Political Science provides students with a stimulating and supportive environment for intellectual development. The Department seeks to prepare students to think independently, tolerate the opinions of others and understand the fundamentals of political life.  The undergraduate program emphasizes the integration of theory and practice rather than any single approach or methodology. A public service emphasis, an international relations emphasis, and honors thesis program are available to majors.

The Department offers diversified and flexible programs of graduate study leading to the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. We maintain an enrollment of approximately 60 graduate students; a 3:1 ratio of student/faculty ratio allowing extensive contact and guidance by faculty mentors.

In addition to offering five traditional areas of study—American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and methodology—we work with students to define their own interdisciplinary fields of study for the Ph.D. Faculty offer a diverse range of individual academic expertise and also collaborate in research clusters that combine strengths across subfields in political communication (with a special focus on the internet and other new media), the politics of identity, and the politics of social and economic policy (with a special focus on environmental policy).