Executive Committee Welcome and Office Hours

81st Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Thursday, April 4 through Sunday, April 7, 2024
Hybrid Format: In-Person at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, IL or Online

All Panels/Paper Sessions, Roundtables, Lightning Talks and Working Groups will Feature a Hybrid Format (for In-Person or Virtual Participation). Undergraduate Poster Sessions will be In-Person Only.

Conference Program Co-Chairs:
Gisela Sin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Elizabeth Suhay, American University

Welcome to the 81st Annual MPSA Conference!

We are excited to be back in-person at the Palmer House and online with colleagues in a hybrid format for the third year in a row. As many of you may be aware, MPSA has undergone a transition in leadership and the annual conference provides an opportunity to introduce our Executive Committee and highlight MPSA initiatives to make the annual conference a welcoming experience for all. As your 2023-24 Executive Committee and Executive Director, we would like to personally welcome you to the conference and invite those of you attending in-person to visit our Executive Office Hours Friday, April 5th from 9:00-11:00 AM or Saturday, April 6th from 2:00-3:00 PM in the Harvard Room on the 3rd floor.  

Conference accessibility and attention to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all scholars have been focal points of the MPSA over the past year. Through our conference fee waiver program providing free or discounted conference registrations, developing nations and refugee scholarship programs, and graduate student conference travel scholarships (two of which were recently added in 2023), we hope to attract a diverse audience to provide valuable insight and enhance peer feedback on research and professional development in the political science community.  

Conference childcare scholarships are available to increase accessibility for working families and a suite for nursing mothers provides a quiet space away from the main conference areas.  Networking lounge areas will be provided during the day in the State and Grand Ballrooms on the 4th floor and in the Women’s Caucus Lounge in the Cresthill Room on the 3rd floor, and gender-neutral restrooms will be located throughout the Palmer House. We hope you will also join us for the MPSA sponsored Minority Caucus Reception held Friday, April 6th from 7:30 to 8:30 PM in the Monroe Room on the 6th floor. 

In addition, all conference participants must acknowledge and adhere to the MPSA Code of Conduct and Anti-harassment Policies. Two conference ombudspersons will be available onsite throughout the conference and via email afterward to serve as a confidential resource for attendees, providing guidance and options for addressing concerns that might arise during the conference. 

We are actively working to foster an inclusive conference climate where a culture of belonging is an innate part of the conference experience. To that end, we would appreciate your participation in the 2024 MPSA Climate Survey that will be sent a few weeks following the conclusion of the conference. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our colleagues on the Climate Survey Committee for their service: David E. Campbell, University of Notre Dame; Jennifer L. Merolla, University of California-Riverside; and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Vanderbilt University. We hope you will consider participating in the survey so that we may direct our efforts toward continued improvement going forward. Please watch your email for a link to the survey after the conference. 

We also invite you to take an active role and get involved in the MPSA by volunteering to serve as a section head, on a committee, as an AJPS Reviewer or as a member of the Governing Council. With your help and participation, we are excited for the future and all its possibilities. 

We hope you find the conference to be a welcoming, inclusive, and professionally rewarding experience and will continue to join us in future years.

Sincerely, 

The MPSA Executive Committee

 Office Hours with the MPSA Executive Committee During the MPSA Annual Conference

The MPSA Executive Committee (President, Eleanor Neff Powell, Past-president, Melanie Manion, and President-elect, Christina Wolbrecht) will hold office hours with attendees on Friday, April 5 from 9-11 AM and Saturday, April 6 from 2-3 PM in the Harvard room on the 3rd floor. Attendees are welcome to drop-in without an appointment or may schedule a time to meet with the Executive Committee via this Calendly link. Appointments are available in 10-minute intervals; if you need a longer appointment time, please book up to two consecutive 10-minute time slots or email the Executive Committee if you would like to set up meeting that you anticipate may go over twenty minutes.