Department of Political Science

Political Science
1414 Social Sciences Building
267 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-624-4144
Fax: 612-626-7599
E-mail: polisci@umn.edu

Chair: Raymond D. Duvall

Ph.D. Structure

PhD Requirements

All of the students who make normal progress complete political science and outside course work for the Ph.D. in three years. A student concentrates in two subfields.

  • One seminar in scope and methods
  • A year-long seminar on political science as a profession, with teaching and research segments
  • The core seminar in at least two of the four fields
  • A set of at least three to four seminars in the main field of concentration
  • A set of at least two to three advanced seminars in a second field
  • In addition, each students completes one substantial research paper

The Graduate School requires that each student complete a minor or supporting program of graduate work. A minor consists of work done in a single department over which a written examination is held, while a supporting program consists of courses taken in one or more disciplines that relate to and support the major. There is no examination for a supporting program.

Each student must also satisfy a foreign language/research methodology requirement before taking preliminary examinations. It is expected that students will complete their preliminary written and oral exams by the spring of the third year, but in any case no later than the fall of the fourth year. Students entering with a Masters degree in political science can usually expect to transfer some course work, and thus shorten their course of study.

Interdisciplinary Programs and Minors

Feminist Studies: Students wishing to acquire competence in feminist studies can take much of their course work for the supporting program as a minor in the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies. Designed to ground students in the evolving traditions of feminist scholarship while supporting them as they utilize feminist perspectives within their own fields of study, the minor emphasizes the development of theoretical perspectives and research and analytical skills.

Political Psychology: The department offers a minor in Political Psychology. The graduate minor has a structured curriculum and provides a foundation in basic areas of Political Psychology. In addition the program offers training in theory and methods. The faculty for the program are drawn from ten departments within the Graduate School and Law School. The center for this program currently edits the Journal of Political Psychology.