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S. Laurel Weldon, Purdue University

Career and Accomplishments

Professor S. Laurel Weldon, Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University, is the author of Protest, Representation and the Advocacy State (forthcoming, U Michigan) and Protest, Policy and the Problem of Violence Against Women (U Pittsburgh 2002) as well as numerous articles and book chapters. She has been the recipient of both teaching and research awards. Taking a global perspective on national and international politics, Weldon's work on political mobilization and public policy explores many themes central to democratic and feminist theory including questions of representation, intersectionality, solidarity, multiculturalism and state-civil society relations. Weldon's work combines quantitative cross-national and cross-state analysis with comparative case studies and fieldwork. With Mala Htun of the New School, Weldon is currently involved in an NSF-funded project investigating women's rights in 70 countries. Professor Weldon has served on the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession and is currently President of the Women and Politics Research Section of APSA. She has served on and chaired the best dissertation proposal award for the Women's Caucus of APSA, and recently finished a term on the council of the Midwest Political Science Association.

Statement of Views

I am honored to be considered for election to Council.  If elected, I pledge to take my responsibility to represent our members very seriously. As a member of Council, I would work to make the Association more responsive to and representative of all of its members across subfields, methodological approaches and social groups. Political science requires theoretical and methodological diversity (and engagement between those with different views, experiences, approaches and areas of expertise) in order to advance our understanding of politics, and our professional association should foster this sort of vibrant intellectual community. Scholars in our field also have multiple obligations as scholars, teachers and citizens and we need to continue to improve the support the Association offers to each of us in all of these roles. Last, I want to help the APSA promote the status and relevance of political science as a discipline, and to identify and fulfill the Association's obligations as a large professional association of scholars of politics in a violent and unequal world. Thank you in advance for considering my candidacy.