Program Mission

The mission of the Political Science Program is to combine the energies of students and departmental faculty in pursuit of understanding representative and administrative systems, practices, and aspirations, especially through engagement with professional scholarship. Graduates in political science will have learned foundational theories, practical processes, and an appreciation of varied cultures. The curriculum offers a broad reach across subdisciplines, preparing students for many available career options.

Program Outcomes

1. Graduates will be able to organize research projects relying on peer-reviewed journals, conference papers, original sources, and the work of recognized scholars.
2. Graduates will have learned, through the study of American and foreign government systems, how those apply popular consent toward their views of the common good.
3. Graduates will be able to identify and apply classical and contemporary theories that serve as the bases for civil systems.
4. Graduates will have a working familiarity with the methods of lawmaking, public administration, foreign policy development and public policy making as these are practiced, chiefly in the American system.
5. Graduates will be able to identify and critique how civil systems do or do not incorporate varied cultural views, persons, traditions, and resource differences into their pursuit of their national sense of the common good.

Program Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
POLS-1000	Introduction to American Government	3
or POLS-1200	Foundations US Constitutionalism
or POLS-1500	American 20th Century Political History
BUSI-3710	Legal Environment of Business	3
or MGMT-4720	Business Organizational Law
POLS-3750	American Constitutional Development	3
POLS-3760	Fundamental Freedoms: First Amendment	3
or POLS-3765	Civil Rights: 14th Amendment
Select one of the following:		3
POLS-3800	Development of Political Thought
PHIL-3550	Political Philosophy
PHIL-4860	Philosophy of Law
PSYC-4502	Psychology & Law	3
Total Hours		18