DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
Academic Planning Self Study 2011
Graham K. Wilson, Chair
STEP I. THE CURRICULAR CONTEXT
A. Degrees and Minors offered by your program, individually or
jointly
1. List all undergraduate and graduate degrees offered by your
program (i.e. BA majors, Masters degrees, doctoral degrees) and all
joint degrees for which your program is responsible.
BA in PO (CAS students), BA/MA in PO, BA in PO as part of
BUCOP (CAS/COM/SMG), MA in PO, PhD in PO.
2. List all undergraduate minors offered by your program.
Minor in PO (CAS); minor in PO (other undergraduate units)
(NOTE: on the MA and the BA-MA)
The Political Science Department graduate program is not currently
admitting students to its MA program. This might change if rumored
changes in University policy on tuition take effect. We have had some
initial discussions about what the MA might look like if reactivated
and it is likely that one option would be for us to take advantage of
the skills of recent faculty hires in campaigns, elections and public
opinion this offering a more professionally orientated degree than in
the past. Such a focus would insure no overlap with the Department
of International Relations’ offerings. However, until University policy
is clarified, this remains highly speculative. The Department does in
theory already offer an MA for Professionals for individuals who are
employed in a professional career in a related social science or
enrolled in a related social science, legal, or public affairs program.
Students must successfully complete eight courses, including two
graduate core courses and write a policy paper under the supervision
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of a faculty member. However, this MA has also not been active in
recent years.
The BA/MA program is intended for outstanding students who have
completed four political science courses, including a 500 level course
or above with a GPA of 3.7 or above in these courses and an overall
GPA of 3.5 who wish to pursue intensive study in a specialized area of
political and social science beyond the level of the BA. Students must
apply for admission into this program before March 1 of their junior
year. The requirements for the BA/MA degree are the same as the
Master’s Program for Professionals except that written
comprehensive examinations in a major field, minor field and
subfield replace the policy paper.
We should also note that our majors can now apply for admission to
an Honors (in the major) program. An outstanding academic record
in both political science courses and in the overall GPA is required.
Students must take PO 502 (a research methods course), write and
defend a substantial thesis as well as engage in co-curricular activities
giving experience of practical politics such as being an intern or
working on a campaign of the student’s choice. Students are
required to reflect on the relationship between their experiences and
political science literatures.
A Ph.D. is offered to students with either a BA or MA in political
science or the equivalent. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program
with a BA degree are required to complete sixteen graduate-level
courses. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program with an MA degree
are required to complete between eight and twelve graduate level
courses, depending on how closely their prior work parallels the
courses required for a Ph.D. in Political Science. Students entering
the program must develop a minimum level of competence in three
of the five sub-fields of Political Science.
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Students entering the program with a BA must take three of the five
core courses. For those students entering the program with an MA,
one or more of these Core Courses may be replaced, subject to the
approval of the Director of Graduate Studies. In such cases,
however, post-MA candidates must take a total of eight to twelve
courses. All students enrolled in the Ph.D. program must fulfill a
methodology requirement by taking two qualitative and quantitative
methods classes. (Degree requirements for all PhD’s include course
work, qualifying examinations in a major field, minor field and
subfield, proposal defense and dissertation defense).
B. Undergraduate majors offered by other departments and
programs that depend on coursework in your program
1. Undergraduate Majors in CAS: Using the listing of BA programs
on pp. 64-65 of the 2007/2008 Undergraduate Bulletin to
ensure completeness, list all CAS majors other than those
administered individually or jointly in your department whose
requirements (as spelled out in departmental sections of the
bulletin) mean that students in those programs need to take
coursework in your department.
As a result of the comprehensive course audit conducted with
the Department of International Relations and subsequent
cross listing of courses, many PO courses now are cross listed
with them and vice versa.
East Asian Interdisciplinary Studies
American Studies
Environmental Analysis and Policy
Joint concentration in Philosophy and Political Science (offered
and administered by CAS/PH)
Latin American Interdisciplinary Studies
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Russian and Eastern European Interdisciplinary Studies
(the interdisciplinary majors, to varying degrees, list PO courses
among their components, rather than absolutely requiring
them—note that many of these will be cross-listed IR/PO
courses.)
