Sirin, VIllalobos win SWPSA Best Paper Award

Dr. Cigdem Sirin and Dr. José Villalobos, professor of political science, have been award the 2025 Best Paper Award from the Southwestern Political Science Association (SWPSA) Annual Meeting. Their paper, entitled "Group Empathy and Voter Behavior in the Post-Roe Era: Fallout from the 2022 Elections," continues their award winning work in the area of empathy and politics. They will be officially recognized for this award at the 2026 meeting in Nashville, TN.

Their other work on empathy includes the book "Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy." This book has won many awards, including the American Political Science Association's Best Book Award, the David O. Sears Award (best book on mass politics), the Robert E. Lane Award (best book in political psychology), and the APSA Best Book in Experiment Research award. 

The Southwestern Political Science Association was officially established in 1919 and is the political science affiliate of the Southwestern Social Science Association (SSSA). This association is also affiliated with the social science journal Social Science Quarterly.