Learning from the Best: Building a Stronger Community Through Shared Expertise
08/04/2026
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically…. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” I keep this quote at the fore of my mind every day as the Chair of the Education Committee.
Since we have all made it into careers connected to some aspect of public opinion, we likely possess many tools to not only think deeply about certain phenomena but produce better ways to gauge attitudes so that we can more efficiently serve the masses, whether they be in the public or private sectors. The first pillar of AAPOR’s Strategic Plan is to Educate and Support. Through the work of the Education Committee, AAPOR helps professionals at every career stage stay informed, build new skills, and navigate an evolving research landscape.
How do we do this? We learn from the best, which is from all of you, our incredible AAPOR members. Education does not simply take place at our annual conference; it happens throughout the year. It is through your willingness to present webinars and short courses that members of AAPOR can remain on the cutting edge of qualitative and quantitative techniques to gauge public opinion. Our individual work is strengthened by the expertise of the members of this outstanding community of scholars and practitioners.
We would love to have you share your expertise with the AAPOR community. We recently sent a call for webinar proposals with a deadline of August 31. If you would prefer to share something longer, the call for short courses just launched this week.
We need you, because the questions our field faces today, from declining response rates to AI’s role in survey design to the shifting media landscape, are not questions any of us can answer alone. Every webinar and short course you propose becomes another set of tools in a colleague’s hands. Our upcoming webinar calendar runs through November, and we hope you will join us to learn from our community experts.
The Education Committee will do everything in our power to improve the visibility and utility of our educational offerings. We have launched a shared event calendar to ensure that you are aware of educational offerings from AAPOR, regional chapters, and affinity groups.
We are also in the process of reviewing previous webinar and short course recordings with the goal of packaging them into certificates of completion, so that the knowledge shared in one session can keep working for you long after the live event ends.
Dr. King reminded us that true education is intelligence paired with character. AAPOR’s strength has always come from members willing to pair their expertise with a genuine commitment to lifting up the field—and each other. That is what this Education Committee and the Educate & Support pillar of our Strategic Plan are built to advance.
Camille Burge-Hicks
AAPOR Education Chair