The APSA-PSA International Partnerships Award, jointly supported by the Political Studies Association of the UK and APSA, honors political scientists engaged in collaborative and productive cross-national partnerships that make a significant contribution to the discipline in the areas of teaching, research, or civic engagement.
Citation from the Award Committee:
The 2024 APSA-PSA International Partnerships Award Committee has selected The Active Learning in Political Science (ALPS) Blog to receive the 2024 APSA-PSA International Partnership Award. The Editors are: Cathy Elliott, University College London – UK; James “Pigeon” Fielder, Colorado State – USA; Jennifer Ostojski – Colgate University- USA; Chad Raymond, Salve Regina University – USA; Amanda Rosen, US Naval War College; John-Paul Salter, University College London- UK; Simon Usherwood, The Open University- UK; John Wilesmith, University College London – UK; Kalina Zhekova, University College London -UK
ALPS, founded in 2011 and used by nearly 2000 members, created a community of practice to support and train educators in effective pedagogies. A growing set of teaching resources is posted there, often with very frank observations about whether an educator’s tool was effective or not. The blog reflects an inclusive approach to voices and communities, focusing on empowering early career academics. Further, the central contributors to ALPS demonstrate cross-national partnerships both with the original team of editors and the team established in 2023.
We agree with the ALPS team that this prize may raise the profile of the blog further on both sides of the Atlantic, helping it to remain strong.
Cathy Elliott is Associate Professor in the Political Science department and interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences department at University College London, as well as Vice Dean (Education) for the UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences. She is also co-Convenor of the Political Studies Association Teaching and Learning Network and a co-Director of the UCL Centre for the Pedagogy of Politics. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has an interest in active and experiential learning, engaging students’ emotions and imaginations in their learning, and has previously written about education in art galleries, simulations and assessment for learning. She has also co-produced research with students and worked with student activists to promote inclusive, anti-racist and queer pedagogies and curriculums.
James “Pigeon” Fielder joined CSU as an Instructor after retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and Associate Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is also serving as a Marine Corps University Non-Resident Krulak Fellow for academic years 2021-2026, is the Director of Professional and Educational Games for Mobius Worlds Publishing, and consults on organizational wargaming, crisis response exercises, and scenario planning.
Dr. Fielder’s research focuses on interpersonal trust and emergent political processes through cyber-based interaction, and through tabletop and live-action gaming as natural experiments (also known as ludology, or the study of games and gameplay). He also has over two decades of experience designing, executing, and assessing training exercises and wargames, from small-group tabletop discussions to multi-day exercises engaging 5,000+ participants. He is a managing editor of Active Learning in Political Science, associate editor of Simulation & Gaming, on the editorial board of The MORS Journal of Wargaming, was a TEDxMileHigh speaker on games, and has been interviewed on game-related topics by Reuters, USA Today, and NBC News.
Jennifer Ostojski is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Colgate University, where she teaches courses in International Relations, Popular Culture, and European Politics. Her research focuses on European (Union) identity and integration as well as the science of teaching and learning.
Chad Raymond is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations, and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in International Relations, at Salve Regina University. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, all in political science. Raymond is the first member of his family to go to college. His research interests include the political economy of development, especially as applied to Asia and the Middle East, and pedagogy.
Amanda M. Rosen is Associate Professor and Interim Director of the Writing and Teaching Excellence Center at the US Naval War College. She holds a PhD and MA in political science from Ohio State University, and a BA in Political & Economic studies of Europe from Duke University. A co-founder of the Active Learning in Political Science blog and a member of the NATO DEEP Faculty Development team, Dr. Rosen is also the founding associate director of the Naval War College’s Teaching Excellence Center, which offers extensive programming and training to faculty on teaching and learning. She is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including a Civilian Service Achievement Medal for her work in assisting the Naval War College in its transition to virtual instruction during Covid-19. She has worked extensively with external institutions to develop curriculum, adopt evidence-based instructional strategies, assess programs, and foster a spirit of faculty development. Prior to joining the faculty of the War College, she spent 10 years as a professor at Webster University in St. Louis.
Dr. Rosen specializes in the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly educational gaming and simulations; experiential learning; inclusive teaching; and teaching research methods. She is the author of the Great Course “Effective Research Methods for Any Project” and her book Teaching Political Science: A Practical Guide for Instructors is forthcoming with Palgrave. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Political Science Education, PS: Political Science & Politics, International Studies Perspectives, Politics & Policy, and multiple edited volumes.
John-Paul Salter first read modern history, before going into the City and working in banking, where much of his time was spent in regulatory policy development and implementation. In 2009 Salter returned to academia, and took postgraduate degrees in economics and public policy, followed by a PhD in political science. Salter taught politics and public policy at King’s College London and at Oxford, and rejoined UCL in 2017.
Simon Usherwood is Professor of Politics and International Studies at The Open University in the UK and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Political Science Education. Simon is also a National Teaching Fellow, following his work on active learning, simulations and negotiation in pedagogy.
John Wilesmith is a Lecturer in Political Theory at UCL, and a Co-director of the UCL Centre for the Pedagogy of Politics. Wilesemith joined the Department as a Teaching Fellow in January 2018, and prior to this taught in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. His main areas of interest are applied issues of economic justice and legitimacy, and the pedagogy of political theory. So far, Wilesemith’s published research has focused mainly on the structure and role of firms in a just political economy, and the nature and value of a ‘property-owning democracy’.
Kalina Zhekova is a lecturer in Political Science and Co-Director of the Centre for the Pedagogy of Politics at University College London, Department of Political Science. Dr. Zhekova works in the field of international studies, war and conflict, with particular focus on Russian approaches to military intervention and state sovereignty in the post-Soviet space, the Middle East and North Africa. She examines the development of external and internal threat constructions in Russian domestic and foreign policy and their mobilization in the process of policymaking, war and different forms of armed violence, and applies this approach to the study of Russian interventions in Syria, Georgia and Ukraine.
Dr. Zhekova’s work has been recognized as making an outstanding contribution to students’ educational experience. Dr. Zhekova’s has received a UCL Provost Education Award for Academic Support and two UCL Social & Historical Sciences Faculty Education Awards.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Dr. Robin Kolodny (Chair) of Temple University, Dr. Amelia Hadfield of University of Surrey, and Dr. Richard S. Katz of John Hopkins University.