This article offers a theoretical proposal of how political science graduate programs can emphasize teaching in the discipline by creating the subfield of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Currently, these programs neither prepare their students for academic positions where teaching is valued nor participate in a disciplinary trend…

Graduate students in political science come to the discipline interested in exploring important political questions, such as "What causes war?" or "What policies promote economic growth?" However, they typically do not arrive prepared to address those questions using quantitative methods. Graduate methods instructors must…

Despite the size and growth of political science and sociology relative to other disciplines, political science and sociology graduate students have received a declining share of funding for dissertation field research in recent years. Specifically, political science and sociology students are losing out to competitive applicants from…

This article is a poetic retelling of insight gained as a Black woman surviving graduate school. The purpose of this autoethnographic narrative is to document a few pivotal graduate school experiences that illustrate all that it means to become disciplined in and by higher education. Although the violence committed in such a privileged space may…

Public administration, long considered a poor relation of political science in Australian academic circles, has recently been revitalized by a new concentration in public policy studies. This paper summarizes the efforts of 10 Australian universities to develop public policy degree programs, describes University of New England's new program, and…

In 2004, the American Political Science Association (APSA) named a group of scholars to assess the current condition, problems, and options for improvement in political science graduate education in the United States. While the Task Force found that no single structure of graduate training could be appropriate for the wide range of institutions…

Information literacy (IL) was introduced as an important consideration when the American Library Association (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy (1989) touted the "Information Age" as the key catalyst for changes in how citizens view and interact with information. In the mid-1990s, with information technology taking center stage…

Discusses Emory University's (Georgia) Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity (TATTO) program, which consists of five components: Graduate School Course, Departmental Course, Teaching Assistantship, Teaching Associateship, and Dean's Teaching Fellowship. Considers the strengths and problems of TATTO. Lists the aspects of TATTO worth…

The purpose of this guide is to provide students and teachers with a concise summary of approximately 280 graduate programs in political science at doctoral and masters levels. Information for it was collected during September/October of 1981. The bulk of the guide contains descriptions of individual programs arranged alphabetically by the name of…

Reports on major current research questions addressed by those in biopolitics. Notes how this research material can be introduced into graduate and undergraduate courses. Suggests introducing these materials into courses dealing with political behavior, public policy and public administration, political philosophy, international relations, and…

Succinctly summarizes considerations that should be taken into account when choosing a dissertation topic. These include resonance with organizational culture, contribution to the discipline, assistance in a job search, and tractability. Tractability (the ability to produce a finished product) combines the components of scope, clarity of problem,…

Describes the Graduate Mentor Program at the University of California Los Angeles. Discusses the importance of both faculty and graduate student mentors in recruiting talented minority students into graduate study of political science. Emphasizes minority students' lack of knowledge about graduate school, the graduate application process, and the…

Investigates the extent to which political-science graduate students begin engaging in professional activities while in school. Examines the nature and extent of teaching preparation, the extent of institutional encouragement to participate in conferences, and the rate of submission of manuscripts to scholarly journals. Provides tables of…

This bulletin on undergraduate public policy programs includes an article on public policy studies as liberal education by Joel L. Fleishman, and descriptions of the following college programs: public policy analysis at the University of North Carolina, public service studies program at Oberlin College, urban and metropolitan studies major at…

Examines efforts made in recent years to introduce ethics into the curricula of graduate studies programs in public affairs and administration. The questionnaire asked a broad series of questions eliciting both quantitative (program size, organizational structure) and qualitative information (educational goals). Includes statistical and tabular…