Political Science, Global Politics Concentration, BA

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The major in political science requires completion of HIST 222 , POSC 100 and POSC 216 , at least one credit of an internship or directed research (which counts for General Education Goal 14), and 34 credits in additional work in political science. Qualified majors may avail themselves of Congressional District Office Internships around the state, internships with the Washington Center and Institute for Experiential Learning in Washington, D.C., law offices, businesses, and a wide variety of state and local government offices.

The optional pre-law concentration requires completion of HIST 222 , POSC 100 and POSC 216 , at least one credit of an internship or directed research (which counts for General Education Goal 14), and 40 credits in additional courses, including 31 credits in political science, 3 in psychology, 3 in philosophy, and 3 in economics or accounting.

The optional global politics concentration requires 24 credits of core political science courses, 15 credits of courses focusing on regional area studies, and 9 credits of courses focusing on transitional communities and related issues.

Political science majors may earn either the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree.

No grade below “C-” will be accepted for courses applied to the major.

Civitae Core Requirements (39-40 credits)

Civitae Core

Political Science majors in the Global Politics concentration may count Civitae Core courses satisfying major requirements as also satisfying their respective Civitae Core requirements, up to two Pillar courses and one Perspectives course. The following are the courses in this major that may be used in this way:

POSC 200 can satisfy the Global Citizenship Pillar requirement, for students who place into a 211-level language course or above
POSC 100 can satisfy the Human Behavior and Social Institutions Pillar requirement
MATH 171 can satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning Pillar requirement

Courses satisfying major requirements that are designated as Civitae Core courses subsequent to the print deadline of this Catalog will not appear in the above listings but will be eligible to also satisfy Civitae Core requirements, subject to the same rules as the others. (If doing so would otherwise decrease the total credits required for the degree below 120, General Elective credit must be substituted to restore the total.)

Transfer students go to Transfer Student General Education for requirements.

Additional Degree Requirements

Additional Degree Requirements BA degree 3 credits
Students must complete one modern language course at the 212 level or higher.

Major Requirements (53-59 credits)

Some courses that meet major requirements are also designated Civitae Core Curriculum courses; such courses takent o meet Civitae Core requirements will be considered to also satisfy the associated major requirements (up to two Foundations pillars and one Perspectives course).

Core Political Science Courses (33 credits)

Regional and Area Studies (15 credits)

Choose 15 credits from the following:

Transnational Community and Issues (9 credits)

Choose nine credits from the following:

Senior Seminar (1 credit)

POSC 461 - Senior Seminar

One credit from one of the following three courses

POSC 490 - Directed or Independent Study in Political Science
POSC 492 - Internship in Political Science
POSC 498 - Honors Research in Political Science (must be approved by the Senior Honors Research Committee)
**A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required to enroll in an internship.

General Electives (18-25 credits)

Total Credits Required

BA in Political Science with a Concentration in Global Politics 120