History of the Profession: APSA Oral History Project: Contributions by Scholars of Color Interview Series
As part of an ongoing series examining Contributions of Scholars of Color, the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department conducted a series of oral history interviews during the 2023 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia.
This collection of interviews contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the profession and investigate the history of race and racism in the political science profession.
This series further builds upon the APSA-Pi Sigma Alpha African American Oral History Project (1988-1994) and is motivated by the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality in the Discipline (2022).
Interviewees include (pictured above from left to right):
- Dr. Todd Shaw, University of South Carolina (former APSA Council Member)
- Dr. Kathie Stromile Golden, Mississippi Valley State University (former APSA Council Member and Executive Director of NCOBPS)
- Dr. Elsie Scott, Howard University
- Dr. Dianne M. Pinderhughes, Notre Dame University (former APSA President)
Meet the Scholars
Dr. Todd Shaw, University of South Carolina
Dr. Todd Shaw is the Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. He was appointed the College of Arts & Science Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies by Dean Mary Ann Fitzpatrick in August of 2012. He served as the Interim Chair and then Chair of the Department of Political Science from 2017 to 2019. He researches and teaches broadly in the areas of African American politics, urban politics and public policy, as well as citizen activism and social movements. Dr. Shaw is a past president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, former member of the Executive Council of the American Political Science Association and the Southern Political Science Association as well as involved in numerous other professional and civic groups.
Dr. Kathie Stromile Golden, Mississippi Valley State University
Kathie Stromile Golden is Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Director of International Program at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, where she previously served as Director of the Delta Research and Cultural Institute. From 2003-2005 she served as Project Director for the Mississippi Consortium for International Development’s Higher Education and Development Project for Iraq. From 1998-2001, She served as Partnership Coordinator and Budget Manager for The International Development Partnerships Activity at the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation, with oversight of a $38 million budget and has held administrative positions at Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Georgia; Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland; Southern University, Shreveport Louisiana. Kathie has also been on the faculty of Political Science at Clark Atlanta University; University of Colorado; Texas Tech University; and Arkansas State University. Kathie is the National Conference of Black Political Scientists’ Executive Director and Director of the Graduate Assistantship Program. Her research and publications focus on communist and post-communist societies. Kathie is also a former council member of the American Political Science Association.
Dr. Elsie Scott, Howard University
Dr. Elsie Scott is the founding director of the Ronald W. Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center, Howard University. Prior to that position, she served as President and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF). She has enjoyed a distinguished career in local government, nonprofit, and academic settings. She has taught political science, urban studies, and criminal justice at several universities, including Rutgers, North Carolina Central, and Howard University. She served as a deputy commissioner of training for the New York Police Department, executive director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), and she has held executive positions with the District of Columbia. She also serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the National Council of Negro Women.
Dr. Dianne Pinderhughes, Notre Dame University
Dianne Pinderhughes is Notre Dame Presidential Faculty Fellow, and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science; she holds a concurrent faculty appointment in American Studies, is a Faculty Fellow at the Kellogg Institute, and is a Research Faculty member in Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Her research addresses inequality with a focus on racial, ethnic and gender politics and public policy in the Americas, explores the creation of American civil society institutions in the twentieth century, and analyzes their influence on the formation of voting rights policy. She was President of the American Political Science Association 2007-08, and the APSA Task Force she appointed completed its report in 2009: Political Science in the 21st Century. Pinderhughes is 1st Vice President of the International Political Science Association and Co-Chair of its 2016 Istanbul World Congress. Pinderhughes has also been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2003-04).
‣ Watch the full interview series on YouTube
The interviews premiered at the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, CA and will be shown at the 2024 NCOBPS Annual Meeting.