Contributions by Scholars of Color Interview Series at WPSA 2025 –

History of the Profession: APSA Oral History Project: Contributions by Scholars of Color Interview Series at WPSA 2025

As part of the ongoing Contributions by Scholars of Color series, the APSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department conducted new oral history interviews during the 2025 Western Political Science Association (WPSA) Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

This collection of interviews contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to the political science profession and to examine the history of race and racism within the discipline.

This series builds upon the APSA–Pi Sigma Alpha African American Alpha Oral History Project (1988–1994) and is motivated by the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality in the Discipline (2022). The project was filmed by Nik Harper and conducted and edited by APSA staff, including Isabel Thompson, Program Assistant for DEI Programs, and India Angelique Simmons, Program Manager for DEI Programs.

Meet the Scholars
Dr. Andy Aoki | Watch interview

Dr. Andy Aoki is a professor of political science at Augsburg University. He co-founder the Asian Pacific American Caucus, a scholarly group for political scientists interested in Asian American politics, and has published work on immigration, Asian American and other ethnoracial politics, multicultural education, and popular culture and politics.

Dr. Kim Geron | Watch interview

Dr. Kim Geron is professor emeritus of political science at California State University East Bay. Professor Kim Geron began teaching at CSU Hayward (now East Bay) in 1999. He received a B.A. in labor studies at California State University Dominguez Hills, and an MA and Ph.D. in political science at University of California Riverside.

Dr. Geron’s teaching has focused in recent years on public policy and administrative law in the areas of labor, immigration, and bureaucracy. He and co-author, Dr. Sharon Navarro (UTSA) published Latino Political Power, 2nd Edition in 2023. His research and publications have focused on Asian American politics, Latino Politics, and the history of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) workers.  He is a longtime member of APSA and WPSA and is a member of APSA’s Asian Pacific Islander Caucus.

Dr. Pei-te Lien | Watch interview

Dr. Lien’s primary research interest is the political participation and representation of Asian and other nonwhite Americans. Most of her recent work examines the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and nativity in political behavior, both the elites and the mass. She is the 2023 recipient of the Don T. Nakanishi Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Service in Asian Pacific American Politics from the Western Political Science Association.

Lien is the President of the Western Political Science Association (WPSA) in 2022-23. She also co-chaired the 2022 Annual Meeting of the APSA in Montreal, CAN, September 14-18. Earlier, Lien served as co-president and program co-chair of the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of APSA and was on APSA Council and WPSA Council. She is a founding co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, a related group of APSA. She is also a founding member of the APSA Committee on the Status of Asian Americans and the APSA Committee on First Generation Americans. At WPSA, she helped establish and chair its Status Committee on Asian Pacific Americans in the Profession. She served on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review, Polity, Politics and Gender, and Journal of Women, Politics & Policy and was an associate editor of Politics, Groups and Identities, a journal of WPSA.

Dr. Anna Sampaio | Watch Interview

Dr. Anna Sampaio is a professor of ethnic studies and political science at Santa Clara University with specializations in Latiné/x politics, immigration, intersectionality race and gender politics, critical race and gender theory, and transnationalism. Her work encompasses a broad collection of academic and public scholarship including over fifty published research articles, books, and reports. Her books include Terrorizing Latina/o Immigrants: Race, Gender, and Immigration Politics in the Age of Security, Temple University Press (recipient of the APSA Best Book Award from the Latina/o Caucus) along with Transnational Latino/a Communities: Politics, Processes, and Cultures, Rowman and Littlefield (with Carlos Veléz-Ibañez).

Her current work centers on Latina political participation and activism in the U.S. including the recently released report from the Center for American Women and Politics, “Mujeres y Movidas: Latina Congressional Candidate Emergence and Experiences in California and Texas. Center for American Women and Politics,” along with a book project examining historical periods of Latina political engagement with particular attention to the experiences of Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American activists in the 19th and 20th century. Dr. Sampaio has held numerous leadership positions in both the American Political Science Association and Western Political Science Association (particularly via organized sections such as the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section, and the Women and Gender Justice caucus), including co-founding the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics (JREP) and the Intersectionality book series at Temple University Press (where she continues to serve as an editor). Dr. Sampaio has served previously as associate professor of women’s and gender studies at Rutgers University, as well as associate professor of political science at the University of Colorado, Denver. She has also worked extensively with state and local political campaigns and non-profit organizations including the Latina Initiative, the Hispanic Leadership Council, the American Friends Service Committee, the Ignatian Solidarity Network, and the Denver Election Commission. Outside of academia Dr. Sampaio provides regular analysis and commentary for news organizations and outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, CBS news and local affiliate new stations.

Dr. Andrea Y. Simpson | Watch Interview

Andrea Y. Simpson is an associate professor of political science, Emerita, at the University of Richmond. Professor Simpson is a scholar of United States politics with concentrations in Black politics and the politics of gender and intersectionality. The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association named her first book, The Tie that Binds (NYU Press, 1998) the “Best Book of 1998 on Racial Identity.” Simpson served as Chair of the Department of Political Science from 2011 through 2014. Elected to the Executive Committee of the American Political Science Association in 2006, she served on that committee until 2008. She was Program Chair of the Western Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting in 2008, and President of the Western Political Science Association in 2009. Simpson is currently working on essays on the nature of intersectional status among women in academia, corporate leadership, and politics.