The American Political Science Association is excited to announce the 2022-2026 Editorial Team for the Journal of Political Science Education:
Editor-in-Chief:
Charity Butcher, Professor, Kennesaw State University
Lead Editor:
Alasdair Blair, Jean Monnet Professor, De Montfort University
Associate Editors:
Tavishi Bhasin, Associate Professor, Kennesaw State University
Elizabeth Gordon, Professor, Kennesaw State University
Maia Carter Hallward, Professor, Kennesaw State University
Alison Rios Millett McCartney, Professor, Towson University
Simon Usherwood, Professor, Open University
The journal will be housed in the School of Government and International Affairs and the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development, both of which are part of the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University.
The incoming Editorial Team is excited to bring their vision and mission to the journal. One planned innovation is to align submission categories more closely to the “tracks” currently utilized by the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference. In addition, the Team is committed to increasing submissions from scholars from underrepresented groups – including those from community colleges and from universities outside of the United States, particularly those in the Global South. The incoming Editorial Team will establish a mentoring program to help scholars with fewer institutional resources to increase their likelihood of acceptance.
“We are delighted to have been given this opportunity to serve as the editorial team of the Journal of Political Science Education, and are fully committed to using this platform to amplify the voice of teaching and learning within the profession. We are grateful to the work of the previous editorial team led by Victor Asal and to the editors and editorial board members that have been part of JPSE’s path to make it the journal that it is today.
The team consists of a diverse, female-majority group of scholars, including a female Editor-in-Chief, two BIPOC members, representatives from the major sub-disciplines within political science, and educators from a wide range of institutions, both within and outside the United States.” – Charity Butcher, Incoming JPSE Editor-in-Chief
In addition, the Team plans to publish regular symposia promoting the exchange of ideas and encouraging debate on issues related to the scholarship of teaching and learning in political science. These symposia may include topics such as teaching at community colleges, decolonizing the curriculum, diversity and inclusion in the classroom, and teaching civic engagement.
The Team will also engage with other APSA resources, including Preprints and Educate, to help streamline the submission process and assist scholars in finding outlets for their work. The Team looks forward to working with APSA, the Political Science Education Section, and political scientists around the world to explore the scholarship of teaching and learning within the discipline.
Meet the Team
Charity Butcher (Editor-in-Chief) is currently Professor of Political Science and the coordinator for the online BS Degree in Political Science at Kennesaw State University. She is the recipient of the 2021 American Political Science Association Distinguished Teaching Award. She teaches undergraduate courses in American Politics, International Relations, American Foreign Policy, and Global Security and teaches in KSU’s Master of Science in International Policy Management and in their PhD in International Conflict Management programs. She has twice led the International Policy Management global experience to Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Butcher conducts research on the scholarship of teaching and learning and has published four peer-reviewed research articles on active learning pedagogy in the Journal of Political Science Education, International Studies Perspectives, and European Political Science. Her 2017 Article, “Using Dating as an Analogy to Teach IR Theory,” won the 2017 European Political Science Prize for Best Article. Dr. Butcher co-edited and contributed to a textbook on international conflict management (with Maia Hallward), Understanding International Conflict Management. She has contributed multiple blog posts to the Active Learning in Political Science Blog and to APSA Educate. She is the KSU faculty advisor for the KSU Model United Nations Team and has traveled with the team to conferences around the world, including Panama, Romania, Scotland, and Oslo. She has new research focused on skill development through Model United Nations, with one paper focused on comparing face-to-face and virtual Model UN experiences. She is currently working on an edited volume focused on aligning teaching and research (along with three other members of the proposed editorial team, Tavishi Bhasin, Maia Hallward, and Elizabeth Gordon). She is part of the editorial team for the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development and has edited two volumes of the journal. She is also on the editorial board of International Studies Perspectives and is an incoming member of the PS: Political Science & Politics editorial board.
