Department of Political Science
Introduction
As Harold Laswell famously noted, politics is “who gets what, when, and how.” As a discipline, political science focuses on the study of political ideas, institutions, processes, policies, and behavior in the United States and around the world. The Department of Political Science offers a broad range of courses across five subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and political methodology.
Political science majors gain a versatile set of analytical and organizational skills that can be applied in a wide range of exciting careers in government, law, business, international organizations, nonprofit organizations, survey research, journalism, and teaching.
Advising
All majors have a primary academic advisor assigned in ConnectCarolina. Students are strongly encouraged to meet regularly with their advisor and review their Tar Heel Tracker each semester. Students seeking advice about the political science major are encouraged to meet with the department’s undergraduate advisor or the director of undergraduate studies during their office hours (see contact information above). Further information on courses, undergraduate research opportunities, the honors program, careers, and graduate schools may be obtained from the department’s website.
Graduate School and Career Opportunities
Students with a major in political science may choose to continue their studies in a number of professional areas, including law, business administration, public administration, public policy analysis, international relations, and area studies. Students seeking to become professional political scientists should pursue graduate study in a Ph.D. program in political science.
The following is a brief listing of careers for which a major in political science is valuable preparation:
- positions with government agencies, such as the Foreign Service
- positions with international organizations, such the United Nations
- positions with nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations
- law-related professions
- business professions, including data analysis and survey research
- media and journalism
- governmental research in universities, libraries, and think tanks
- secondary- and university-level teaching and administration
- federal and state government employment
- municipal management and public administration
Professors
Navin Bapat, Frank Baumgartner, Mark Crescenzi, Stephen Gent, Jonathan Hartlyn, Marc Hetherington, Liesbet Hooghe, Evelyne Huber, Gary Marks, Cecilia Martinez-Gallardo, Kevin McGuire, Jason Roberts, Graeme Robertson, Timothy Ryan, Donald Searing, Jeffrey Spinner-Halev, Sarah Treul Roberts, Isaac Unah, Milada Vachudova.
Associate Professors
Cameron Ballard-Rosa, Anna Bassi, Susan Bickford, Christopher Clark, Lucy Martin, Cara Nine, Santiago Olivella, Simon Weschle.
Assistant Professors
Ashley Anderson, Caitlin Andrews-Lee, Brian Guay, Kaneesha Johnson, Mary Kroeger, Junghyun Lim, Neil O'Brian, Tyler Pratt, Alexander Sahn, Ye Wang.
Adjunct Professors
Nora Hanagan, Holger Moroff, Candis W. Smith, Jonathan Weiler.
Teaching Professors
Robert Jenkins, Christiane Lemke-Dampfling.
Teaching Associate Professors/Advisors
Suzanne Globetti, Matthew Weidenfeld.
Teaching Assistant Professors
Niklaus Steiner, Annie Watson, Jakob Wiedekind.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Sasha de Vogel.
Professors Emeriti
Pamela Conover, Virginia Gray, Michele Hoyman, Michael Lienesch, Stuart Elaine Macdonald, Michael MacKuen, Timothy McKeown, Dick Richardson, Lars Schoultz, John Stephens, James Stimson, James White.
