The 44th annual meeting of the Arkansas Political Science Association (ArkPSA) was held on the campus of Arkansas Tech University (ATU) and Lake Point Conference Center in Russellville, Arkansas on March 3-4, 2017. Dr. Kim Maslin of Hendrix College served as President (2016-2017). Dr. Carol Strong of the University of Arkansas-Monticello (UAM) served as Vice-President (2016-2017). Dr. Michael Rogers of Arkansas Tech University served as Secretary-Treasurer (2016-2017). Dr. Chris Housenick of ATU served as Program Chair for the 2017 annual meeting. Dr. Michael Malbin, Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany, State University of New York, gave the keynote address during the Friday evening dinner on March 3rd. Congressman Steve Womack, 3rd Congressional District of Arkansas, spoke during the Saturday noon luncheon on March 4th.
Several UCA Department of Political Science faculty members and students presented research or participated on panels during the annual meeting, including Dr. Heather Yates, who served as Chair of the American Government & Politics section; Dr. Tom McInnis, who presented the paper, “What Inherent Rights?”; Dr. Heather Yates and Dr. Gary Wekkin, who presented the paper, “They Wanted a Tea Party and got a Dogfight: The Lack of GOP Discipline and the Nomination of Donald Trump”; Dr. Gizachew Tiruneh, who served as chair/discussant for the International Relations/Comparative Politics panel; Dr. Mark Elrod and Dr. Mark Mullenbach, who co-presented the paper, “Generation 9/11: An Analysis of College Student Attitudes Regarding U.S. Foreign Policy”; Dr. Clay Arnold and Dr. Mary Beth Sullivan, who participated in the Political Theory Roundtable on “The Possibility of Democracy in Communicative Capitalism”; and Danielle Casey, who presented the paper, “Race, Republicanism, and Realignment in Arkansas.”