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Graduate Study in Political Science at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

The Department

SIUC’s Department of Political Science has 18 full-time faculty members. Over half of the faculty has been hired since the mid-1990s, replenishing the Department with new faculty who hold degrees from the leading centers of graduate education in the United States. These new faculty have strengthened the Department’s ability to teach courses and supervise graduate research in political behavior, public opinion, racial, ethnic and gender politics, modern political theory, international conflict and war, political development, democratization, public policy, judicial behavior, and more. Visit the Faculty pages for more information about departmental faculty and their specialties.

The Department is dedicated to providing a stimulating and challenging environment for its students, and to advancing knowledge in the political and social sciences. Students have easy access to faculty and enjoy opportunities to study and do research in individualized formats. With a faculty/graduate student ratio of approximately 1 to 3, seminars typically have six to a dozen students and close contact between students and faculty is the norm.

Course offerings encompass the American, Comparative, International Relations, Theory, Public Administration, Public Law and Methodology subfields. The Department offers fully-accredited graduate programs leading to the Master of Arts (M.A.), , and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. The Department also cooperates with the Law School in offering a concurrent Ph.D./J.D. program to serve the needs of both the political science and legal education communities.

Program of Study, M.A. and Ph.D Degrees

The graduate curriculum is organized around a set of pro-seminars - advanced general surveys of fields or subfields - and a sequence of courses in research methods. Students are expected not only to master the discipline, but also to engage in research of their own design that will add to our knowledge of politics. Typically, students concentrate in the beginning on the core seminars and methods courses and later pursue special topics or engage in independent research under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students do coursework in three fields for both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. The fields are:

• Comparative Government and Politics
• International Relations
• Political Theory
• American Government and Politics
• Public Law
• Public Administration and Policy Analysis
• A Cognate or Interdisciplinary Field

Once the course work is completed, M.A. students write a thesis and defend it before a committee of faculty members. Ph.D. students must pass a comprehensive examination in each of their fields before proceeding to work on the dissertation. The dissertation is an original piece of research which normally takes a year or two, and upon completion it is defended before a committee composed of faculty who are qualified to judge its quality and the significance of its contribution to the discipline. Students may obtain financial support for dissertation research in the form of a fellowship from the Graduate School (the Dissertation Research Assistantship) or from outside funding sources.

The time required to finish a degree varies, depending on the student's abilities, drive, financial support, and thesis or dissertation topic. The normal time commitment for completion of the M.A. degree is two years; the Ph.D. takes three to five years. M.A. students who demonstrate potential to succeed in doctoral studies may apply for "accelerated entry" to the Ph.D. program at the end of their first year. Students of exceptional ability who have only a bachelor's degree may apply for "direct entry" to the Ph.D. program. Through flexibility and tailoring to individual needs, the Department strives to facilitate timely progress toward graduation.

PhD/JD Concurrent Degree Program

The Department and the Law School cooperate in offering a PhD/JD concurrent degree program that culminates in the award of two degrees, the PhD in political science and the Juris Doctor in Law. Students apply for admission to the Department of Political Science upon completing the first year of Law School and must qualify for direct entry to doctoral studies. For more information, click here.

Master of Public Administration

The MPA program provides prepares students for professional careers in public service (local, state and federal governments). It is a separate program of study from political science, though housed within the Department of Political Science. For information and application, contact the Director, MPA Program, Department of Political Science, or click here.

Financial Assistance

Financial support in the form of departmental assistantships, master’s and doctoral fellowships, dissertation research awards, and fellowships for minority students is awarded on a competitive basis. Assistantships are awarded directly by the Department, while fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School after nomination by the Department. No additional application for funding is required beyond the application for admission, as all admitted students are eligible for funding. Assistantships and fellowships pay stipends that are adequate to cover all costs of living in Carbondale plus full health insurance and a full tuition waiver.

University Resources

SIUC’s Morris Library is a major research facility holding memberships in the Association of Research Libraries and the Center of Research Libraries. The general collection numbers 2.8 million volumes, 4.5 million microforms, and over 12,200 current serial subscriptions. It participates in the world’s largest bibliographic network, OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), and ILLINET Online, the state-wide automated catalog, circulation, and interlibrary loan system with records of over 600 libraries. Computing facilities are abundant, impressive, and accessible. SIUC is among the 180 universities that are working in partnership with industry and government to develop Internet2. A major expansion and renovation of the library building began in 2005.

Of special interest for graduate students in political science are the depository collections of state, federal, and United Nations documents, the Ulysses S. Grant Association's editorial project to publish the complete correspondence of President Grant, and the Special Collections Unit which includes the papers of John Dewey, the archives of the Open Court Press, and materials on First Amendment freedoms. University membership in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides access to one of the major data archives in the United States, as well as summer training programs in data analysis at the University of Michigan.

Opportunities for interdisciplinary activity include the Coal Research Center, for students with interests in environmental and energy policy; the School of Law, for those interested in supplementing our regular departmental offerings; the Center for the Study of Crime and Delinquency, for those pursuing concentrations in criminal justice; and first-rate doctoral programs in anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, and sociology for those pursuing cognate fields. The Mileur Endowment brings noted scholars and policy practitioners to the department for varied periods of time, offering students direct exposure to leading ideas and personalities in their fields of interest.

Placement

Graduates presently hold academic appointments in more than sixty American universities and colleges and more than a dozen institutions abroad. Recipients of the Ph.D. since 1990 hold positions at the Illinois State University, University of Alabama, Georgetown University, Seton Hall University, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign, Clarion University, Austin Peay University, Hankuk University (Korea), Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Valdosta State University, Georgia Southern University, Bridgewater State College, Dickinson State University, University of Missouri/Rolla, State University of West Georgia, Loras College, Savannah State University, and Broward Community College, among others. Our graduates are also employed in various governmental agencies at the national, state, and local levels, and in the private sector.