2. Undergraduate majors and degrees outside CAS: Using the list of
BU Schools and Colleges on page 4 of the current Undergraduate
Bulletin, list all non-CAS undergraduate degree programs whose
requirements (as stated in the Bulletin) include coursework in your
department.
None require specific PO coursework. Several specify PO
courses in lists of those acceptable for fulfilling
“distribution/depth” requirements. ENG lists the 200-level core
courses; SED specifies “at least three” courses in the “social or
behavioral sciences;” COM (outside BUCOP arrangements)
notes “two courses in the social sciences,” and offers a BS with
a concentration in “politics.”
Undergraduate minors: Using the listing of CAS-approved
minors on pp. 66-67 of the Bulletin, list all (CAS and other)
minors whose requirements can be fulfilled by required or
elective coursework in your department.
It is important to note that a joint comprehensive course audit
conducted in 2010 with the Department of International
Relations resulted in a considerable increase in cross listing of
undergraduate courses between the departments. This
provides a substantial increase in opportunities for majors in
both Departments. We await with interest the implications of
this for our enrollments.
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Political Science
African Studies
African-American Studies
American Studies
East Asian Interdisciplinary Studies
International Relations
Latin American Interdisciplinary Studies
Russian and Eastern European Interdisciplinary Studies
Women’s Studies
C. Graduate programs offered by other departments and
schools that depend on coursework in your program
1. GRS Master’s Programs outside your department. Using the chart
on pp. 2-3 of the 2007/2008 Graduate Bulletin, list all Master’s degree
programs whose requirements (as spelled out in departmental
sections of the bulletin) include coursework in your department.
Several tracks within IR’s MA programs include 500+ level
courses; none are required, as such.
2. GRS Doctoral Programs. Using the chart on pp. 2-3 of the
2007/2008 Graduate Bulletin, list all doctoral programs whose
requirements (as spelled out in departmental sections of the bulletin)
include coursework in your department.
None
3. Non-GRS Graduate Degrees. Using the list of Schools and
Colleges on page 4 of the Undergraduate Bulletin, list any non-GRS
graduate programs whose requirements include coursework in your
department
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None
D. College Requirements and Programs: Writing, Foreign
Language, Math, General Education (Core Curriculum, and
Divisional Studies, including Honors)
In general, all departments and programs have responsibilities for
selected aspects of the CAS curriculum that go beyond the major.
Describe your department’s typical role in any of the following in
which it has participated. (In what ways has your department
contributed? To what extent)? For any aspect in which your
department (including through individual faculty) has not played a
recent role, enter “None.”
1. Core Curriculum
Prof. Swanson has, from time to time, offered the Core social
science (CC 203) course.
2. College Honors Program
Professor Kriner has taken on responsibility for a quantitative
reasoning course within the Honors College.
As noted above, we have created an Honors in the Major
program and have admitted the first students. As it includes a
requirement for honors students to take a research design
course (PO 502) this course therefore needs to be offered
annually.
3.
Teaching seminars toward fulfillment of the College Writing
requirement
PO graduate students regularly serve as Writing Fellows.
4. Implementation of the foreign language requirement
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None
5. Offering Divisional Studies courses that also serve as gateways to
your major(s)
Our subfield “core” courses (211, 241, 251, 271 [provided to PO
by the IR dept], 291) are all listed.
6. Offering Divisional Studies courses that do not also count toward
majors in your department or division
None
7. Offering selected courses that are not important for fulfilling
requirements for your major(s) or minor(s), but which are in very high
demand by students because of their interests.
RE: “very high demand.” Theoretically, one COULD do a PO
major while avoiding American politics—both the 211 core
course and the follow-on 3- and 500-level courses—but
“American” is very popular, and our PO majors and minors
have to compete with students from other colleges to get into
American courses, particularly our law related courses such as
PO 315, PO 513 and PO 514.
8. Any other aspects of the CAS curriculum you want to mention
None
STEP II. ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC COURSE NEEDS
Parts A & B: OBLIGATIONS TOWARD UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE
EDUCTION:
EACH SEMESTER:
Undergraduate
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PO 271—Introduction to IR—needs to be offered each semester as it is the
introductory course required for the numerous majors and is also a very
popular choice for Political Science majors who must take at least three of
our five introductory courses. IR, faculty generally alternate in teaching it,
on the IR budget; the TFs for 271 are supplied by PO out of its resources.
