Volunteer Opportunities at MPSA
MPSA has several volunteer opportunities available throughout the calendar year. These opportunities include serving as a committee member on a paper, subfield, flagship, and career stage awards committees. There are also opportunities to serve on administrative committees, along with mentoring roles, session chairs, discussants, and section chairs. Learn more about MPSA committees here.
Committee Volunteer Opportunities
Best Paper Awards Committees
The MPSA Best Paper Awards Committee determines awards for best paper, subfield awards, and career stage awards. The MPSA Awards committee members are responsible for accepting nominations and making selections for award recipients. Please select the award committee on which you would like to serve. We will contact people as appointments are made. Sign up here.
Administrative & Planning Committees
The MPSA Administrative Committees are responsible for a variety of administrative tasks leading up to the Annual Conference. Some of these committees include the student travel awards committee, the committee on professional ethics, the mentoring committees, and the public engagement. Please select the administrative committee on which you would like to serve. We will contact people as appointments are made. Sign up here.
Conference Volunteer Opportunities
Section Head, Chair, and Discussant Volunteers
Section Chairs review proposal submissions and organize them into sessions for the Annual Conference. The MPSA will provide each Section Chair with an allocation of sessions, and the Section Chairs need to create approximately that number of sessions, using the MPSA software (All Academic), and make sure that there are an appropriate number of papers on each session, as well as discussants or chairs. Usually, the entire section can be organized in a day or two in the autumn. The Section Chairs will need to find replacement discussants in the winter and spring. Section descriptions can be found here. If you are interested in serving as a Section Chair at a future MPSA conference, please fill out this short form.
In addition, professional-level participants may volunteer to serve as chairs and discussants. Please consider volunteering your expertise to demonstrate your support of your colleagues in the discipline. To view open roles, visit the conference system here. You must be logged in with your MPSA username and password to volunteer.
Professional Development Roundtable Participant Volunteers
Faculty are encouraged to offer to serve on roundtables in areas of professional development topics that focus on the career stages of individuals (student, job placement, early career and mid career) as well as topics that would be of interest to most including publishing, research, and teaching.
Professional Development Roundtables are a staple of the MPSA Annual Conference. We hope you will participate in this annual tradition of valuable collaboration, professional development and networking.
Mentoring & Social Volunteer Opportunities
Annual Conference Mentoring Reception Volunteer
MPSA invites you to volunteer for the Mentoring Reception at the Annual Conference. Each mentor will connect with groups of no more than four attendees to discuss current research and professional aspirations. Contact information and questions will be shared between the mentor and mentees in your small groups. Please confirm your conference schedule prior to RSVPing for this mentoring reception.
The mentoring reception is held on Friday at the MPSA Conference in April. We assign each mentor to a specific table where (s)he can talk with a small group of graduate students. Learn more about the Mentoring Reception and how to sign up here.
Academic Year-Long Mentoring Program Volunteer
MPSA invites faculty members to serve as volunteer during the academic year. If selected for this program, mentees will work remotely (phone calls or via Zoom) with faculty in a structured format over the academic year. Total commitment is approximately 10 total hours. MPSA will match mentors and mentees. Learn more about MPSA mentoring programs here. Please note that this program is outside of the annual conference programming and conference participation is not required to participate in the Academic Year-Long Mentoring Program.
Working Group/Conference-within-a-Conference Volunteer
Individuals holding a Ph.D. may submit a proposal to convene a conference-within-a-conference, or multiple organized sessions related to a single theme, topic, or area of study. Proposals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The convenor(s) are responsible for recruiting participants, organizing them into sessions, and facilitating communication and cooperation within the group. MPSA staff will assign meeting space, provide for the logistical needs of the group, maintain a roster of participants, help to promote the event, and work with the convenor(s) to accommodate scheduling requests. This is an excellent opportunity for cohorts to gather around specific areas of study that may not be well-represented in the normal conference sections, or to develop specific projects like an edited volume. If you are interested in organizing a Working Group or Conference-within-a-Conference, contact MPSA Professional Development Manager, Lewis Hoss, Ph.D. at hoss@mpsanet.org.