Political Science

John Taylor, Chair
Daly Hall 207, ext. 7284

Political science majors may become certified to teach secondary school social studies. To assure proper scheduling, students interested in this program should inform the chairs of both the Political Science and Education Departments as early as possible in their college careers.

Students in good standing are encouraged to participate in one of the internship opportunities administered through the department and the International Studies Program, and they may earn course credit for doing so.

Freshman-Sophomore Courses

Required: POL 101, 102, and 104

Recommended: MAT 109, and CSI 100 or 201.*

*These courses are recommended to prospective political science majors as part of their first- and second-year distribution selections so that some aspects of the most recent methodological developments in political analysis will be more readily understandable to them.

Major Requirements: POL 101, 102, 104, and 493 (normally taken in the second semester of the junior year), and seven additional departmental offerings selected by the student in consultation with the Department Chair, distributed among the various subfields of political science.

Minor Requirements: POL 101, 102, 104, and three other courses in political science

Senior Capstone Experience: The Senior Capstone Experience in political science is an independent research project on a topic of the student's choosing, culminating in a thesis of at least 50 pages. Thesis proposals are normally generated as part of the work of the required course on empirical political research, and each student has a faculty adviser to assist in completion of the project. Theses are graded Pass, Fail, or Pass with Honors. Candidates for honors must employ primary sources, contribute some element of original research, analysis, or interpretation, and sustain an oral examination on the thesis. This project is required of all majors in political science.