Mellichamp Professor Alison Brysk is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Scholar Award of the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association. This award recognizes an individual who has worked in the field of human rights and made an exceptional contribution to the field through research, teaching and mentorship. The award was announced at the APSA Annual Meeting, held in San Francisco from August 31 to September 3, 2017.

The Section on Human Rights was established to encourage scholarship and facilitate exchange of data and research findings on all components of human rights (e.g., civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental), their relationship, determinants and consequences of human rights policies, structure and influence of human rights organizations, development, implementation, and impact on international conventions, and changes in the international human rights regime.