Resources for First-Time Attendees
Fascinating Findings: Health & Politics at MPSA 2024
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Political science is a discipline that often focuses on topics related to elections, institutions, and the mass public. As populism rises across the globe and the US public continues to show high levels of distrust toward…
Best Practices in Discussant Roles & Interactions
By Emily Boykin, Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at Florida State University Social science scholars continually choose to attend MPSA’s annual conference in part due to the quality of panel attendance and corresponding richness of paper or poster feedback. The role of the discussant is…
Less is More
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida One of the defining things about conferencing is wondering what your audience will be like. Maybe you’re the person is so excited that you can’t help but wonder what lies ahead—whether the audience will have good feedback,…
The False Promise of Conference Imposters
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida Now that MPSA23 is in full swing, all of us are getting into our conferencing groove; comments are being offered, posters are being presented, mini mentoring session coffees are being drank. While not all of the conference…
On Returning to In-Person Conferences: A How-To(-Not-Be-Awkward) Guide
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida We’re officially back in Chicago in full force for MPSA 2023—and as one of this year’s Conference blogging team, myself and others are here to offer some insider commentary on the overall MPSA experience. The folks…
Last Minute Planning Chicago? You’re Not Alone
By Emily Boykin, Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at Florida State University If you’re like me, you’re currently sitting in the airport preparing for your flight to Chicago with a preliminary plan of touring the Windy City in between panels, poster sessions, luncheons, business…
Maximizing Feedback About Research During Conference Sessions
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The 80th MPSA Conference is just around the corner, and if you’re like me I’m excited to explore new restaurants in downtown Chicago, present my research, and blog about exciting panels. Over the years, I’ve written blog…
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…
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…
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…