We believe that the Political Science International Relations specialist we
are hiring this year should participate in teaching this course as well as
more advanced courses (including at the graduate level) on contemporary
approaches to the study of International Relations a subfield of Political
Science) should also ( this case as in common usage meaning a subfield of
political science.)
*PO 211—Introduction to American Politics. This course can attract a
substantial number of students (meaning over one hundred) every
semester. Our current thinking is that it would be better to offer the course
once a year enrolling over two hundred students and using the resources
saved to offer another course. However, we do make willingness to teach
this course a requirement in all hiring in the American politics field and we
now have a team of people able and willing to teach it.
Graduate---none
ONCE A YEAR:
Undergraduate
PO 211: Intro to American Politics
PO 241 Intro to Public Policy, (if not offered each semester)
PO 251 Intro to Comparative Politics
Enrollments in this course have been substantial. It was long taught by
Professor Perez, more recently by Professor Wilson and (for the last two
years) by Professor Boas. While not all faculty in the Comparative section of
the department realize that they share the obligation to teach the course,
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we are making progress and another recent addition to the department,
Professor Longman, has made clear his willingness to teach it.
PO291: Intro to Political Theory.
There is considerable demand for these courses from students across the
College and University who will major in other subjects. However, we
should also note that as our own majors are required to take at least three
of our introductory courses, this is close to the minimum possible number
of such courses that we should offer.
Beyond these, the following are courses whose enrollments over the last
few years indicate sustained demand—roughly 20/+. The list encompasses
lecture courses, as well as seminars whose enrollment limit is 20: they are
labeled by subfield.
300: Selected Topics in American Politics, American
302: Elections Around the World: This exciting offering had been
developed by our new colleague, Professor Boas and we anticipate that it
will build a large enrollment.
315: Judicial Process A: Will be offered regularly by our recent hire,
Professor Glick.
317: Presidential Leadership, A
318: US Political Parties, A
324: US Media and Politics: This course used to be given a lower priority but
it is central to the teaching interests of one of our new hires, Professor
Christenson. We expect his course to have great appeal to students and this
course in particular draws from both within CAS and from other schools.
We plan to allocate one of our TFs to the course .
341: Comparative Public Policy, [Pub pol]
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351: Politics of Race and Ethnicity, C[omp] This might well be used by the
Americanist we are hiring this year.
352: North-South Relations, C (meets with IR 395)
361: European Politics, C
364: Politics of Post Communist Russia, C (Meets with IR 364)
366: US Foreign Relations, IR (meets with HI 366)
367: Intro to Latin American Politics and International Relations, C/IR
(Meets with IR 367)
369: China: From Revolution to Reform, C (meets with IR 370)
372: Conceptual Foundations of International Relations, IR (meets with IR
360)
375: Russian/Soviet Foreign Policy (meets with IR 375)
395: The European Enlightenment, T[heory] (meets with HI 314)
502: Needed annually by our honors students.
509: Latin American Political Parties: This is offered by our new colleague,
Professor Boas and we anticipate that it will attract many students.
510: Separation of Powers, A
512: Informal Political Processes, A
513: American Constitutional Law, offered by our new hire, Professor GLick
514: Judiciary and Civil Liberties, A
518: American Politics and Use of Force, A
544: Public Opinion and Interest Groups, A
548: Politics of Education, P
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577: Negotiation and World Affairs, IR
625: Political Movements in America, A
674: US as a World Power, IR
391: Classical Theory, T*
392: Modern Theory, T*
** These two political theory courses constitute a special category—
currently, Prof. Swanson offers them in alternating years—they are
required for the joint concentration in philosophy and political science
(overseen by PH), and thus must be offered within a major “cycle.” Given
her other teaching obligations, Prof. Swanson cannot offer both each year,
but were we able to do so, enrollments would justify offering them
annually.
By shifting enrollment-classification criteria up or down a bit around the 20student notch, this list could be lengthened or shortened—the point is that
these courses do combine “demand” in numerical terms with a necessary
spread across the subfields.
Graduate:
There are five substantive courses that we must offer each year to make it
possible for our students to comply with the requirements for the Ph.D.
These are:
GRS PO 711: Approaches to the Study of American Politics
PO 741: Public Policy Analysis
PO751: Approaches to the Study of Comparative Politics
PO 771: Approaches to the Study of International Relations
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PO 791: Approaches to the Study of Political Theory: but we believe we can
“get by” teaching it less often. Ideally we should build a partnership with
Philosophy to help here.
