The APSA Distinguished Teaching Award is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor outstanding contributions to the undergraduate and graduate teaching of political science at two- and four-year institutions.
Citation from the Award Committee:
Across her 38-year career, Dr. Katy Harriger has established an impressive record as an innovative and impactful educator, both within and well beyond her own classroom. Dr. Harriger was nominated for the Distinguished Teaching Award by her former students, now accomplished professionals in their own right. Their nomination letters testify to the ways in which she challenged them to engage deeply with questions of democracy, they attribute to her their love of learning and their professional success in government, law, journalism, and academia. For many of these graduates, time spent in her classroom and on experiential trips abroad or to Washington, DC are among their fondest and most transformative memories from college. Dr. Harriger’s accomplishments as a teacher span her career at Wake Forest University, where she has been an advocate for deliberative discourse and experiential learning. Known for being challenging yet inspiring, grounded in a pedagogy of guided deliberative discussion and experiential learning, her courses compel students to engage in deliberative processes, work within communities, and participate in real-world politics. Looking back on their experiences in her classroom, her former students raved that no other course in their undergraduate career fostered as much exchange between and among students, nor did any other quite bring out the best in each and every student the way that her courses did.
Dr. Harriger’s impact extends beyond the classroom. She has also established a legacy of teaching innovation at Wake Forest University by creating institutions that advocate for high-impact teaching and learning practices. In 1997, she co-founded Wake Forest’s Teaching and Learning Center, by securing a grant that annually brought together a cohort of faculty to design experiential service-learning courses for undergraduate students. The program eventually became the university’s Pro Humanitate Center, which extended the development of experiential learning and deliberative discussion to cover all of Wake Forest’s schools. Additionally, Dr. Harriger founded Wake Forest’s experiential learning program in Washington, DC, and currently serves as its director. Dr. Harriger’s thoughtfulness around pedagogical innovations and institutional developments have resulted in two publications: Speaking of Politics: Preparing College Students for Democratic Citizenship (2007) and The Long-Term Impact of Learning to Deliberate (2016). Dr. Harriger’s body of work demonstrates that she does more than transform the lives of her students; she is also transforming Wake Forest University. Dr. Harriger has distinguished herself as an innovative, impactful, and reflective teacher and scholar, not only in political science but also in higher education, more broadly. For this reason, the committee is pleased to select her as the 2024 recipient of the APSA Distinguished Teaching Award
Katy Harriger received her PhD from the University of Connecticut in 1987. Dr Harriger is a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University, where she was named the F. Michael Crowley Distinguished Faculty Fellow and is Faculty Director of the Wake Washington program in D.C. She teaches courses on American politics, law, and courts. In addition to her research on deliberation and the civic engagement of young people, she publishes generally in the area of American constitutional law. She is author of The Special Prosecutor in American Politics, 2d ed. Revised (University Press of Kansas) and coauthor with Louis Fisher of American Constitutional Law, 12th ed. At Wake Forest she has been the recipient of the Reid Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the John Reinhart Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the College Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Dr. Jennifer Erkulwater of the University of Richmond, and Dr. Julia Hellwege of the University of South Dakota.