M. Margaret Conway has for over four decades dedicated her time and knowledge to the study of American politics, women in politics, and political behavior. As a leader in the field of women and politics, she has supported a new generation of women in the profession with sage advice and guidance. She has contributed her knowledge to several institutions, and has been honored for her exceptional teaching with the University of Florida's Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, as well as its Teaching Improvement Award.

The three 2004 Frank F. Goodnow Awards

Conway has co-authored both Women and Public Policy and Women and Political Participation, and has contributed significantly to public education with more than 40 journal articles and book chapters, as well as over 50 papers. She has also served on the editorial boards of American Politics Quarterly and the American Journal of Political Science.

Conway has continued to dedicate her experience to associations of the discipline: serving the American Political Science Association as vice president, Council member, and participant in numerous committees and task forces. As a leader and long-time supporter of the Southern Political Science Association she has been elected president, vice president, secretary, and program chair, and served on a vast array of committees.

For six decades, Jack W. Peltason's leadership and scholarly contributions have shaped American higher education and political science. A pioneer in the study of judicial politics, his Federal Courts in the Political Process is credited with the revival of judicial politics within political science. He has fundamentally shaped the discipline of political science and the practice of democracy with such publications as Understanding the Constitution and the co-authored volume, Government by the People. Peltason's receipt of the Association's 1983 Charles E. Merriam Award acknowledged these daunting accomplishments.

He has led in American higher education, as chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, chancellor of the University of California at Irvine, as the 16th president of the University of California, and as president of the American Council on Education.

Peltason's contributions to the profession have included serving as APSA vice-president and Council member, on numerous award committees, the Committee on Education, the Association's Trust and Development Board, and Project ‘87. Most recently he has guided the Association's Centennial Campaign toward a successful achievement of its goals as its co-chair and enhancing the Association's development capabilities. His efforts have guaranteed that future generations of political scientists will have the resources and opportunities needed to promote scholarship, teaching, and public service.

Michael B. Preston has devoted more than three decades to scholarship and education in the fields of urban politics, racial and ethnic politics, and public administration. He has received numerous awards honoring his contributions and leadership, including teaching awards from the Mortar Board and the Department of Black Students at the University of Southern California, and leadership awards from the Champaign County Urban League and the American Political Science Association.

Preston's scholarship has explored California politics and the impact of race, including Racial and Ethnic Politics in California, The New Black Politics, and The Politics of Bureaucratic Reform: The Case of the California State Employment Service. The author of over 30 journal articles, he has also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Politics, Urban Affairs Quarterly, and The American Journal of Political Science, and as associate editor of the National Political Science Review.

Preston's leadership in the profession is a model; he has served the American Political Science Association as vice president, as a member of the Council, member of its Endowment and Executive Committees, president of its Urban Affairs Section, and as chairperson of the Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession. He has served as president of the Western Political Science Association, vice president and program chair of the Midwest Political Science Association, as six-year chair of the department of political science at the University of Southern California, and as director of the Center for Multiethnic and Transnational Studies at the University of Southern California.