Political Science Program
Honors Program: Students with a Political Science Major GPA of 3.5 or higher may apply for Departmental Honors at graduation; the following document explains the procedures required for Political Science honors: Political Science Honors Requirements.
Forthcoming Undergraduate Political Science research presentations :
Christa Levko ('12) will present her research at an undergraduate poster session of the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in Chicago, in April 2012.
Several students have prepared proposals for presentation at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association Meeting, (to be held at Mulhenburg College, Allentown, PA March 30-31 2012), MACLAS (to be held in Washington D.C. in March 2012), and MAUSRC (to be held at Elizabethtown College, PA April 12, 2012) - updates will be posted shortly.
(2011) Political Science Students Present their Research to the Public:
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Tiffany Hubble (graduated May 2011) offered a poster presentation at the Mid-West Political Science Association Meeting in Chicago, on April 2, 2011.
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Christopher Klimovitz (graduated May 2011) presented a paper at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association meeting in Harrisburg on April 9, 2011.
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Paul Anderson (graduated May 2011) presented research supporting the legislative proposal he developed while serving as a Bipartisan Legislative Fellow at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; Paul's presented his research at the PA State Capitol on Thursday April 14, 2011
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Dylan Reed ('13) presented research supporting the legislative proposal he developed while serving as a Bipartisan Legislative Fellow at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; Dylan presented his research at the PA State Capitol on Friday December 9, 2011
Degree Requirements: Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science
A student majoring in political science must take 39 credits in the discipline.
Required courses:
PSC 100 Intro. to Political Science| This course is designed as a broadly-based introduction to the discipline of political science. It will acquaint students with the concepts, structures, trends, and belief systems that form the basis of political activity throughout the world. Those taking the course will leave with an enhanced understanding of - if not appreciation for - the multiple ideologies, institutions, issues, and actors that shape and drive politics. |
| This course provides a survey of key developments, institutions, and issues in American politics. Topics include the ideas that shaped the original American political system, the presidency; Congress and federal courts; the operation of political parties and interest groups; domestic and foreign policy debates; and contemporary issues such as civil rights and affirmative action. |
| This is an introduction to the study of comparative politics: the comparison of political systems in order to understand how and why these systems function differently. The course is built around three fundamental questions: What is comparative politics? What kinds of phenomena do we compare? What are the major theoretical approaches that guide our studies? We also examine distinctions between the "developing" and the "developed" worlds, and between authoritarian and democratic political regimes. |
| This course is designed to introduce students to the study of international relations. The course hinges on a series of questions: Who are the principal actors in the international system? What are the theoretical ways of discerning why these actors do what they do? How has the international system evolved into its present form? What are the central issues confronting the international system? |
| Students in this course study the development of Western political thought from Classical Greece to modern times, examining the conceptual evolution of citizenship, civic obligation, and the nature of justice and exploring the connection between moral and positive law in the western tradition. |
| This is an introduction to the design and evaluation of political research: formulating clear hypotheses, developing appropriate measures, and analyzing data using simple statistical methods and qualitative techniques; emphasizes clear exposition of arguments, interpretation, and findings. |
| This seminar allows junior and senior political science majors to pursue a research interest within a broad topic area prescribed for each semester the seminar is given. Students will present their work at an undergraduate research conference hosted by a regional university. |
One of:
ECN 101 Principles of Microeconomics| The course examines how individuals and firms make choices within the institution of free-market capitalism. Individuals decide how much of their time to spend working and what to buy with the earnings of their labor. Firms decide how much to produce and in some cases what price to charge for their goods. Together these choices determine what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced in our economic system. |
| This course extends the study of consumer and producer choices to discover how they affect the nation's economy. Macroeconomics deals with the economy as a whole as measured by the key variables of inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. Emphasis is on both Keynesian and classical theories and how they predict what monetary and fiscal policies can be used to affect these variables and reach national economic goals. |
Five elective courses in political science are required.