Alasdair Blair (Lead Editor) is Jean Monnet Professor of International Relations and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic at De Montfort University, UK. He has a leadership role in the delivery of the University’s teaching and learning and has a long-standing interest in pedagogical research. He has a Ph.D in European Politics from the University of Leicester. As an undergraduate he received the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award to study at Earlham College, Indiana. He has received over £500,000 in funding from UK government bodies and professional associations for undertaking research into teaching and learning. He is a former Director of the UK Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Politics. He was one of the first UK Politics and IR scholars to be awarded a National Teaching Fellow in 2006. He organized the first European Parliament to Campus program and has received 6 Jean Monnet awards from the European Commission. He has been an active attendee at APSA TLC meetings and most recently served as one of the co-editors of Teaching Civic Engagement Globally (APSA, 2021). He has extensive publications on teaching and learning in Political Science, including JPSE. He has the most publications on teaching and learning in the journals Politics and European Political Science. Alasdair has a strong commitment to serving the profession, acting as reviews editor of European Foreign Affairs Review from 2002-2016 and Treasurer of the UK Political Studies Association from 2015-2018. Since 2015 he has served as co-editor of European Political Science, during which time the journal has seen a considerable improvement in its standing and reputation in the discipline.
Tavishi Bhasin (Associate Editor) has a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from Emory University. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Government and International Affairs at Kennesaw State University and the co-organizer of the 2021 TLC at APSA conference in Seattle, Washington. She studies the politics of identity (gender, ethnicity, religion and language), political participation including nonviolent and violent dissent, state repression, social movements and democratic institutions. She also conducts research in the area of teaching and learning. She has published articles on dissent (violent and nonviolent) and state repression/human rights violations in democratic and authoritarian contexts. Her publications include those examining dissent and repression in a global context in the Journal of Conflict Resolution and the British Journal of Political Science. She has also published on violent and non-violent movements that become political parties, such as one on Hamas, in Terrorism and Political Violence. Her article on state repression surrounding elections in authoritarian regimes was published in Electoral Studies and one on ethnic minorities and confidence in Turkish institutions in the Journal of Turkish Studies. Recent and forthcoming projects include a series of papers on the gendered and political aspects of masking during the Covid-19 pandemic, several projects on teaching effectively in graduate and undergraduate programs and a book project on autonomy movements using new data on over 60 ethnic groups across Asia. As evident in her publications, she uses both quantitative and qualitative methods in her work and is a proponent of mixed methods. She teaches in multiple undergraduate programs, a fully online Master’s program and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in international conflict management. She has worked on research with dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, started a mentoring program for school faculty and was recently awarded the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Award. She has attended several faculty development seminars on teaching effectively across different modalities, attended the Reacting to the Past workshop at Barnard college and APSA’s Teaching and Learning conference.
Elizabeth Ellen Gordon (Associate Editor) is a Professor in the School of Government and International Affairs at Kennesaw State University. Her Ph.D. is in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also worked as a researcher in UNC’s Institute of Government. Her primary teaching interests at KSU are in the areas of American judicial politics and law, as well as gender politics. She is coordinator of the legal studies minor at KSU and serves as faculty advisor for the KSU chapter of Phi Alpha Delta (an international law fraternity). She has served as faculty advisor and coach to KSU’s intercollegiate mock trial team, the Mocking Owls, since 1998. In this capacity, she routinely travels with the team to regional and national competitions and serves as director of the annual Owl Classic Invitational Mock Trial Tournament. Pedagogically, she makes extensive use of simulation activities in her classes and has published and presented on the incorporation of competitive simulations such as mock trial into political science education. In addition to developing trial simulations and a Supreme Court simulation for her classes, she has utilized role-playing games developed through the Reacting to the Past Consortium and has attended Reacting to the Past workshops at Barnard College and the University of Georgia for training in the use of these pedagogical tools. She has taught in a University System of Georgia study abroad program in London, has participated in a faculty development program in Northern Ireland and Ireland, and has been part of a KSU faculty delegation invited to forge teaching and research connections with the University of Graz in Austria. Recent publications include articles on female candidates for state attorney general and on gendered imagery surrounding COVID-19 masking, as well as a chapter on misogyny in American politics in Misogyny in American Culture: Causes, Trends, Solutions (one of Library Journal’s best reference books of 2018). She has supervised multiple undergraduate research projects through the KSU honors program and through the University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Her editorial experience dates back to her work as a desk editor for UNC’s student-run daily newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel. More recently, she has served as faculty co-editor of KSU’s student research journal for political science and international affairs Spectrum, has served as a peer reviewer or book reviewer for Law and Courts Book Review, Politics and Gender, the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Justice System Journal, and has reviewed manuscripts for Longman Publishing and the Georgia Political Science Association.
