Political Science
Faculty
Chairperson: Evan Gerstmann
Professors: Michael A. Genovese, Evan Gerstmann, Fernando J. Guerra, Seth B. Thompson
Associate Professors: Lance H. Blakesley, Jodi Susan Finkel, Richard Fox, John Parrish, Janie S. Steckenrider, Cassandra Veney
Assistant Professor: Jennifer Ramos
Objectives
The Department challenges and encourages students to:
- be perceptive observers of political life in all its variety and richness;
- seek a systematic understanding of the causes and consequences of political institutions, policies, and behavior;
- develop a moral and ethical perspective that allows them to critically evaluate actions, institutions, ans policies; and
- prepare themselves for a life of active citizenship and involvement in creating a more just and humane world.
The Department challenges and encourages its faculty to:
- master the art of teaching,
- contribute to their profession as active scholars and researchers, and
- promote an atmosphere of care and concern for each student inside and outside the classroom.
Both faculty and students share a responsibility for creating a lively and diverse community of scholars marked by civility, mutual respect, and support.
Political Science Student Learning Outcomes
The Political Science Department strives to help all majors:
- Broaden and deepen their knowledge of political institutions and of the forces that drive political movements, public policy, and public law.
- Be able to use the major analytic and theoretical frameworks in several subfields of political science in order to effectively describe, explain, and predict political phenomena.
- Be able to structure and evaluate normative political arguments.
- Be able to effectively use evidence to analyze empirical political statements.
- Develop a greater appreciation of the values and factual assumptions that underlie one’s own political ideology.
- Value active and engaged citizenship.