Student Opportunities in the Georgia Political Science Association
The Georgia Political Science Association welcomes undergraduate and graduate students to the annual conference and offers a number of ways for students to participate. The Conference is held in November of each year. The call for proposals and volunteers goes out each year in March and responses to proposals are sent out in late summer. The student opportunities are outlined below. Please contact the current GPSA Vice President/Conference Program Chair with proposals or questions.
How do I get involved?
Present a Research Paper at the Annual Conference
The association welcomes proposals from student presenters.
Graduate students may submit a proposal directly to the Conference Program Chair once the call for proposals open in March. Proposals should include an abstract of the paper, a description of the category of the paper such as public policy, American, comparative, international, public administration, or Georgia politics. Please also identify yourself as a graduate student, provide your official college email address and the name of your institution.
Undergraduate students should also provide an abstract, paper category, and student email address but these items must be submitted via a political science faculty member at the student’s own institution. The student’s political science faculty member should submit this information to the Conference Program Chair via a college email account.
Present a Poster at the Annual Conference
Each year, GPSA holds a student poster session at the annual conference. Students prepare tri-fold posters on political science research topics to educate their peers. The session features interaction with Political Science faculty members from across the region as student explain their posters to conference attendees during a reception on Friday evening. The experience is a fun and informative growth opportunity.
Present a Roundtable Panel at the Conference
Roundtables panels are group presentations where students discuss topics that are posed by a moderator. The rules are the same as submitting a paper proposal. The roundtable panel abstract with the names, schools and college email accounts addresses are sent proposal to the Conference Program Chair. Undergraduate roundtable discussions should be moderated by a Political Science professor. Graduate students may submit a proposal directly and undergraduate panels must be submitted through a political science faculty member at the students’ academic institution.
Present a Political Science Paper as Part of the Pajari Undergraduate Research Panel
The Pajari Award is awarded annually to the best undergraduate paper presented by an undergraduate student as part of the Pajari Undergraduate Research Panel at the annual conference. Professors must nominate undergraduate students for inclusion on the panel. Group papers are acceptable; however, faculty members may not be co-authors. Nominations should be sent by a Political Science faculty member to the GPSA Immediate Past President who chairs the Pajari Committee. Unlike a regular paper proposal, consideration for the Pajari panel requires the completed paper as part of the application. The awards committee selects the papers to be presented at the Pajari Panel Session at the Conference and chooses the best paper from those submitted each year to receive the award. All papers must be formatted as an MS Word or PDF document file. The file must be sent via email attachment to the Immediate Past President and the Program Chair. The winner(s) will be posted on the GPSA site each year.
Publish a Paper with the GPSA Journal – Questions in Politics
Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to submit a paper for consideration for publication in the GPSA Journal – Questions in Politics. All papers must first be presented at the annual conference in November. The deadline for submission is January 1st. See the Questions in Politics page for additional details.
Volunteer at the Conference
Each year the Conference Program Chair is in need of volunteers to assist with registration and other duties at the conference. Students are encouraged to volunteer at the conference to provide service and interact with faculty members at the conference. Volunteer assignments are brief and provide an opportunity to meet fellow students at the conference. To volunteer, contact the Conference Program Chair.