We also need to teach two required methods courses, PO 840 and 841.
Many of our faculty would like to see us offer annually a further methods
course, PO 843 currently being offered by Professor Christenson.
The courses necessarily have a small enrollment which we may be able to
increase somewhat by expanding the size of the BA/MA program (its
students are required to take some graduate level courses). The
“opportunity costs” of offering PO 843 annually have caused us to decide to
offer it bi-annually; the trade off is between a professor teaching an
handful of graduate students each year or a larger number of
undergraduates. We are actively engaged in discussion on collaboration
with other social science departments on methods teaching and as noted
elsewhere have used a Sociology course to cover for Professor Gerring’s
leave. We hope that discussions coordinated by the College on this topic
will progress. However, the seven other courses are essential to
maintaining an adequate Ph.D. program.
ONCE EVERY TWO YEARS:
We noted earlier that the course audit conducted jointly by International
Relations and Political Science had increased considerably the number of
cross listed courses and that we are not sure what the implications of this
for student numbers will be.
Certain 300 and 500 level courses already generate more student numbers
than others —e.g., post-Soviet/Russian/Eurasian courses offered by Connor
(100% on the PO budget), China-related offered by Fewsmith, and Latin
American by Palmer (both 100% on the IR budget) because they are crosslisted between PO and IR.
Political Science Department
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We list below 300-5/600 level courses that have
---over the last few years generally gathered fewer than 20
enrollees (not including cross-listed PO-IR courses whose two lists add up
to 20), and/or
---been offered less than annually
---are of relatively small enrollment and taught typically by
department members whose retirement intentions have been announced,
or whose retirements might be reasonably anticipated over the next five
years
324: US Media and Politics, A: This course has been moved to the “every
year” category for the reasons noted above.
325: Judicial Politics, A: We anticipate this course being offered regularly by
Professor Glick.
363: Soviet Politics, 1917-1991 (meets with IR 363)
365: Pacific Challenge, C (meets with IR 275)
502: Political Analysis, M[methodology]: If the Honors proposal we are
discussing is adopted this would be taught annually, Professor Christenson
is eager to add it to his repertoire.
504: Political and Cultural Foundations of Human Development, IR
521: Democratic Governance, C
523: Global Justice, C
551: Comparative Political Development, C
559: Reckoning With the Past: Reparations and Justice in a Comparative
Perspective, C
(meets with AA 559)
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564: From Slavery to Freedom: Abolition in a Comparative Perspective, C
(meets with AA 564)
565: Government and Politics of Contemporary Africa, C
566: Political Systems of Southern Africa, C
573: Islam in Middle East Politics, IR (meets with IR 509)
579: Japan in International Politics, IR (meets with IR 579)
581: National Development and International Politics, C
586: Nationalism in Post-Soviet Eurasia, IR
599: Freedom, T
621: Political Economy of Advanced Industrialized Societies, C
657: Problems in Comparative Analysis, C
661: Continental Western European Governments, C
676: Political Biography, IR
691: Seminar in Political Philosophy, T
693: Enlightenment and Its Critics, T (meets with HI 514)
STEP III. PLANNING FOR EFFECTIVE, EFFFICENT, EQUITABLE,
and SUSTAINABLE COURSE STAFFING
The grid entitled Projected Schedule and Staffing, 2011-2013 lays out our
“reading” of future staffing over the next two academic years.
For the next three years:
Undergraduate Core Courses:
PO 271-- will be offered every semester, alternating between faculty in the
Department of International Relations and the new hire we are making this
Political Science Department
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year. We may seek to hire in this area and would expect that if we did so,
the successful candidate would teach this course as well as more
advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.
PO 211. This course has been taught by Professor Reeves for three years at
his own request. It is being taught this year by Professor Wilson. We make
willingness to teach this course a requirement for all new hires in American
politics and so our recent new hire (Professor Christenson) and Glick are
willing to teach it. We anticipate that this will also be true of the
Americanist we are hiring this year. As we discuss below, we believe that
when possible a number of professors in the field should take their turn in
offering a large introductory course such as this rather than it being viewed
as the responsibility (and ultimately perhaps the burden) for a single
colleague.
