Teaching and Learning Symposia is a three-day event held at APSA’s headquarters in Washington, DC. It provides a unique opportunity for faculty with similar teaching interests to present on timely substantive issues in the field, share best practices, and develop new teaching resources. In the coming year, the Center will host three symposia focusing on topics related to political theory, research methods for undergraduates, and comparative politics.

The first symposium, focused on political theory, and led by Amber Knight (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) and Lee Trepanier (Saginaw State University), took place November 1-4, 2018.

The second symposium, focused on teaching methods to undergraduates, and led by Mitchell Brown (Auburn University) and Biko Koenig (Franklin & Marshall College), is going to be held March 14-16, 2019.

Approximately 15 teacher-scholars will be invited to take part in the symposium, which will focus on sharing and developing teaching resources for research methods courses for undergraduates. The program will include a series of roundtable presentations from each participant. One group of participants will present on specific teaching resources or techniques they use in their own courses. (Approaches vetted through systematic study—SoTL—are encouraged but not required.) Another group will present “state of the discipline” type talks about emerging or updated issues and areas in research methods today.

Following the symposium, the resultant teaching resources will be disseminated through APSA’s teaching and learning program. In addition, participants who present on substantive issues related to research methods will be invited to publish a “state of the discipline” summary in the Journal of Political Science Education. Symposium participants will come away from the event with new insights into teaching and research in their area, with concrete teaching resources that they can use in their own courses, and with a new network of colleagues equally dedicated to teaching research methods to undergraduates.

Applicants should have experience teaching research methods to undergraduates. We encourage applications from faculty and advanced graduate students at a range of institutions, including universities and two- and four-year colleges.