The APSA Award for Teaching Innovation honors a wide range of new directions in teaching by recognizing a political scientist who has developed an effective new approach to teaching in the discipline.
Citation from the Award Committee:
After considering many worthwhile applications, the Committee has selected Josue (Josh) Franco from Cuyamaca College as this year’s winner of the APSA Award for Teaching Innovation. Dr. Franco’s commitment to providing free and quality resources to students and faculty is the foundation for his creativity and his scholarship. Dr. Franco’s teaching innovations include: Sim Capitol, an online platform that instructors can use to generate individualized simulation material for American Politics classes; iPolSci, which is a platform for any faculty to use for managing their courses and building networks; and the creation of an open education resource textbook Introduction to Political Science Research, the first of its kind at the community college level. This text fills a critical gap in community college curricula and should have significant impacts on lowering DWF rates in required political methods as community college students transfer to four-year institutions. He also created a companion STATA textbook Polimetrics, which offers an introduction to STATA and modeling. All of these works are free and allow all political scientists to use these to expand their classroom engagement.
As his nomination letter states “Josh’s innovations in teaching include many resources, mostly free, to make political science teaching more engaging not just for students but also for professors. Dr. Franco’s work has implications far beyond his own campus or state.” After reviewing his materials, the Committee agrees that Dr. Franco’s innovations expand the field of Political Science Education and are excellent examples of how faculty developing resources for teaching their students can have an impact on more than just their students and institution, but can be expanded to their profession and communities across the country and even internationally.
Dr. Josue (Josh) Franco is a tenured Associate Professor at Cuyamaca College in San Diego County, California. Born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles County, he is a proud first-generation college graduate who holds A.A. degrees in economics and political science from Cerritos College, and a B.A. in public policy and M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Merced.
He served as his college’s inaugural Open Education Resources (OER) Coordinator and assisted colleagues in securing over $1 million in grant funding. He created a student learning platform called SimCapitol.org, co-authored Introduction to Political Science Research Methods OER textbook, published in the Journal of Political Science Education, and presented at over a dozen conferences.
Dr. Franco served as the Chair of the APSA Status of First-Generation Higher Education Scholars in 2022-2023 and Co-Chair of APSA Committee on the Status of Community Colleges from 2025-2026.
He served as 2024-2025 APSA Congressional Fellow for U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, the first community college faculty to earn the fellowship since the 1960s. Prior to his academic career, he worked for 5 years in the California State Capitol and U.S. House of Representatives for former Lieutenant Governor and Congressman John Garamendi of California.
Josh is happily married to his wife Mayra, and they have two children, Ethan and Caleb.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Mary McHugh (Chair) of Merrimack College, Michael Rogers of Arkansas Tech University, and Maureen Feeley of the University of California, San Diego
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