Researching with Undergraduates: Strategies and Best Practices
Friday, April 21, 2023
2:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Hosted by Pi Sigma Alpha: The National Political Science Honors Society and APSA
This event will be recorded
Register Here to Attend
Research collaboration between political science faculty and undergraduate students is often identified as a goal of instructors and departments, but can be difficult to successfully implement.
As part of National Undergraduate Research week (April 17 – April 21), APSA and Pi Sigma Alpha will be hosting a webinar featuring political science experts to discuss best practices, unexpected challenges, and benefits to supporting undergraduate research.
Hear from faculty with decades of combined experience designing and executing undergraduate-faculty research projects, mentoring undergraduate scholars, publishing work with undergraduates, and helping them succeed after graduation.
We are pleased to feature the following expert panelists:
Efrén Pérez, University of California, Los Angeles (Moderator)
Efrén Pérez (Ph.D., Duke University) is Full Professor of Political Science and Psychology at UCLA, where he directs its Race, Ethnicity, Politics, and Society (REPS) Lab and co-directs its Intergroup Relations (IRL) Lab. His research centers on political psychology, with specific interests in intergroup politics, group identity, language and political thinking, implicit political cognition, and psychometrics. He has published numerous articles in leading general science, political science, and psychological science journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Political Behavior, and Political Psychology. He is also the author of four books, including Diversity’s Child: People of Color and the Politics of Identity (Chicago University Press) and Voicing Politics: How Language Shapes Public Opinion (Princeton University Press). In addition to his research, Efrén directs the Race, Ethnicity, Politics, and Society (REPS) Lab at UCLA.
Kelebogile Zvobgo, College of William & Mary
Kelebogile Zvobgo is an Assistant Professor of Government at William & Mary and founder and director of the International Justice Lab. Previously, she was W&M’s inaugural Pre-doctoral Fellow for Academic Diversity, hosted at the Global Research Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Southern California, where she was Provost’s Fellow in the Social Sciences, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a recipient of the 2021 USC Ph.D. Achievement Award. She received her B.A. in International Relations and French Language & Literature from Pomona College. Check out her recent article, “Creating New Knowledge with Undergraduate Students: Institutional Incentives and Faculty Agency.”
Maruice Mangum, Jackson State University
Maruice Mangum earned his B.S. in Political Science from the University of Iowa, his M.A. in Political Science from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from Louisiana State University. He is currently the Chair of the Department of Political Science at Jackson State University.
After serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate in the Departments of African and African American Studies and Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis, he would enter the professoriate as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He then moved onto Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville before cutting his teeth in administration at Texas Southern University where he began his administrative career as the Director of the Barbara Jordan Institute. He would go on to serve as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University for five years. Following a very successful stint as Associate Dean, he went on to serve as Chair of the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at North Carolina A&T State University, Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at Alabama A&M University.
Dr. Mangum is an American politics scholar specializing in African American politics, race and politics, and political behavior. His research is at the intersection of racial identity, intergroup relations, political opinions, and political psychology. He has published widely in highly-ranked journals in Political Science and the social sciences. Additionally, he has published several chapters in edited volumes.
Aaron Sparks, Elon University
Aaron Sparks joined Elon University as Assistant Professor of Political Science in the fall of 2018. He earned a B.S. in Biology from Westmont College, a Masters in Public Administration from Penn State Harrisburg, and a M.A./Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California Santa Barbara. Dr. Sparks’ research interests center around the politics of environmental policy and he is particularly interested in understanding how people form their beliefs and attitudes on environmental issues and how those attitudes shape their behavior.
This joint professional development webinar, hosted by Pi Sigma Alpha: The National Political Science Honors Society and American Political Science Association, is welcome to all interested. Please direct all questions to teaching@apsanet.org
