Looking to get involved with APPAM but don't know where to start? Serving as a volunteer for APPAM is a great way to grow professionally, build relationships with peers across the country and develop leadership skills. With so many high-quality proposals to review, committees to oversee, and expert content to deliver, we rely on help from our community to keep our conferences and content top-notch and running smoothly.
The opportunities below are split into two categories: Fall Conference and General Opportunities. Please note that these opportunities are ordered by the date the form closes as this page will be regularly updated. If you do NOT see a link, the form has not yet been opened. Reviewers will be chosen on a first come, first served basis and signing up for the below opportunities does not guarantee participation.
Please note that these forms are open year round. Be sure to check specific dates on the relevant volunteer form.
Thank you for your interest in volunteering and we hope to work with you soon!
Questions? Please email info@appam.org.
Fall Conference Volunteer Opportunities
Each year, APPAM receives over 2,000 proposals for the Fall Conference. We need volunteers to review each proposal in a timely manner and take into careful consideration the conference theme, policy area relevance, and more.
Chairs: Each policy area has one to three assigned chairs to lead the review team. These individuals are responsible for communicating deadlines, review structure, and making the final recommendations to the President-Elect. This role is more time consuming than the reviewer because you must take reviewer scores into consideration in order to rank their recommended sessions and posters, build panels from single papers, then fill session chairs and discussants for these new panels.
Reviewers: Reviewers will be assigned a set number of submissions to review and grade on a five criteria, in addition to providing comments that will help guide the policy area chairs in their final recommendations. The number of submissions depends on the size of the policy area and the number of reviewers for that year.
Time Commitment:
- Chairs: 10 hours in Spring & Summer 2024
- Reviewers: 2-5 hours in April - May 2024
Chairs are crucial to sessions. They monitor paper progress before the meetings and encourage timely distribution of session papers to all discussant(s). Discussants play a critical role in determining the quality of audience participation in the session. Volunteers are needed for these integral roles at our 2023 Fall Research Conference.
Time Commitment:
- Chairs - 3 hours per session in November 2023
- Discussants - 5 hours per session in November 2023, dependent on how many papers and discussants are in your assigned session
This role may include greeting and assisting attendees at registration, replenishing conference supplies, providing directional and line management assistance, conducting session room headcounts, and other duties as assigned. Registration is free for student volunteers who complete 4 hours of service and are active APPAM members.
2024 Application Due: Applications for 2023 are closed. The next round will open in Summer 2024.
Time Commitment: 4 hours scattered throughout the conference in November 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland.
At poster sessions, presenters will be asked to discuss their work and answer questions during each poster session. A first, second, and third pace winner will be selected from the presenters each day. Judges are needed onsite to review the appearance, content and in-person presentation of the poster sessions.
2023 Application Due: September 30, 2023
Time Commitment: 1-2 hours on Friday, November 10 or Saturday, November 11, 2023
General Volunteer Opportunities
Review applications for the 2024 student, young professional, and undergraduate cohorts. Volunteers would need to review CV's, letters of recommendation.
This form is currently for the 2024 cohort and the review will take place in summer 2024.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per reviewer
The purpose of this award is to recognize emergent scholars in the field by presenting an award for the best PhD dissertation in public policy and management. Volunteers are needed to review nominations and choose the the 2023 award recipient.
This form is currently for the 2024 cohort and the review will take place in summer 2024.
Time Commitment: 2-4 hours in late July to late August
The APPAM Mentor Matching Program began in 2016 by the APPAM Student Activities Committee as a means to better serve the APPAM student member population. What started out as an informal speed mentoring program has now grown to dozens of one-on-one mentor/mentee pairings between policy academics, researchers, and practitioners and student members. We encourage both students and professional members in the program to connect and expand their professional networks throughout the year and beyond.
We have re-opened the 2023 Mentor Applications through Friday, October 13 in order to match all registered mentees.
2023 mentee applications have closed. For more program information, please check here.
Time Commitment: 5 hours throughout the year, with an in-person meeting in November 2024.
APPAM, with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, will offer classes for students to explore the relationship between public policy and the entrepreneurial environment. Topics covered will include how public policies affect the business environment and economics and how program structures and frameworks can and should take the entrepreneurial perspective into account. APPAM is in need of volunteers to review applications for the 2023 cohort.
2023 applications have closed. Please check back for 2024 applications.
Time Commitment: 2-4 hours, August through September
APPAM is looking for member-generated content! The webinars, hosted by APPAM, range from topical policy issues, career development, to ways to make the most out of your APPAM membership. Present a webinar or be featured on a podcast with experts to discuss your research or policy expertise.
Time Commitment: 1-2 hours
APPAM has several committees through which it accomplishes the work of the association as laid out in the 2016 - 2020 Strategic Plan. Committees meet throughout the year virtually and the chairs of each committee report on the activities of their committees at each of the two annual Policy Council Meetings. The committees work in conjunction with APPAM staff throughout the year to achieve goals set out in the Strategic Plan. They are comprised exclusively of Policy Council members and are not open to non-Policy Council members at this time.
Time Commitment: 4 hours throughout the year
Questions?
Questions about volunteer opportunities should be directed to info@appam.org.