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Our mission is to cultivate in our students a passion for understanding and solving political problems. Students work closely with faculty throughout their coursework, culminating in a major independent research project. Through this work, students will develop the imagination and skills in analysis and communication that prepare them for life after college.

Political science is the study of the problems and opportunities that arise when people live together in communities of all sizes. Political scientists study government, citizenship, relations among nation-states, and theories of politics. Political science addresses fundamental issues confronting modern society — globalization, war, inequity, poverty, the environment — and seeks to evaluate the processes, policies, and theories that have been devised to deal with them. The Political Science program provides courses in theory, methods and case studies within the four sub-fields of political theory, comparative politics, international relations, and American politics, as well as many courses that cross subfields.

The political science major emphasizes the development of skills in effective writing and speaking, as well as creative problem solving — some of the most useful skills in a wide variety of careers in the public, non-profit and private sectors. These skills are also crucial to success in graduate school. Our small classes and abundant individual attention from faculty give students ample opportunity to hone those skills. Political Science is also an excellent choice for students planning to study politics, public policy or law at the graduate level.

The program also offers Political Science majors the opportunity to select all of the EDU secondary education certification courses (listed below) as their electives in order to become middle or high school teachers (grades 7–12) in the area of social studies.

Pre-Law Emphasis

The pre-law emphasis allows students interested in studying law to receive special advising and to develop a liberal arts program of study appropriate as preparation for admission to law school and success in the legal profession, and careers and jobs in various areas such as government, media, business, international affairs, foreign service, non-government organizations, and teaching. The study of law involves many aspects of social life and integrates many fields of study. Judges and lawyers are expected to handle different litigations, ranging from social to medical, environmental and other applications. Thus, law schools encourage students to have diverse undergraduate majors. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ students who are majoring in any program can take advantage of the pre-law program.

Although the choice of major is open, law schools expect students to have acquired skills that enable them to think critically, reason logically, and speak and write effectively. The Pre-law Advising Committee will help students build their interdisciplinary program of study that includes not only humanities courses, but also courses in biology, environmental studies, psychology, and management.