Graduate Studies

Edward Berdan named 2021-2022 APSA Diversity Fellowship Program Fellow

Smiling Edward Berdan portrait

The American Political Science Association (APSA) is pleased to announce that Edward Berdan, a masters student at CSU, Chico, has been named as a 2021-2022 APSA Diversity Fellowship Program (DFP) Fellow.

Edward Berdan is a political science M.A candidate focusing on American politics and public policy at California State University, Chico. In his research, Berdan explores Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) political participation and voter preference. He won the Betty Nesvold Best Graduate Paper Award for his research exploring the problem of monolithic AAPI analyses at the California State University SSRIC’s Social Science Student Symposium in May 2019, and he was a USC POIR Pre-Doctoral Fellow in summer 2019. He has served as a TA for American Government and both undergraduate and graduate Research Methods courses.

As a Filipino American, Berdan is passionate about laying the groundwork for future scholars of color. He plans to seek a Ph.D. in political science to contribute to research on AAPI communities and to empower and mentor students of color.  

The DFP, formerly the Minority Fellowship Program, was established in 1969 to increase the number of under-represented scholars in the political science discipline. Since 1969, the APSA Diversity Fellowship Program has designated more than 500 Fellows, both funded and unfunded, and contributed to the completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals. Fall fellows are college or university seniors, graduates, or Master's students who plan on applying to a PhD program in political science. Spring fellows are first and second year PhD students in political science. APSA Diversity Fellows are very active in the discipline as faculty members, researchers, and mentors. Visit www.apsanet.org/mfp to learn more about the APSA DFP program and recent fellows.

Founded in 1903, the American Political Science Association (APSA) is the leading professional organization for the study of political science and serves more than 13,000 members in more than 80 countries. For additional information on APSA diversity and inclusion programs, please visit http://www.apsanet.org/diversityprogramsor email diversityprograms@apsanet.org.