Professor Amel Ahmed Selected to Co-Chair Largest Professional Gathering of Political Scientists in the United States

Amel Ahmed, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Campus Equity and Inclusion Initiatives, has been announced as the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Program Co-Chair for its 2019 Annual Meeting. APSA’s Annual Meeting, which will be held in Washington D.C., is the largest professional gathering of political scientists in the United States. As Co-Chair, Professor Ahmed is responsible for arranging for high-profile speakers and creating a productive intellectual environment where academics and policy makers can exchange ideas, scholars can rise above disciplinary boundaries, and members of the profession can network. Professor Ahmed’s selection as one of the two co-chairs from an international pool of political scientists speaks to her demonstrated leadership as well as her expertise and excellent scholarship in the 2019 Meeting Theme.

In an effort to better understand contemporary phenomena, the theme for APSA’s 2019 Annual Meeting is “Populism and Privilege.” Distinguished speakers and panels of scholars will address this theme at the meeting. According to the Theme Statement, coauthored by Ahmed, “No recent political development has been more striking than the rise to power of self-identified populist movements around the globe, whose main unifying trait is their claim to champion ‘the people’ against entrenched selfish ‘elites.’” The Program Chairs invite scholars to “explore how political scientists should explain and assess the new self-proclaimed populist movements, their relationships to various systems of privilege, their historical antecedents, and their probable trajectories” (For the full statement, click here).

Before taking on the role of Co-Chair, Professor Ahmed has played various other roles in APSA, including organizing panels and serving on award committees. Professor Ahmed’s book, Democracy and the Politics of Electoral System Choice (2013, Cambridge University Press) was recognized by APSA’s European Politics and Society Section with the 2014 Best Book Award. At UMass Amherst, Professor Ahmed has been awarded the Spotlight Scholar Award, the Healy Research Grant, and the Lily Teaching Fellowship. We look forward to the 2019 APSA Annual Meeting, which under Professor Ahmed’s direction, will assuredly be productive and engaging.