Field and Fields Requirements
Our Department believes that political science is a coherent discipline, rather than independent subfields loosely grouped under a shared umbrella. As a reflection of this belief, our program is designed to break down barriers and build bridges across the subfields and give all of our students a broad command of the discipline as a whole, regardless of their area(s) of specialization.
In accordance with these principles, our graduate program includes a first-year core curriculum and an integrated workshop required of all PhD students. The first-year core curriculum is composed of two quarters of courses in Analytic Theory (203A-B) and two quarters of Research Methods (204A-B) courses. Our graduate program is a unique statement about the discipline of political science. No similar attempt to unify the curriculum has been undertaken in any other department in the country.
The Integrated Workshop is designed to promote intellectual engagement and conversations across fields, so as to better prepare our students to conduct research that scholars across fields will care about. The workshop will allow students in all years to present research ideas and early work. It also includes a number of professional development sessions. The Integrated Workshop meets approximately every other Monday. The off-weeks will offer an opportunity for subfield-specific meetings. All registered students-in-residence are expected to enroll in their field workshop of choice and attend both integrated and field workshops regularly. This includes first-year through Nth-year students.
Our program is designed to be completed in four to six years. In the first two years of the program, students attend seminars, write a research paper, and attempt a comprehensive examination. Students then finalize a dissertation prospectus and defend it before their dissertation committee. Students spend their fourth year and beyond conducting their dissertation research, writing their dissertation, and defending their completed project before their committee.
*Detailed Field Requirements*
2024-25 Field Coordinators
- American Politics: Pamela Ban
- Political Theory: Sean Ingham
- Comparative Politics: Karen Ferree
- International Relations: Branislav Slantchev
- Methodology: Umberto Mignozzetti