Stealing the Show: Government Professors Take Home Awards from American Political Science Association Conference in Boston

At the start of September, students might have noticed their Government professors absent from class. They were attending the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Boston. The conference consisted of panels, roundtables, and receptions, all dealing with research under the overarching theme of “Democracy Under Threat: How to Understand, Protect, and Rebuild.” Over 7,000 political scientists, scholars, and experts attended, including faculty from W&M’s Government Department. We’re proud to congratulate those faculty whose work was recognized by APSA.

Professor Chris Howard won this year’s Aaron Wildawsky Enduring Contribution Award for his book, The Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures and Social Policy in the United States (1997) This award is granted by APSA’s Public Policy section “for the best book or article published in the general area of public policy during the past twenty to thirty years.”. Chris is the first winner of this award who never worked in a PhD-granting department, which underscores the research commitment of the Government faculty.

Professor Hannah Alarian, who joined the Department this past fall, won the APSA Migration and Citizenship Section’s Best Article Award. Her article, “Local Suffrage Increases Citizenship Acquisition: Evidence from the European Union,” was published last year in the Journal of Politics. She found a positive relationship between noncitizen suffrage and naturalization, challenging existing approaches to national citizenship.




Professor Eun A Jo won the Best Dissertation Award on Nationalism and Politics for her work, “Nations after Democracy: Politics of Storytelling in South Korea and Taiwan.” Her dissertation showcases her interest in how stories and memories shape domestic and international politics.






Congratulations to all our Government faculty who participated in the APSA Meeting this month! We look forward to seeing even more of your work.