My name is Melissa Stacer and I’m a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Indiana. Welcome to the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences! I am excited to work with the IASS Board of Directors and our IASS members. During my two-year term as president from October 2023 to October 2025, we will enhance the organization’s profile through outreach to faculty at institutions of higher education in Indiana and surrounding states.

We will also work together to increase participation at our Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting is a wonderful opportunity to present your scholarship, a time to get together with old friends and make new friends, and a comfortable, safe space for our undergraduate and graduate students to present posters and interact with scholars. The Annual Meeting is intimate and vibrant with scholarship from a large variety of disciplines. The IASS Annual Meeting is my favorite conference each year!

Please mark your calendar for Friday, October 4, 2024, as the IASS goes south to the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville!