117th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition

In Person: September 30—October 3, 2021

Virtual: September 28—October 3, 2021

Political scientists joined APSA for the 117th Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Seattle, Washington, from September 30—October 3, 2021. A virtual component was also available from September 28—October 3, 2021 due to COVID-19. Around 6,000 attendees participated across both formats.

We wish to thank the membership for making both the in-person meeting and the virtual component a success this year and for its ongoing support in this difficult time. The safety of our community is our top priority, and we are grateful to have been able to convene safely in Seattle, while still offering a virtual component for those who were unable to attend in person. We also wish to thank 2021 program chairs Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Purdue University, and Dino Christenson, Washington University in St. Louis, our division chairs, and many other volunteers who helped deliver this important and innovative event to the APSA community.

2021 Program co-chair Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Purdue University, shared “We are thrilled to remain steadfast throughout this difficult season in our commitment to convene scholars from across the nation and the world. The APSA staff worked tirelessly to ensure that Seattle attendees could gather with confidence, setting a fully vaccinated policy and hiring Safe Expo to ensure compliance. This meant that colleagues could gather together in panels and meetings, and even receptions, knowing that relevant guidelines around masking, social distancing, and vaccination were being followed.” Program co-chair Dino Christenson added that “while we should—and hopefully will—do more in future years, APSA should be commended for continued efforts towards sustainability and recognition of the climate crisis, which included this year a number of relevant panels, as well as features like recyclable badges without plastic holders, a LEED certified conference hotel, an electronic program and mobile app, mass transit, and bike options.” Sinclair-Chapman continued, “In addition, we are pleased that colleagues who attended virtually were able to have a full and robust conference experience similar to the in-person participants, from mini-conferences to panels to short courses—the full menu of the typical offerings of an APSA Annual Meeting.”

Business meetings and receptions were held from September 21-24, 2021, to accommodate all participants virtually. Groups also elected to hold virtual pre-conference short courses on Monday, September 27. The virtual sessions kicked off on Tuesday, September 28, with around 40 panels happening in each time slot. Tuesday sessions started with the theme mini-conference “Intersectionality and Social Movements.”

APSA’s in-person pre-conference short courses were held on Wednesday, September 29. On the virtual side, the theme panel mini-conference, “Indigenous Politics,” also began, a particularly pertinent event this year given the meeting’s location on the unceded land of the Duwamish people at QulXáqabeexW, alongside the shared waters of the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Also on Wednesday, the 2021 co-chairs hosted the APSA Awards Ceremony via video recording to both in-person attendees at a reception and to virtual attendees viewing online. Learn more about our award winners on pages 14-17.

In-person panels officially kicked off on Thursday, September 30. APSA was honored to have Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Representative of the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois, address the audience virtually. This recording will be made available on-demand for attendees. In the afternoon, the Career Fair was held in the Exhibit Hall for attendees, and APSA President Dr. Janet Box-Steffensmeier, The Ohio State University, gave the 117th APSA Presidential Address: “Engaged Pluralism: The Importance of Commitment” in Seattle and to virtual attendees via livestreaming. In-person attendees joined Dr. Box-Steffensmeier for an Opening Reception, following the address. The Presidential Address will be made available as an on-demand recording.

On Friday, October 1, US Election Assistance Commissioner Thomas Hicks joined APSA in Seattle and via livestream to discuss “Running an Election during a Pandemic.” Additionally, Dr. Christopher Hood (Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University UK) delivered the John Gaus Award Lecture virtually, which was followed by a reception. The evening featured many other section and committee business meetings and receptions, including the annual Reception Honoring Women of Color in the Profession virtually.

On Saturday, October 2, Dr. Scott Page, University of Michigan, gave a plenary address on “Appreciating and Leveraging the Diversity of Political Science” in Seattle and via livestream. This session will also be made available as an on-demand recording.

This year also featured the second annual Emerging Scholars Symposium. The symposium featured three new categories of presentations reserved for emerging scholars in the field and utilized an innovative panel format similar to PechaKucha and Lightning Rounds. Each scholar had five minutes to present, followed by five minutes of feedback or Q&A. This format provided a structured framework, giving presenters not only an opportunity to share their research at the world’s largest political science meeting, but also an opportunity to develop and enhance research communication skills through a concise presentation. An undergraduate research session, two graduate student sessions, and one research design session were held virtually, with one graduate student session held in person in Seattle. The symposium also coincided with other emerging scholar events on Saturday, including the Graduate School Information Fair and the Graduate Student Happy Hour in Seattle. The fourth annual TLC-at-APSA—a “conference within a conference” for the scholarship of teaching and learning was also held throughout the day.

Registration for the annual meeting allowed guests to print their own badges and remain socially distanced.

APSA also hosted an in-person exhibit hall, as well as virtual hall. The virtual hall is still available for engagement with exhibitors on the virtual platform. Additionally, many presenters participated in our iPosters presentations, and the gallery is still available for viewing and feedback post-conference: https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2021/iposter-sessions/.

Additional scholars opted for the flexibility of pre-recording their presentations. These presentations are available on the virtual platform and can be viewed. There is an option to provide feedback on these, as well. Conference registrants, both in-person and virtual attendees, will be able to access all recorded content on the virtual meeting platform until March: https://apsa2021.conventus.live/login. Select meeting sessions are on demand to all APSA members and can be found here: https://apsanet.org/EVENTS/Annual-Meeting-Exhibition/2021-Annual-Meeting-Video-Highlights.

Reflecting on the year’s theme, program co-chair Dino Christenson was “delighted to see scholars embrace and promote the rich intellectual pluralism of our discipline at the Annual Meeting.” He furthered: “Our heterogeneity should be a hallmark of political science and an opportunity to lead other social sciences. This year’s meeting showcased the resilience and multidimensional diversity our discipline has to offer, with panels and papers that push us away from silos and toward respect, engagement, and celebration of a wide array of scholars, methods, methodologies and approaches.” Program co-chair Valeria Sinclair-Chapman hopes that “APSA members will take the call to pluralism in the discipline seriously by heeding the call to invest in the diversity of scholars and scholarship in the discipline. Doing so will pay dividends through identifying new questions, building on intersectionalities, broadening career pathways in the discipline, and finding novel ways to solve problems.” Thank you again to all who contributed to a successful 2021 event—both in-person and virtually!

Program co-chair Valeria Sinclair-Chapman (left) and co-chair Dino Christenson (right).

The Career Fair was held in the Exhibit Hall.

Looking forward, the 2022 Annual Meeting will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, from September 15-18. Currently, the call for proposals is open until January 18, 2022. The theme is “Rethink, Restructure, and Reconnect: Towards a Post-Pandemic Political Science” and can be viewed on the 2022 Annual Meeting website. APSA President John Ishiyama, University of North Texas, and the 2022 Program co-chairs, Sherri Wallace, University of Louisville, and Pei-Te Lien, University of California – Santa Barbara, look forward to your participation in panels and sessions prepared by APSA’s 60 divisions and numerous related groups at the 2022 APSA Annual Meeting and Exhibition.■