Department Facts
Learning Objectives
Values
- Students will value the rights and responsibilities which spring from membership in a democratic political community.
- Students will appreciate the diversity of values and beliefs that constitute different political traditions.
Knowledge
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of basic political institutions and processes that shape both domestic and global politics.
- Students will be able to apply disciplinary knowledge to critically assess important public issues.
- Students will understand theoretical approaches to the study of power, authority, and justice.
Skills
- Students will be able to critically examine political phenomena, evaluate conflicting arguments, assemble and present empirical evidence, make reasoned conclusions from that evidence, and connect these conclusions to theoretical paradigms and/or practical experiences and considerations.
- Students will be prepared to engage in informed, literate conversations, both written and oral, regarding important political issues.
Distinctions
- A knowledge of enduring issues, gained from exploring values such as freedom, justice, equality, order and power.
- An understanding of political behavior.
- An appreciation for U.S. and foreign political institutions and processes.
- An understanding of public policy and world order.
- Familiarity with the great texts of Western political thought.
- An ability to accept or refute methodological assumptions and values.
- Critical thinking skills.
Endorsements
- “When I went to law school, I was well prepared for the experience. I felt prepared and confident because I had learned at Allegheny I could surmount any given challenge.” —Robert A. Marchman ’80, senior vice president, New York Stock Exchange
- “Allegheny has opened a lot of doors for me. If you’re an Allegheny student, you can go into any discipline you want when you graduate and be successful.” — Carrie Reeves ’73, director, Upward Bound, Case Western Reserve University
- Outside evaluation teams have praised the department’s effective and innovative curriculum and teaching. One such team noted that Allegheny’s faculty “appreciate the importance of research and the discovery of knowledge.”
- Several students interning in Washington, D.C. (for example, with the Environmental Protection Agency or the Small Business Administration) have been offered permanent employment “on the spot.”
- Political science faculty include a winner of the Thoburn Education Foundation Award for Innovative Teaching, one of eleven Allegheny faculty members to be so honored.
- Each year, a junior or senior attends conferences held by the Center for Study of the Presidency and the Air Force Academy Assembly.
- Allegheny political science majors applying to graduate and professional school have a 90 percent acceptance rate.
- Since 1929, the department has ranked in the top 4 percent among private undergraduate institutions in production of eventual Ph.D.s.
