About us
For students interested in graduate study in political science, ²ÝÁñ¶ÌÊÓƵ State's Department of Political Science provides the opportunity to prepare your career at a department that places graduate students at the top institutions in the world and become a part of a community of students, educators and scholars. It has a distinguished and diverse strongly committed to working closely with graduate students; bright and dedicated graduate students, who typically receive full financial support to pursue their degrees; and a program that combines five traditional disciplinary major fields and the opportunity for several innovative minor programs. In March 2022, U.S. News and World report ranked the department 17th overall, 11th in American Politics, 12th in International Relations, 13th in Political Methodology, and 20th in Comparative Politics
Faculty members are integrally involved in graduate training, both in the classroom and through daily interaction with graduate students. Faculty work with students on research projects, which often result in collaborative papers and publications. The department gives graduate students opportunities to develop teaching skills, and faculty provide close mentoring of teaching and other professional development.
The graduate program offers a rich array of courses distributed among five major focus fields:
- American politics
- Comparative politics
- International politics
- Political theory
- Political methodology
Students can also take courses for a departmental specialization in four additional fields:
- Political Psychology
- Formal Theory
- Political Economy
- Race, Ethnicity and Gender
Instruction in the five traditional fields is grounded in the mainstream, and yet it is responsive to the latest theoretical and methodological developments. Students leaving the program are well prepared to teach and conduct research in each field with a good blend of general and specialized training.
Our location in a major research university in one of the thirty largest metropolitan areas in the country provides exciting extra-departmental opportunities.