News

What Does the Future Hold for Academic Associations?

March 19, 2014 1807

Competing associations. A funding drought. Smaller travel budgets. Royalty streams drying up. Surely the future for academic associations is grim. Steven Rathgeb Smith, the executive director of the American Political Science Association, certainly sees challenges all around. But the former president of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action and one-time editor of the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly also knows a thing or two about how to snatch opportunity from adversity. Here, Smith outlines the peril and the promise facing associations in a presentation he adapted for Social Science Space from one he gave in January 2014 at the Southern Political Science Association meeting in New Orleans.

Steven Rathgeb Smith is the executive director of the American Political Science Association Before joining the association in September 2013, he was the Louis A. Bantle Professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the Nancy Bell Evans Professor of Public Affairs at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, where he was also director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy. His publications include Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting (with Michael Lipsky), Governance and Regulation in the Third Sector: International Perspectives (co-edited with Susan Phillips) and the forthcoming book with the Johns Hopkins University Press, Nonprofits and Advocacy (co-edited with Robert Pekkanen). Currently, he serves on the board of directors of the International Society for Third Sector Research.

View all posts by Steven Rathgeb Smith

Related Articles

Recalling the Roots of Jewish American Heritage Month
News
May 11, 2026

Recalling the Roots of Jewish American Heritage Month

Read Now
JG Ballard and the Epstein Files
News
April 15, 2026

JG Ballard and the Epstein Files

Read Now
Celebrating the National Survey of Health and Development: 1946-2026
Research
March 9, 2026

Celebrating the National Survey of Health and Development: 1946-2026

Read Now
ICE: Good People and Dirty Work
News
January 28, 2026

ICE: Good People and Dirty Work

Read Now
Why is It So Difficult to Agree About Masks and Respiratory Infections?

Why is It So Difficult to Agree About Masks and Respiratory Infections?

The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing its regular seasonal increase in viral respiratory infections. Traditional schedules have not fully adjusted post-Covid so influenza […]

Read Now
Vaccination: A Child’s Right?

Vaccination: A Child’s Right?

One of the big cultural differences between the US and most of Europe is the nature of the legal relationship between parents […]

Read Now
Anna Harvey Stepping Down as SSRC President

Anna Harvey Stepping Down as SSRC President

Political scientist Anna Harvey will leave her role as president of the Social Science Research Council on June 30, the New York […]

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments