The mission of the Southwest Popular/​American Culture Association (SWPACA) is to promote an innovative and nontraditional academic movement in the humanities and social sciences celebrating America’s cultural heritages, and to increase awareness and improve public perceptions of America’s cultural traditions and diverse populations. We work towards this mission by providing a professional network for scholars, writers, and others interested in popular/​American culture via our annual academic conference and through our open-source, peer-reviewed academic journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. Additionally, the SWPACA has a long-standing commitment to supporting the development of new and young academic professionals in the fields of popular and/​or American cultural studies through conference travel grants, paper awards, and professional development opportunities.