The conference will provide intentional mentoring in research, teaching and service for assistant professors and associate professors, particularly women, studying gender and political psychology. As with the previous conferences, the overarching purpose will be to benefit the career advancement of female scholars. Our goals are to a) share and critique current research on gender and political psychology in order to facilitate publication of participant research in respected outlets, b) enable discussion and teaching of cutting edge methods that can be applied to research on gender and political psychology, c) create academic mentoring relationships between a diverse group of advanced graduate students, assistant, associate, and full professors, and d) facilitate the creation of a dense network of scholars for future collaboration.

Here’s a peak at what’s new for this iteration:

1. Expanding network & Focusing on women of color: Based on feedback and data from prior conferences, we have learned that the large political science and psychology conferences (e.g., APSA, MPSA, APA, MPA) are inadequate to provide the necessary mentoring, intentional networks, methods and intersectional training, support for publication, and meaningful sustained interaction between junior and senior scholars. Hence, the overarching aim of this conference is to provide structured opportunities to introduce new scholars, especially women of color and those who study women of color, into the tight-knit existing nexus of gender scholars.

2. Concentrating on Three Broad Research Areas: Participants will propose papers to present for feedback at the conference on the following three broad themes related to gender and political psychology: Gendered Political Socialization, Women as Political Candidates and Elected Officials, and Intersectionality.

3. Professional Development Beyond the Usual: In addition to important areas of professional development such as grant-writing, publishing and teaching, we intend to include sessions on Establishing a Social Media Presence, Coping with Failure, Intersectionality in the Academy, Getting & Keeping an Academic Job, Getting Your Research into Public Sphere, and more.

4. Community Engagement: One day before the conference begins, on October 21, 2017, we will conduct a half-day workshop with conference participants and teachers in New Orleans on curricular lessons and interventions aimed at decreasing gender gaps in political interest. The idea is that K-12 teachers will learn about our research on gendered political socialization as we provide lesson plans that they can use in their classrooms to introduce concepts such as gender stereotypes and gender discrimination. Conference participants can then use a similar model in their own communities when they return home.

Despite the success of the previous conferences, as you well know, there is still much to be done to improve the lives of women in the academy and to prevent women from leaking out of the pipeline. The discussions, panels, and information at this conference will be aimed at remedying this leaky pipeline.