a team of two US-based and two Africa-based scholars. Those applying to be co-leaders must propose a workshop theme, location, and African institutional partner. The application deadline is November 1, 2013. For more information, visit the Africa Workshop website or contact Andrew Stinson at africaworkshops@apsanet.org.

In recognition of their outstanding academic and personal achievements, APSA is pleased to announce the APSA Minority Fellows for the 2013–14 academic year. The Minority Fellows Program (MFP) was established in 1969 as an effort to increase the number of minority scholars in the discipline and has designated more than 400 fellows and contributed to the successful completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals. APSA has refocused and increased its efforts to assist minority students in completing their doctorates by concentrating not only on the recruitment of minorities, but also on the retention of these groups within the profession. The MFP designates up to 12 stipend minority fellows each year. Fellows with stipends receive a $4,000 fellowship that is disbursed in two $2,000 payments—one at the end of their first graduate year and one at the end of their second—provided that they remain in good academic standing. Awards are based on students' undergraduate course work, GPA, extracurricular activities, GRE scores, and recommendations from faculty. Members of the selection committee for this year's fellows included Sonia Garcia, Committee on the Status of Latinos y Latinas in the Profession; B. D'Andra Orey, Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession; and Wendy K. Tam Cho, Committee on the Status of Asian Pacific Americans in the Profession. Learn more about the program by visiting http://www.apsanet.org/content_3284.cfm.

APSA announces Steven Rathgeb Smith as the incoming executive director of the association. Michael Brintnall, who has served as executive director since 2003, is retiring. After an extensive year-long search, the APSA Council unanimously endorsed the recommendation to select Smith as the new executive director.

Recognizing excellence in the profession is one of the most important activities of APSA. The following awards were announced in August 2013 and presented to these awardees during the APSA Annual Meeting at the Awards Ceremony August 29, 2013, in Chicago, Illinois.

During their time at university, political science students frequently only learn to write for the academic setting. However, not all students will come to work in academia, nor do they want to. When entering the job market, they often do not have the writing skills that are demanded by potential employers and have to learn them “on the fly.” Simulating cooperative policy-writing processes in the classroom not only gives students the opportunity to acquire these skills, but also helps them make important connections between the theory taught in the classroom and the “real-life” policy-making process. Using the practical example of a policy paper-writing simulation, this article illustrates how posing a policy-writing challenge from the field of foreign policy making can equip students with a grasp on theories of policy making, their practical application, and policy writing as a practical skill.

A preview of some of the articles in the October 2013 issue.

Investigations by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) of the administrations of the institutions listed below show that, as evidenced by a past violation, they are not observing the generally recognized principles of academic freedom and tenure approved by this Association, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and more than 200 other professional and educational organizations which have endorsed the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.

The 2013 APSA RBSI Program has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue the RBSI for 2013. Additional program funding is provided by Duke University and APSA. Each summer, the Institute gives 20 students a look at the world of graduate study with a program of two transferable credit courses, one in quantitative analysis and one in race and American politics, to introduce the intellectual demands of graduate school and political science research methods. For a final project for both courses, students prepare original, empirical research papers, and top students are given the opportunity to present their research at APSA's Annual Meeting. Named in honor of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former APSA President, Ralph J. Bunche, the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) program goal is to encourage students to pursue academic careers in political science. Students were notified of their acceptance into this year's program in mid-March. For more information about the program, visit www.apsanet.org/rbsi.

Political science graduate students need to develop strong skills in drafting empirical research manuscripts. Yet, many graduate student manuscripts contain similar shortcomings, which require student peers, faculty advisors, and journal referees to produce the same comments for multiple manuscripts. This article lists common comments on empirical research manuscripts, as a reference to help students revise their manuscripts before presentation to others for review, so that reviewers can focus on the more substantive elements of a manuscript, thus producing better manuscripts that are more likely to be published and thus contribute to knowledge about political phenomena.

A preview of some of the articles in the July 2013 issue.

The American Political Science Association returned to its roots for the 2013 Annual Meeting and Exhibition. In 1904, the association held its first Annual Meeting at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. While the meeting attendance in 1904 was a modest gathering with a dozen presentations, the 2013 APSA Annual Meeting brought together more than 6,000 political scientists from all over the world for a variety of programmatic, networking, and social events. Some 800 panels were offered. From August 29 to September 1, scholars gathered in historic Chicago to explore an exciting program focused on the theme Power and Persuasion. The 2013 Annual Meeting Program Chairs Catherine Boone, now at London School of Economics and Political Science, and Archon Fung, Harvard University, framed the meeting around the theme statement: “To help societies meet the needs for political interactions of increasing complexity and scale, political scientists need to understand better the uses and abuses of both persuasion and power in varying contexts and scales. This year's theme encouraged scholars to consider the politics of persuasion and power, along with their many intersections.”

The APSA Nominating Committee is pleased to present the slate of nominees for APSA offices. In developing the slate, the committee was guided by the association's constitution that requires due regard to “geographical distribution, fields of professional interest, types of institution, race, gender, ethnicity, methodological orientation, gender identity, sexuality, and other important forms of diversity.”

Reflecting on a survey of employees of NGOs based in Ontario, Canada, the article considers two questions: How well are our BA programs preparing students for the workplace? Can we enhance workplace relevance without sacrificing our commitment to liberal education? Key findings are presented, including the BA continues to be a desired and employable degree and skills associated with it are valued; employers are not convinced that graduates with BAs necessarily possess these skills; and respondents associate their formal education with individual skills and extracurricular activities with interpersonal skills. Three strategies to enhance the workplace relevance of BA programs without sacrificing liberal education are suggested, and faculty are encouraged to think more holistically about their BA programs and what students need from them.

The Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs is an invaluable resource to political and social scientists. Since its opening in September 2003, the center has housed more than 100 scholars. The center, located in the APSA headquarters near Dupont Circle, provides a great base of operations for scholars researching in the DC metro area. The center offers visiting scholars furnished work space, telephone, fax, computers, Internet access, conference space, a reference library, and access to George Washington University's Gelman Library. Visiting scholar stays range from a few days to 12 months. Space is limited to APSA members and is available for faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and advanced graduate students from the United States and abroad. Scholars are expected to cover their own expenses and a modest facilities fee for the use of the center. Prospective visiting scholars may apply at any time. Positions are awarded on a space-available basis.

John H. Aldrich is the Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He received his BA from Allegheny College (1969; Gold Citation, 2009) and his MA (1971) and PhD (1975) from the University of Rochester (Distinguished Scholar Award, 2013), in political science. At Duke he has been department chair and was the founding director and then co-director (with Professor Wendy Wood) of Duke's Social Science Research Institute. At Duke, he also received the inaugural Graduate Mentoring Award.

To increase graduate student participation in the Annual Meeting, the association awarded Advanced Graduate Student Travel Grants for the 2013 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Recognizing challenging economic times across academia, Cambridge University Press offered $5,000 to supplement the APSA travel grants program and support graduate students and scholars participating in the APSA Annual Meeting. The names and institutional affiliations of the awardees follow.