PO 241—will be offered every year, by Professor Rossell
PO 251—will be offered every year: We believe that the course should not
be dependent on a single professor’s willingness to teach it as in the past
with Professor Perez teaching it for many years but that it should alternate
amongst a number of professors in the Comparative field. Professor
Wilson taught the course in 2009 and it was taken over by Professor Boas
2010. We are still developing awareness in the Comparative field that
everyone has a responsibility for this course.
PO 291---will be offered every year, either alternating between Professors.
Schmidt and Swanson, as generally in the past
Graduate Core Seminars (ALL to be offered annually)
PO 711—Professor Kriner the “primary,” may share with Professors
Reeves, Christenson, and Wilson
PO 741— see 241, above, for arrangements
PO 751---This is being taught at present by Professor Martina but was
previously taught by Professor Gerring (currently o n leave.) These two
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professors with the addition of Professors Boas and Perez provide good
coverage for this course.
PO 771—Professor Crawford expressed interest in teaching this course but
may be on leave. Our new hire in international relations should be able to
cover this course.
PO 791—Prof. Swanson will handle this for the next several years. We
expect there to be considerable changes in our course offerings in the next
few years.
The hires we anticipate making this year in American and politics and
international relations would probably use existing course number. In the
longer term, the people hired would contribute to the teaching of PO 211,
PO 217 and PO 723 and PO 771. It is, common however, for new hires to
receive a one course teaching release.
As we noted above, the course audit conducted with IR and the subsequent
increase in cross listed courses may have a large impact. Our majors (and
those in IR) will have many more opportunities; courses that might have
had insufficient enrollment in the past may become viable and others overenrolled. We shall have to monitor the results of this very desirable
development and adapt to them.
There is a strong feeling among many of the faculty that we should be
offering more methods
training at the graduate and possibly undergraduate level. While there is
indeed a good case to be made for this, we must also bear in mind the
opportunity costs of committing faculty to such methods courses which
generally have a small enrollment even though we have tried to recruit
students from other departments. A faculty member teaching an advanced
methods course to six graduate students could instead be teaching
undergraduates. We hope that discussions about methods training across
the social science department will advance and we have younger colleagues
with proven skill in teaching such courses who could also service other
departments’ needs. In addition to be active an active participant in these
discussions we have already taken concrete steps such as encouraging our
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graduate students to take a Sociology Department qualitative methods
course to replace the course offered by Professor Gerring (currently on
leave.)
Projected Schedule and Staffing, 2011-2013
Political Science Department
Professor
Bustin
S 12
PO
****
271
PO
PO
251
302
PO
PO
841
509
Retired Retired
Christenson
PO
324
Berger
Boas
Clemens
Connor
Corgan
Crawford
Fewsmith
Gendzier
F 11
PO
300
PO
843
Retired Retired
Sab
Sab
Sab
Sab
PO
271
*****
PO
PO
559
564
PO
PO 9** 796
PO
PO
369
558
PO
578
PrePO
Retire 551
Political Science Department
F 12
S 13
F 13
***
PO 271
****
PO 251
PO302
PO 251
PO841
Retired
PO 509
Retired
PO 5**
Retired
PO 502
PO 324
PO 610
PO 610
Retired
PO 363
PO375
PO 843
Retired
PO 364
PO 6**
PO 8**
Retired
PO 363
SO 324
*****
PO 271
PO 271
PO 559
PO 796
PO 559
PO 670
PO 6**
PO 670
PO 369
PO 558
PO 369
PO 578
PO 578
Retired? Retired? Retired
18
Gendzier
Gerring
New Hire
Kriner
Longman
Martin
Mayers
Palmer
Perez
Reeves
Rossell
PreRetire
PO
521
PO
840
PO
560
PO
523
PO
751
PO
771
PO
574
PO
*****
372
PO
PO
317
518
PO
PO 9** 510
PO
PO
565
760
PO
PO
742
341
PO
366
HI 200
PO
767
PO
568
PO
361
PO
853
PO
211
PO
711
PO
548
PO
741
Political Science Department
Retired? Retired? Retired
PO 521
PO 523
PO 502
PO 840
PO 751
PO 840
PO 771
PO 574
PO 771
*****
PO 372
*****
PO 317
HCS
PO 317
PO 518
PO 510
PO 711
PO 760
PO 587
PO 760
PO 742
PO 343
PO 341
PO 621
PO 318
PO 843
PO 676
PO 759
PO 366
PO 674
Retired
Retired
PO 361
PO 361
PO 661
PO 854
PO 561
PO 361
PO 211
PO 300
PO 211
PO 526
PO 532
PO 526
PO 548
PO 241
PO 548
PO 741
PO 641
PO 641
PO
674
PO 366
HI 200 PO 674
PO
787
Retired
PO
