MPSA Blog
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…
First Things First When Teaching Civic Education
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Between 10 and 15 years ago, Political Science experienced a renewed interest in civic education. The National Conference on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (NCCLDE) produced a report in 2012 featuring numerous…
Think Congressional redistricting is hard? Wait until we get to state and local offices.
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Congressional redistricting is in the news–and in my inbox. Every day, I get a dose of emails from both sides reminding me of the critical importance of redistricting. Most of these focus on Congressional districts,…
Remembering Burdett Loomis
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
Dr. Burdett “Bird” Loomis died in late…
Learn how Political Science Students are Improving Wikipedia
By: Dr. Helaine Blumenthal, Wiki Education For the past several years, MPSA has been partnering with Wiki Education to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of topics related to Political Science. In an era where misinformation and disinformation are rife, this initiative has taken on new meaning as well as…
Do-It-Yourself Redistricting and What I Learned
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University I redistricted. Here is what I learned. First, the basics. Redistricting no longer requires sophisticated computer software that only legislative research departments can afford. For more than 10 years now, computer…
Promising Signs for Humanities Funding in the New Administration
By Alexandra Klein, NHA Communications and Government Relations Manager The Biden administration’s request for a funding increase for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and other humanities programs earlier this year was a welcome change from the Trump administration’s yearly calls to…
A Redistricting Primer
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University It’s time for redistricting. What does that mean, and what insights does political science offer? Every ten years, the country experiences reapportionment and redistricting as a result of the decennial Census mandated by…
Making their work count: Political Science students improve Wikipedia
By: Dr. Helaine Blumenthal, Wiki Education Through its ongoing partnership with Wiki Education, MPSA has been helping political science and policy students engage with subject content in meaningful and lasting ways all while improving the world’s access to reliable knowledge in these very fields.…