Maia Carter Hallward (Associate Editor) is a Professor in the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development at KSU and has extensive journal editing experience. She currently serves as Executive Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (since 2015), having started as an Assistant Editor in 2003. Maia also served as co-editor of the Peace Studies Section of the International Studies Association Compendium Project before they switched publishers. She is author or co-author of seven books, including NGOs and Human Rights (University of Georgia Press, 2021), Understanding International Conflict Management (Routledge, 2020), Global Responses to Crisis and Conflict in Syria and Yemen (Palgrave 2019), and Understanding Nonviolence (Polity, 2015), and over 20 peer-reviewed articles on topics including nonviolence, peacebuilding, human rights, the role of religion in politics, women’s leadership, and civil resistance in Israel/Palestine. She regularly serves as a peer reviewer for journals including Gender and Management, International Studies Perspectives, Journal of Peace Research, International Journal of Conflict Management, Mobilization and is often invited to review books in her areas of expertise. Professor Hallward has taught study abroad courses to Jerusalem, Geneva, and Morocco, has integrated virtual exchange in her classes through the Soliya program and Stevens Initiative, and is a volunteer facilitator with the Atlanta chapter of the Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP). She has led or co-led multiple learning experiences to Israel/Palestine and has participated in faculty delegations to Morocco, Turkey, and Oman. She has served as faculty advisor to the Model Arab League Simulation team and travelled with them to regional and national competitions. Maia has co-authored extensively with Master’s and PhD students, and has supervised and mentored dozens of graduate teaching and graduate research assistants. The recipient of the University and College Awards for Research and Creative Activity and the College Award for Outstanding Professor, Maia is on the Fulbright Specialist Roster for Conflict Resolution and a Fulbright finalist for Jordan. Her PhD is in International Relations from American University’s School of International Service.
Alison Rios Millett McCartney (Associate/Book Review Editor), PhD University of Virginia, is Professor of Political Science and Faculty Director of the Honors College at Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA. She is co-editor of three books published by the American Political Science Association (APSA), Teaching Civic Engagement Globally (2021), Teaching Civic Engagement Across the Disciplines (2017), and Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen (2013), several book chapters, journal articles, conference presentations, and webinars on European politics, civic engagement education and pedagogy, internship pedagogy, and Honors pedagogy. Dr. McCartney received the P20 Partnership Award from Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic, the University of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Mentoring, an inaugural Towson University Presidential BTU community engagement award, the Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty award at Towson University, and the Distinguished Service award from the Political Science Education section of APSA. She is former Director of International Studies at Towson University, past president of APSA’s Political Science Education section, founding faculty adviser for Towson University’s interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Club, a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Political Science Education and European Political Science, member of the Steering Committee of the American Democracy Project of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, member of the Executive Board of the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council, and co-creator and co-chair of the Towson University-Baltimore County Model United Nations conference, a free civic engagement program for local youth. A strong supporter of undergraduate research, Dr. McCartney has co-published with her students and mentored nearly 100 students in their undergraduate theses, independent study projects, and international, national, regional, and local undergraduate research conference presentations. She teaches diplomacy, civic engagement, and European politics and serves as a consultant on civic engagement pedagogy.
Simon Usherwood (Associate Editor) is Professor of Politics and International Studies at The Open University, UK. A long-standing interest in pedagogical research has included a series of peer-reviewed articles on the design and practice of simulation games and learning environments, drawing on his extensive personal practice, as well the co-founding and co-editing of the Active Learning in Political Science blog over the past decade. He has run pedagogic training events in three continents, provided consultancy on teaching to numerous colleagues and programmes and was an academic convenor of the European Conference on Teaching and Learning Politics, International Relations and European Studies (EuroTLC) 2020. Simon has been a UK National Teaching Fellow since 2015 and is a past winner of the UK’s Political Studies Association’s Sir Bernard Crick Award for Outstanding Teaching. He is also Chair of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES), 2021-4, the world’s largest such body.