MPSA Annual Conference
Define Your Success: A Roundtable on Surviving Graduate School
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate school is an exciting time for students to explore their research interests and develop as a scholar. However, the experience also poses its own set of challenges: an intense workload, understanding statistical…
The Future of the Political Science Conference
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University The MPSA’s in-person conference is back! After being canceled entirely in 2020 and held virtually in 2021, this year’s conference has returned to Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton. Old haunts like the Parlor, State and…
Conference Smarter Not Harder: An Interview with Dr. Gustavo Diaz
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign In this blog post, I’m interviewing Gustavo Diaz (pictured at left): a recent PhD graduate and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research at Tulane University. Gustavo has attended MPSA six…
The ICPSR Summer Program: Furthering Great Research and Inspiring Great People
By: Scott Campbell, ICPSR Summer Program Communications Coordinator The ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research started in 1963, and we’ve been called many things since then. Many know us as simply “ICPSR” or “the Summer Program,” and others (hopefully) fondly call our…
The Institute for Humane Studies - Working for You
Submitted by The Institute for Humane Studies When you think of the role of academia in society, what comes to mind? Perhaps you envision broader, intellectual discourse, or the civil exchange of ideas? It might be that you’re interested in how philosophy, politics, and economics are interwoven to…
To Networking & Beyond: Strategies for Successful Networking
By James Steur, a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign As MPSA 2020 fast approaches, my colleagues have talked to me about the part of conferences they dread more than their presentations: networking. Someone I know remarked, “I feel like an…
Show Me the Money: Securing Research Funding
By Charmaine N. Willis of University of Albany One of the most important parts of conducting any research project, regardless of its methodology, is securing research funding. The recent MPSA conference offered several roundtables dedicated to research funding; in this blog, I cover the roundtable…
Exploring Themes from “Advances in Physiology and Politics: Linking Physiology, Self-Reports, and Cognitive Responses” at #MPSA19
By James Steur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign When I tell friends I’ve taken a class on the relationship between biology and politics, I generally get the same reaction: squinted eyes, a confused face, and a similar question. “How does biology relate to politics? Those topics…
MPSA’s Standing ePanels: A Supportive Space for Feedback and Skill-Building
By Colleen Wood of Columbia University In the exhibition hall at MPSA, it is easy enough to get stuck in the book displays or free coffee stands. But for those who push past the publishing stands, an ecosystem of poster presentations awaits. This year, MPSA experimented with a new presentation…
MPSA’s Top 10 Blog Posts from 2018
As the calendar year begins to wind down, we take a look back at our most-read articles from 2018. We encourage you to take a quiet moment for another look as you may have missed an article or may simply enjoy the re-read. Please take a moment to share what you would like to see more of in the new…