Presidents and Executive Politics Section
President’s Report (Matt Eshbaugh-Soha)
2025 APSA Annual Meeting
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Section Membership Numbers
Section membership has held steady at 365 in 2023 and 361 in 2024 (noting that last year’s membership report was the unofficial Connect numbers). 2025 numbers reveal some fluctuation, with 383 members in April; 340 in September.
Brandon Rottinghaus told Eshbaugh-Soha that many respondents to the presidential greatness survey are not PEP members. Therefore, Eshbaugh-Soha requested that list from Justin Vaughn and, in combination with the APSA membership lists and conversations with colleagues, offered the following observations.
First, membership fluctuates in proportion to the number of people who attend APSA. For some, the cost of a membership is only worth it if they are attending the conference. Eshbaugh-Soha suspects that the lower number of PEP members in August is a function, in part, of the challenges of visiting Vancouver.
Second, we have some high-profile scholars of the presidency, many of whom participate on PEP panels and who have received awards and other recognitions, that are not members of PEP. Why is this? What can we do about it? He teed up this issue for PEP consideration this coming year.
Virtual Panels
Eshbaugh-Soha thanked everyone who participated in PEP’s two virtual panels this past academic year (one on the election in the fall, and a second on the presidential transition earlier this year), and especially to Gbemende Johnson who initially suggested the idea.
PSQ Book Review Editor
Justin Vaughn is new book review editor for PSQ. Books to be reviewed should be sent to him. Eshbaugh-Soha offered thanks to Nancy Kassop for her years of service.
Centennial Center Mini-conference Funds Distribution
PEP had around $3,000 left in APSA Centennial Center grant funds from the April 2024 PEP mini-conference held at the University of Chicago. Those remaining funds were repurposed as travel grants and divided and allocated to three PEP officers to enable them to attend the 2025 annual meeting in Vancouver. Eshbaugh-Soha thanked past PEP president Lilly Goren for her efforts to work with officials at both APSA and Carroll University to repurpose and allocate the funds.
APSA 2025 Conference
Eshbaugh-Soha thanked Lauren Mattioli for her hard work as section chair this year, which included navigating immigration concerns, hybrid panels, and a delay in APSA posting the preliminary program.
Chris Devine of the University of Dayton will be the APSA 2026 PEP Section Chair. The call for papers has been made by APSA. Boston will be our destination next year. Eshbaugh-Soha recommended presenting a poster as the one sure way to avoid a Sunday morning panel.
Eshbaugh-Soha thanked Terri Bimes, Brendan Doherty, Austin Trantham, and Lauren Mattioli for their work as PEP officers this year.