SUSAN BURGESS NOMINATION

Greg Kasza, Indiana Univ., Bloomington (election agent)

Martha Ackelsburg, Smith College

Scott Barclay, University of Albany, SUNY

David Barrett, Villanova University

Jane Bayes, California State University, Northridge

Mary Bellhouse, Providence College

Gerald Berk, University of Oregon

Mark Blasius, City University of New York

Pamela Brandwein, Univ. of Texas, Dallas

Marla Brettschneider, University of New Hampshire

John Brigham, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst

Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Peter Brusoe, American University

Darlene Budd, Central Missouri State University

Keith Bybee, Syracuse University

Sean Cahill, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Lief Carter, Colorado College

Cornell Clayton, Washington State University

Stacy Clifford, Ohio University

Lisa Conant, University of Denver

Barbara Cruikshank, University. of Mass., Amherst

Fred Dallymar, University of Notre Dame

Sue Davis, Denison University

Sue Davis, University of Delaware

Jodi Dean, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Lisa Disch, University of Minnesota

Christine DiStefano, University of Washington

Jeffrey Dudas, University of Connecticut

Charles Epp, University of Kansas

Michaele Ferguson, University of Colorado, Boulder

Louis Fisher, Congressional Research Service

Steven Gerencser, Indiana University, South Bend

Emily Gill, Bradley University

Howard Gillman, University of Southern California

Edward Goerner, University of Notre Dame

Sheldon Goldman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Leslie Goldstein, University of Delaware

Judith Grant, Ohio University

Frank Guliuzza, Weber State University

Steven Haeberle, University of Alabama, Birmingham

Rodney Hall, Oxford University

Christine Harrington, New York University

Roger Hartley, University of Arizona

Laura Hatcher, Southern Illinois University

Mary Hawkesworth, Rutgers University

Stefan Heumann, University of Pennsylvania

Catherine Holland, University of Missouri

Bonnie Honig, Northwestern University

Ronald Hunt, Ohio University

Patrick Jackson, American University

Kathy Jones, San Diego State University

Vince Jungkunz,, Ohio University

Nancy Kassop, SUNY-New Paltz

Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Whitman College

Christine Keating, Ohio State University

Thomas Keck, Syracuse University

Sally Kenney, University of Minnesota

Donald Kommers, University of Notre Dame

Liane Kosaki, University of Wisconsin

Sonia Kruks, Oberlin College

Valerie Lehr, St. Lawrence University

Gary Lehring, Smith College

Jill Locke, Gustavus Adolphus College

Harvey Mansfield, Harvard University

Lori Marso, Union College

Nancy Maveety, Tulane University

Amy Mazur, Washington State University

Wayne McIntosh, University of Maryland

Joshua Miller, Lafayette College

Elizabeth Moulds, California State University, Sacramento

Patricia Moynagh, Wagner University

Julie Novkov, University of Albany, SUNY

Susan Olsen, University of Utah

Ido Oren, University of Florida

Timothy Pachirat, Yale University

Paul Passavant, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hector Perla, Ohio University

J. Mitchell Pickerill, Washington State University

Doris Provine, Arizona State University

Daniel Reagan, Ball State University

Phyllis Rippey, Western Illinois University

Joe Rollins, Queens College, CUNY

John Roos, University of Notre Dame

Alisa Rosenthal, Gustavus Adolphus College

Donald Rosenthal, University of Buffalo

Lloyd I. Rudolph, University of Chicago

Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, University of Chicago

Austin Sarat, Amherst College

Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, University of Utah

Samer Shehata, Georgetown University

Helena Silverstein, Lafayette College

Anna Marie Smith, Cornell University

Daniel Smith, University of Florida

Rogers Smith, University of Pennsylvania

Verity Smith, Harvard University

Holloway Sparks, Emory University

Susan Sterett, University of Denver

Sherrill Stroschein, University College, London

Kathleen Sullivan, Ohio University

Barry Tadlock, Ohio University

Raymond Tatalovich, Loyola University, Chicago

Jeffrey Tulis, University of Texas, Austin

Sharon Whitney, Tennessee Tech University

Keith Whittington, Princeton University

Juliet Williams, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara

Elizabeth Wingrove, University of Michigan

Cyrus Zirakzadeh, University of Connecticut

Karen Zivi, University of Richmond

Catherine Zuckert, University of Notre Dame

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

As an outstanding scholar of U.S. public law, the winner of several awards for excellence in teaching, and a person who has served in no fewer than 18 public service roles in APSA, the WPSA, and the MPSA, Susan Burgess is an ideal candidate for the APSA Council. A vote for her is a vote for methodological pluralism and democracy in our profession.

The re-legitimation of qualitative research has made great strides, but there remains much to be done if qualitative work is to achieve parity in hiring and promotion decisions, in the graduate curriculum, in the editorial policies of regional association journals, and in the governance of APSA. Competitive elections are an important means to further reform.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the longstanding shift toward quantitative research and formal theory is that it occurred without public debate. The election of APSA’s officers should give political scientists an opportunity to discuss such matters, but ordinarily it does not. We challenge the official slate for the APSA Council not to protest the particular choices of the nominating committee, but to challenge the system of appointments itself. Ironically, the professional association devoted to political science is alone among major academic associations in its failure to select its council members through regular competitive elections.  In addition to being undemocratic, the lack of competitive elections robs members of an opportunity to participate actively in the association by engaging in a robust discussion of the many issues which confront us in the profession.

Susan Burgess is a staunch advocate of competitive elections. Her research, which ranges from an interpretive analysis of constitutional debates over the War Powers Act to the study of parodies of the judiciary in popular culture, exemplifies the creativity and methodological pluralism that Perestroika espouses. She has a long record of leadership in women’s studies and on matters related to the status of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered scholars in political science. Finally, she hails from a “comprehensive” university (one that gives the M.A. but not the PhD in political science), which has been the most underrepresented type of institution in APSA’s executive posts.

Please join the 108 signatories who have endorsed Susan’s candidacy and give her your vote for the APSA Council.