Dr. Tony Affigne Receives National Mentoring Award
The American Political Science Association (APSA) has selected Providence College professor Anthony (Tony) Affigne as the 2021 recipient of the Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell Mentoring Award. The national award recognizes a member of the political science profession for their exceptional mentoring of Latino/a students, and is named for and honors Dr. Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell, the first Latina to earn a doctorate in political science and a founder of the field of Chicano Studies. After earning her PhD in 1971 from the University of California, Riverside, Sosa-Riddell enjoyed a long career teaching Chicano Studies and Political Science at the University of California, Davis, where she was an editor of the groundbreaking Chicana Critical Issues (Third Woman Press 1993), mentored hundreds of Latina/o students, wrote poetry, and served on the Editorial Board of Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. Now retired, Ada continues to write poetry and essays on politics, and to inspire new generations of young scholars.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award,” said Dr. Affigne. “It’s a humbling experience to be nominated by my students, and recognized by my peers, with an award named for such a trailblazer in my profession. Ada is a wonderful person, an inspiring role model, and a guiding light for all of us who struggle to achieve greater recognition for the Latino community’s contributions and historical significance.”
For nearly thirty years, Dr. Affigne has offered some of Providence College’s most popular political science classes, including “Race and Politics in the Americas,” “Political Thought in Science Fiction,” and “The Politics of Climate Change.” He has earned a reputation as an innovative, caring professor who integrates inspired lectures, lively discussion, experiential learning, and thoughtful mentoring, grounded in his own experiences as a first-gen, Puerto Rican student in the 1970s. For students of color, in particular, his insistence on high aspirations and high standards has made him a beloved advisor and advocate for generations of talented young scholars. Many of those students wrote letters nominating him for the Sosa-Riddell Award.
Beyond his classrooms, Affigne has been a major force to broaden the discipline of political science, creating new opportunities for his own students and for other rising stars. He led the historic 1995 national effort to establish for the first time an Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (REP), now one of the discipline’s largest, most vibrant subfields. In 1998 he co-founded the Latino Caucus in Political Science, was a founding member of the APSA Fund for Latino Scholarship, and is a longtime member of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS). He previously served as Treasurer and Executive Council member for the American Political Science Association, and held leadership roles in the Western Political Science Association. In 2011 he was recipient of the Frank J. Goodnow Award, named for the first president of the American Political Science Association, the profession’s highest recognition for distinguished service to the discipline.
Dr. Affigne will be presented with his award during APSA’s 2021 Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington on Friday, October 1, at a virtual reception hosted by APSA’s Committee on the Status of Latinas y Latinos in the Profession.
