Network and share career advice with your colleagues on a Professional Development Roundtable at the 2025 MPSA Conference!
Call for Professional Development Roundtable Participants
The MPSA is currently seeking participants for Professional Development Roundtables at the 2025 conference. The topics for the 2025 roundtables are listed below. Volunteers can sign up to participate here.
All volunteers will be reviewed prior to placement on the program. Roundtables that garner enough participants will be scheduled as part of the conference programming within the Professional Development section.
The Professional Development Section aims to facilitate open conversations and informational sessions around specific topics related to careers in political science, and the political science profession in general. The Professional Development Roundtables are a valued tradition of the MPSA Annual Conference, providing a forum for scholars at all career stages to share ideas, experiences, expertise, and other resources with colleagues in a conversational setting. If you would like to organize a roundtable within the Professional Development Section, please contact Lewis Hoss at hoss@mpsanet.org.
2025 Professional Development Roundtables
The MPSA is currently seeking volunteers to participate on the following roundtables (interested participants can sign up here):
Career
- After Tenure: How to Flourish in Your Mid-Career and Beyond
- Balancing Work and Life as an Academic
- Being Faculty at a Community College
- Being Faculty at a Liberal Arts College
- Being Faculty at a Research Institution
- Faculty Governance and Union Organizing
- Navigating the Tenure Track
Job Placement
- Alt-Academic and Non-Academic Careers for Political Science PhDs
- Building a Competitive Job Market Portfolio
- How to Approach the Interview and Job Talk
- Making the Most of Your Postdoc Experience
- Navigating the Job Market as an International Candidate
Public Engagement
- Communicating Your Research to the Public
- How to be Heard by Policy Makers
- Mixing Academics and Practical Politics
- Working with the Media
Publishing
- Getting Your Book Published: Advice from Acquisitions Editors
- Getting Your Book Published: Advice from Authors
- Publishing Journal Articles: Advice from Political Science Journal Editors
Research
- Applying for Grants and Funding Opportunities
- Building a Productive Research Agenda
- Pursuing Interdisciplinary Research in Political Science
Students
- How to Survive (and Thrive) in Graduate School
- What They Don’t Teach You in Grad School
- What to Do With My Political Science Degree: Career Paths for Undergrads
Teaching
- Approaches to Teaching Introductory Courses
- Approaches to Teaching Undergraduate Research Methods
- Designing New Courses
- Strategies for Enhancing Student Engagement
- The Challenges and Opportunities of AI
- Using Simulations and Games in the Classroom