Welcome!

Major Advising

If you are considering the major or have questions about the major, please contact the pre-major advisor, Professor Matthew Tokeshi. His Spring 2024 advising hours are Wednesday 10:30 – 11:50 AM in Schapiro 238.

If you are in the class of 2026 and planning to declare the major, please make an appointment to see a political science faculty member during spring registration hours (these will be posted on the website shortly before registration). In addition, fill out this PDF form and bring it with you to your spring registration advising meeting. Your advisor needs to sign this form along with the registration form that is returned to the registrar’s office. This signed curricular plan should be returned to Sarah Campbell-Copp in her office, Schapiro 223.

If you are a current major and don’t recall your assigned advisor, please contact Sarah Campbell-Copp.

Political science is interested in the question of power—how it is created, exercised, justified, and challenged to engage in problem solving, facilitate citizen action, and participate in world-making. Political scientists study democracy, war, group conflicts, law, rights, wealth distribution, and authority, as well as the individuals, institutions, and social forces that shape them. As a social science, the study of politics considers both the dynamics and ethics of power, which in turn involves conceptions of community, identity, justice, and citizenship. The contests over power and the values that should animate it imbue politics with drama as well as pathos. Naturally, then, the effort to understand politics aims not only to describe and explain, but also to improve collective life. To this end, the Political Science Department strives to cultivate in its students the habits and skills of clear thought, rigorous analysis, and effective argumentation in writing and speech.