MPSA Mentoring Reception (Small Group Mentoring) at the Annual Conference

The 2024 Mentoring Reception will be held during the 81st Annual MPSA Conference on Friday, April 5 from 6:30 – 7:30 PM at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, IL

(In-Person Participation Only)

The MPSA Mentoring Reception provides an opportunity for conference attendees who are graduate students, contingent faculty, junior faculty, or PhDs holding non-academic positions to meet with faculty mentors over refreshments in a small-group setting during the annual conference.  

Please note, you must be registered for the in-person conference to participate; there will not be an option to participate virtually. Please review your conference schedule before you RSVP for the Mentoring Reception. 

The call for mentees has closed. Notifications containing mentee names, contact information, and research questions/conversation topics will be provided to mentors in late March. Shortly after, participants in each small group will receive a message of introduction to others. There will be no onsite sign-ups for this event, so you will have plenty of time to review the information for those is your group prior to the event.

Thank You to Our 2024 Mentoring Reception Mentors:

  • Hassan Afzal, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  • Craig D. Albert, Augusta University 
  • Nikolay Anguelov, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth 
  • Ricardo A. Bello-Gómez, Rutgers University
  • Florence Bouvet, Sonoma State University
  • Nate Breznau, University of Bremen 
  • Guy C. Charlton, University of New England Law School
  • Yixin Dai, Tsinghua University 
  • Tijen Demirel-Pegg, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
  • Giacomo DiPasquale, Wagner College
  • David Foster, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Matthew J. Geras, University of Illinois Springfield
  • Binda Godlove Aka, Adelphi University
  • Stephen N. Goggin, San Diego State University 
  • Mark A. Graber, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
  • Taha Hameduddin, University of Kentucky
  • Yusaku Horiuchi, Dartmouth College 
  • Mark S. Jendrysik, University of North Dakota
  • Cindy D. Kam, Vanderbilt University 
  • Inkyu Kang, University of Georgia
  • Maxat Kassen, Astana IT University
  • Carl LeVan, American University
  • Cathy Yang Liu, Georgia State University
  • Cristopher T. Lynch, Missouri State University
  • Brian Norris, Lincoln University of Missouri
  • Muhammad Iqbal Roy, Government Murray Graduate College Sialkot
  • Virginia Sapiro, Boston University & University of Wisconsin-Madison 
  • Jim Simeone, Illinois Wesleyan University
  • Mette Marie Staehr Harder, Karlstad University
  • Carol Strong, University of Arkansas at Monticello
  • Kim Twist, San Diego State University

MPSA 2023-2024 Academic Year Mentoring Program

Each year, the MPSA invites faculty members to serve as volunteer mentors to junior faculty, contingent faculty, PhDs holding non-academic positions, and graduate students nearing PhD completion. If selected for the program, mentees will work remotely (via phone or video chat) with a faculty mentor in a semi-structured format over the academic year. MPSA staff matches one mentee per mentor based on the information provided by both parties. The total time commitment is approximately 10 hours. The program is open to current MPSA members.

The application deadline for the 2023-2024 Academic Year Mentoring Program has passed. If you are seeking mentorship, please consider attending the annual Mentoring Reception at the 2024 MPSA Annual Conference (more details can be found below).

What is the timeline for the Mentoring Program?

The MPSA puts out an annual call for volunteer mentors in the early summer, and the application window for mentees opens in July. Applicants are given a chance to review the mentor profiles and request specific mentors, although not all accepted mentees will be placed with the mentor of their choice. Applications are reviewed and the matching process is completed by MPSA staff in mid-August. Applicants who are accepted into the program will be notified at this time and asked to reach out to their mentor to establish contact and begin coordination of an initial meeting. Mentors who are matched will be notified and informed of their mentee’s particular professional development needs.

The program is generally competitive and not all applicants will be placed with a mentor. Preference will be given to junior faculty, contingent faculty, Ph.D.s holding non-academic positions, and late-stage graduate students who are nearing Ph.D. completion.

Questions? Please contact MPSA Membership staff at mpsainfo@mpsanet.org.

See what previous participants have to say about the MPSA Mentoring Program:

“Excellent program. The mentorship agreement was helpful in setting expectations and timeframes for meetings. My mentor was extremely helpful and I am thankful for the opportunity and ongoing professional connection.” 

“This was a great mentoring partnership where I found a colleague, advisor, and friend. Thank you!”

“The MPSA Mentoring Program is an excellent idea. It matched me with a scholar who has been invaluable in my academic job search, providing timely advice and useful tips.”

“This is a very valuable program. This is the second time I’ve participated and both times have been very useful for my development.” 

2023-2024 Mentors

The MPSA is grateful for the following members who have volunteered to serve as mentors for the 2023-2024 academic year:

• Jason Anastasopoulos, University of Georgia
• Andrea Barrick, Radford University
• Michael Bednarczuk, Austin Peay State University
• Jeffrey Bernstein, Eastern Michigan University
• Michael Burch, Eckerd College
• David Dolowitz, University of Liverpool
• Elizabeth Dorssom, Lincoln University of Missouri
• Nicholas Idris Erameh, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
• David Foster, London School of Economics & Political Science
• Sujay Ghosh, Vidyasagar University
• Beth Ginsberg, University of Connecticut
• Magda Giurcanu, National Louis University
• Stephen Goggin, San Diego State University
• Jessica Gracey, Northwest Missouri State University
• Stuart Gray, Washington and Lee University
• Tobias Heinrich, University of South Carolina
• Julia Hellwege, University of South Dakota
• Sarah James, Gonzaga University
• Faisal Javaid, Federal Urdu University, Karachi
• Chan Ka Ming, Newcastle University
• Niki Kalaf-Hughes, Bowling Green State University
• Sohaib Khaliq, Mirpur University of Science and Technology
• Mutlu Koseli, Chicago State University
• Jeffrey Kraus, Wagner College
• Kamal Kumar, University of Allahabad
• Juheon Lee, Midwestern State University
• Jan Leighley, American University
• Wei Li, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• Kevin Lorentz, Saginaw Valley State University
• Jonathan Maiangwa, University of Maiduguri
• Bashar Malkawi, University of Arizona
• Ali Masood, Oberlin College

• Fletcher McClellan, Elizabethtown College
• Mary McGuire, SUNY Cortland
• Nathalie Mendez, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Austin Mitchell, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Ryan Moore, American University
• Andrew Morelock, Marshall University
• Sayed Mahdi Munadi, Sciences Po Paris
• Gregg Murray, Augusta University
• Brian Norris, Lincoln University of Missouri
• Gbadebo Odularu, Howard University
• Kai Ou, Florida State University
• Matthew Placek, University of South Carolina Upstate
• Branislav Radeljic, United Arab Emirates University
• Shauna Reilly, Northern Kentucky University
• Xavier Romero Vidal, University of Cambridge
• Nalanda Roy, Georgia Southern University
• Maria Sanchez, Colorado College
• Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca, Australian National University
• Carlos Scartascini, Inter-American Development Bank
• Pamela Schaal, Ball State University
• Molly Scudder, Purdue University
• Sepehr Shahshahani, Fordham University Law School
• William Shughart, Utah State University
• Charles “Tony” Smith, University of California-Irvine
• Katie Stewart, Knox College
• Aaron Stuvland, George Fox University
• Pablo Toral, Beloit College
• Kim Twist, San Diego State University
• Matthew Wilson, University of South Carolina
• Alixandra Yanus, High Point University
• Mengqi Yuan, Tsinghua University
• Christopher Zorn, Pennsylvania State University