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The National Office of Pi Sigma Alpha is located in the American Political Science Association building at: 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW office@pisigmaalpha.org www.pisigmaalpha.org Although the honor society and the APSA maintain a close working relationship, the two organizations are separate. The National Office is staffed part-time and is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., and has voice mail and e-mail for communications during off hours. All messages are answered as soon as possible; it's a good idea when leaving a voice mail message to explain the question or problem in the recorded message so that the administrator can be prepared to respond when she returns the call and can even leave the answer to the question on the caller's voice mail if they fail to connect in person. Email is even better. The current Executive Director is Dr. James I. Lengle (click here for a list of past executive officers) The functions of the National Office fall under the three headings of coordination, communication, and archiving. Coordination The staff, as directed by the President of Pi Sigma Alpha, organizes meetings of the Council and Executive Committee and the biennial business meeting of the society. It manages the annual Chapter Grants competition and other awards programs and assembles the selection committees for these awards. It works with the APSA and the regional political science associations to provide Pi Sigma Alpha lecturers and best paper prizes for their annual meetings, and to find ways for the honor society to cooperate with the professional associations to achieve common goals. The staff represents Pi Sigma Alpha in the Association of College Honor Societies, complying with whatever reporting is required by ACHS. It oversees the establishment of new chapters of the honor society, shepherding petitioning schools through the installation process. At the direction of the officers of the society or on its own initiative it carries out policies and projects designed to increase the relevance of Pi Sigma Alpha to the student members and to the political science profession. It works to reactivate lapsed chapters and to help struggling chapters revitalize, and makes sure all chapters' requests for initiation certificates and other materials are answered promptly. The National Office keeps the honor society's accounts, pays its bills, and negotiates with vendors. The Executive Director is also responsible for the budget of the organization, and for seeing that the year-end financial report is prepared by a certified public accountant. Communication The second area of responsibility, communication, includes maintaining the Pi Sigma Alpha website, working closely with the Editor of the Pi Sigma Alpha Newsletter, maintaining an email correspondence with chapter advisors, making direct mailings to chapter advisors with announcements of spring and fall program deadlines, and answering individual chapter questions as they come up. The National Office answers all inquiries about PSA, creates and distributes all forms and promotional materials, and generally serves as the communications link between the Executive Council and the chapters and among the chapters. Archiving The third function, archiving, includes keeping the honor society's financial records and membership records for all the chapters, maintaining chapter mailing lists, minutes of Pi Sigma Alpha Council and Executive Committee meetings, and records of all the activities sponsored or organized by the National Office. Other Functions The National Office also handles orders for |
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merchandise. Jewelry and mugs can be ordered, prepaid, from the National Office which forwards the orders to the company that supplies the merchandise. These items are shipped direct from the manufacturer to the member who placed the order, but orders must be placed through the National Office. Unlike the jewelry and mugs, the graduation medallions and honor cords, enamel lapel pins, and podium banners, are sold directly by the National Office and prepaid orders are filled as soon as they are received. Only chapters may order medallions, honor cords, and enamel pins. Individual members must contact their chapters to obtain these items.
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