661
PO
854
PO
211
PO
526
PO
241
PO
641
19
Schmidt
Silverstein
Swanson
Wilson
Glick
Sab
Retired
PO
599
PO
691
PO
311
Sab
Retired
PO
291
PO
791
PO
544
PO
513
PO
325
PO
315
PO
349
PO 395
Retired
*****
Retired
PO 395
Retired
PO 391
PO 392
PO 391
PO 691
PO 791
PO 691
PO 544
PO 537
PO522
PO 311
PO 211
PO 315
PO 513
PO 513
PO 514
PO 325
Explanatory notes to the “GRID” (2010)
1. Retirements: Professors Zisk and Bustin retired and Professor Clemens
retired from teaching. Both Professors Palmer and Silverstein will
retire, by current arrangements, 8/31/2012. Professor Gendzier is also
teaching a final sequence of courses.
2. Professor Boas designed two new courses, 302 and 509, on campaigns
and elections in comparative/world perspective, and on elections and
political competition in Latin America. As noted above, he also took
over the Introduction to Comparative Politics course, PO251 a.nd the
graduate methods curse (PO841) in the absence of Professor Gerring
3. Professor Christenson has played a major role in teaching methods at
the graduate and undergraduate levels. He also teaches courses in the
that will attract a considerable undergraduate enrollment.
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STEP IV 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY/ UPDATES / TEN-YEAR PLANNING
1. UPDATES
Professors Bustin and Clemens retired or retired from teaching.
Professor Gendzier is in the process of retiring, as is Professor
Silverstein.
Professor David Glick joined the department in July 2011.
Professor Tim Longman received tenure.
We are expecting to bring in candidates for the American politics and
International Relations positions in November.
2. GOALS AND PLANNING
These are exciting times in Political Science at Boston University – both for
the Department and for the discipline. A sequence of highly successful hires
at the assistant professor level has brought new energy, modern
approaches to the discipline and a greatly enhanced spirit of collegiality to
the department. Assuming that we are able to recruit similarly able and
collegial people in our assistant professor searches this year, thanks to the
support of the College, the Department will have been transformed in a
very brief period.
The revived Department is at the core of the Graduate Faculty of Political
Science (GFPS) that brings together political scientists from several CAS
departments and the Law School. The GFPS makes clearer to our current
students, potential students and the international political science
discipline that BU is a major player in political science. Not many
departments in the USA match or exceed the strength of the GFPS in
numbers or quality.
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At the undergraduate level, the recently completed joint course audit with
the Department of International Relations has opened many new
opportunities for majors in both departments. The Department’s new
honors program offers very challenging and varied opportunities to our
very best students.
Goals
The Department’s first challenge is to consolidate these gains.
First, we need to hire as well this year as in the recent past.
Second, we must foster the success of our current assistant professors and
support their efforts to build collegiality, for example in informal
faculty/graduate student workshops.
Third, the GFPS must become a reality. The first meeting of the GFPS is
scheduled for October and should start the process of turning what is an
impressive group on paper into an organic institution.
Fourth, we need to continue to build intra departmental structures for
planning courses and coordinating our course offerings
Future Goals
The first goal must be to retain high quality and productive faculty in the
face of competition for their services from other universities. We firmly
believe that in this instance, preemption is better than defense; we – the
University and College – must do everything possible to make it less likely
that outstanding scholars will seek outside offers.
Second, we must continue to bring fresh blood into the Department
avoiding the feelings of stagnation and decline that characterized it in the
past. We anticipate on the basis of past assurances from the College that
we shall be allowed to recruit again in 2012-13. This would be the final
replacement hire arising from the sequence of retirements (Silverstein,
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Gendzier, Bustin, Clemens) negotiated by the College. Looking further down
the road, it is reasonable to anticipate that two further retirements (Wilson
and Connors) will take effect by 2017. There should therefore be the
possibility of continued hiring in the medium term.
