Mar 28, 2024  
2007-2008 General/Graduate Catalog - Expired August 2013 
    
2007-2008 General/Graduate Catalog - Expired August 2013 [Archived Catalog]

Political Science (BS)


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Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences
Degree Offered: Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science
Minor Offered: Political Science

The goals and priorities of Political Science reflect the liberal arts and sciences thrust. Each student seeking a bachelor’s degree in Political Science is expected to demonstrate a breadth and a depth of knowledge to be nationally competitive with others in the discipline. He or she is also expected to be superior in his or her abilities to synthesize and analyze material, conduct research, speak, advocate, write, and make decisions. The Political Science major at Truman State University should also be prepared to enter graduate school in political science, public administration, public policy, and business administration. In addition, the program should prepare the student for law school as well as other graduate and professional programs requiring a liberal arts undergraduate major. Generally speaking, Political Science graduates should be competent and confident of their abilities to compete nationally for positions of leadership, scholarship, and service.

The Political Science curriculum builds on the student’s liberal arts and science background. Within the major, students must take a core curriculum which provides them with basic discipline knowledge in each of the subfields of the discipline – American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political theory. Students will take a survey course in each of the following four areas:

American National Government
Introduction to International Relations
Principles of Comparative Politics
Political Thought

In addition, each student will take a course in methodology (Political Science Methodology), a second level integrative course in American politics (Public Policy Making), and a senior-level seminar which integrates all of the courses in the discipline. Students seeking a BS degree will have one course added to the core curriculum—Principles of Public Administration. Since the BS degree is the more applied of the two Political Science degrees, these students need a basic knowledge of public administration.

Each student will be able to choose electives to supplement the above. The elective flexibility is designed to correspond to the varied career and professional school patterns of Political Science majors. For example, those interested in law school will be advised to take electives such as Judicial Process and Constitutional Law. Those who are interested in public administration will be advised to take courses such as Policy Analysis and Budgeting, and State and Local Government.

Research will be included in a number of courses in the curriculum, but specifically students will be required to write a statistical-based research paper in Political Science Methodology and a government documents-based research paper in Public Policy Making.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

Liberal Studies Program Requirements: 34-58 Credit Hours


Missouri Statute Requirement: 1-3 Credit Hours


Bachelor of Science Requirements: 6 Credit Hours


Six additional hours in math, statistics, computer science, social science, any economics course at the 200 level or above, or symbolic logic. In limited cases, other courses stressing methodological reasoning skills relevant to political science may be added to this list.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS


The Political Science BS Major consists of two (2) parts: Required Support and Major Requirements. Each student must complete both parts.

Part I: Required Support: 18 Credit Hours


As approved by advisor: 15 hours from one other area: 15 Credit Hours

Students may apply up to twelve hours of POL 471 Internship: Political Science toward Required Support and up to three hours of POL 472 Internship Evaluation and Analysis toward Required Support or Political Science electives.

Part II: Major Requirements: 33 Credit Hours


  • Electives in Political Science: 9 Credit Hours:

Electives to Total: 124 Credit Hours


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