DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mission Statement
"We are dedicated to providing an outstanding education for our majors, the flexibility to assist in the formation of our non-majors, and to a significant degree of influence within the communities we serve. We seek to impart to all a deeper commitment to understand and influence the social and political processes and structures that affect our lives."
The Department of Political
Science is dedicated to the proposition that the discipline
of political science is both broad and diverse. That breadth
and diversity manifest themselves in two distinct foci
within the Department: a multifaceted undergraduate program
and a Master's program in public administration. Both of
these foci are consonant with College and University
missions related to strong undergraduate and graduate
programs, the globalization and internationalization of our
students and curriculum, and the commitment to leadership
and service.
In meeting the goals of
these programs, the faculty are committed to excellence in
teaching, scholarship and professional interaction. Social
science scholars in general, and political science faculty
in particular, must be dedicated to seeking new knowledge
and understanding better that which we already know, while
at the same time being "critics of society."
Ultimately, our mission
must be measured in the quality of the students we serve:
our majors, undergraduate non-majors, and graduate students.
We must be dedicated to providing the breadth and depth of
knowledge and skills appropriate for our majors; the
flexibility needed to serve non-majors by providing courses
which serve to introduce students to the social sciences
through the social science breadth requirement foundation
courses and general education courses; and the skill and
expertise to reach out into the communities we serve. We
must leave the people we serve with a stronger ability to
understand, maintain, change and otherwise influence in a
positive manner the social and political structures and
processes that influence our lives.