The Department will need to discuss this year how far it has come in
fulfilling its strategic plan goal of building the American politics field. A
substantial group (Glick, Christenson, Reeves, Kriner plus pasts of Wilson
and Martin) now exists. There is certainly scope for adding to this group, for
example by hiring an expert on Congress or on the policymaking process.
With the addition of a new hire this year, it is possible that other needs
might be given top priority. Some would argue that a new Comparativist is
needed although the presence of several Comparativists in the GFPS who
are based in the Department of International Relations should be taken into
account. It is unclear whether modest student enrollments in political
theory courses is a result of limited interest in that field in general or
whether a new hire might attract larger numbers than do current faculty.
Closer analysis of national trends might help.
Third, if the University revises its policies on funding graduate students, we
should take advantages of the changes to make our Ph.D. program more
competitive in attracting the best applicants. The minimum industry
standard is five years of guaranteed funding. Either through University
awards or through revenue generated through a revived MA program, we
need to be able to offer the same as other Ph.D. programs. Moreover, we
need to be able to offer a reasonable number of packages every year. We
cannot build a stronger program fluctuating between years of minimally
sufficient numbers of five year packages and years of manifestly inadequate
(i.e. one or two.) With a well structured Ph.D. program and the GPFPS in
place, we have done our part; we now await the University’s new policy on
funding graduate students.
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In order to support all our activities better, we need to continue the long
process of building alumni support and gifts. We have taken the obvious
initial steps; we will attempt to progress as rapidly as is possible/
In conclusion, the central missions of the Department remain unchanged.
They are:
1. As part of its commitment to liberal arts and civic education, to
provide large introductory courses for the College and University
enrolling many students who will major in other disciplines often
outside CAS.
2. To provide an adequate range of courses for students in our very large
major.
3. To maintain an adequate number and range of courses for our Ph.D.
students and good supervision for dissertators.
4. To advance knowledge in our discipline through research.
FY 2011 Supplemental Budget Requests
If, and only if Professors Mayers, Martin and Crawford are successful in
their quests for grants, and therefore on Leave of Absence, we would not
offer most of their courses but would need a lecturers for PO 343
(Foundations of American Public Policy.) We are advised that Professor
Boas’s application to the Humanities Foundation is not treated a leave
request. However, if successful, we would have to re-assign two of his
courses (PO 251 Introduction to Comparative Politics) and PO 841
Quantitative Methods) which are essential and seek a lecturer for his Latin
American politics course PO 509, Latin American Political Parties.
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Supplementary Budget Requests
We have three needs relating to physical plant.
1. While we have had a great improvement in common areas such as
hallways and in office for new faculty, we have a desperate need to
improve conditions for longer serving and often senior faculty. The
welcome policy of renovating offices for new, generally junior faculty
necessarily results in more senior faculty using offices that are clearly
inferior to those of new assistant professors, a situation that is clearly
not good for morale. After surveying offices and consulting faculty,
we have identified two that need urgent attention. We are advised
that the cost of renovating each is $12,000 as estimated by CAS.
2. Professor Gerring needs a decent desk. We are advised that new
furniture for his office would cost $3,000.
3. We need a modern seminar room that we use not only for teaching
but for special events including job interviews. Most departments
have adequate facilities for such events but we do not and have to
ask other units such as African Studies if we can borrow their
facilities. This scarcely makes a good impression on job candidates.
Such a facility should include proper whiteboards and an overhead
projector consistent with twentieth century IT expectations. The
blackboards on wheels should be removed as a workplace hazard.
We are advised that the cost of this work would be $3,000.
4. Modest investments in furniture are needed to complete the
wonderful improvements in the areas used by graduate students.
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While we – and the graduate students – are deeply grateful for the
improvements made, they have the unintended effect of casting into
sharp relief the filthy furniture carried over from the previous room.
We are advised that the cost of the furniture required would be
$5,000.
While all of these requests are important and urgent, as items (3)
and 4) involve public spaces, we would give them the highest priority.
5. While we have planned on using colleague coverage for most of the
faculty leave/sabbatical requests we need to hire lectures for PO 343
and if Professor Boas receives a Humanities Fellowship, PO 509. We
anticipate being able to hire form within the ranks of our own
graduate students.
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