This is the page for the University of Kentucky Department of Political Science.
The Department was founded in 1923. It established a masters program shortly thereafter and the first Ph.D. was awarded in the late 1930s. Dr. Amry Vandenbosch, a well known scholar in international relations and one of the drafters of the United Nations Charter in 1945, served as Head of the Department from 1931 until 1957.
As political science became more quantitative in the 1960s, the Department shifted its emphasis. This began in 1963 when Dr. S. Sidney Ulmer, a renowned scholar in judicial behavior, was recruited as Chair. Professors such as Malcolm Jewell, Dean Jaros, Bradley Canon and William Lyons soon established a pattern of producing highly visible and highly influential scholarship, one that continued into the 1980s and 1990s through the work of researchers such as Lee Sigelman, William Lowery, Pamela Conover, Stanley Feldman, and Bill Berry. Several faculty members became leaders in the profession, serving as editors of major journals, presidents of regional associations or chairs of American Political Science Association sections. It is a tradition that has carried through to the present, despite a shrinking faculty size and a growing workload, as the prominent careers of long-serving professors such as Mark Peffley, Karen Mingst, and Don Gross can attest.
Over the last 40 years, the graduate program also has produced its share of influential politicial scientists, including Micheal Giles, Jim Garand, Todd Shields, Kirby Goidel, Neal Woods and Laura Neack. The undergraduate program, meanwhile, has increased considerably in size over time; more than 500 declared majors has now become the norm. These students regularly go on to important careers not only in government, politics, and policy, but also in law, business, medicine, and other occupations.
The mission of the Department of Political Science is to communicate the knowledge of political science as a scholarly discipline through education of undergraduate and graduate students in the core principles and specialties of political science, to develop new knowledge in the field through critical research and scholastic inquiry, and to apply the knowledge of politcal science to serve the needs of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond.
What skills does studying political science develop?
- gather information and opinions through a variety of means and synthesize the findings into a coherent and persuasive argument
- strong written and oral communication skills
- theoretical and practical approaches to political and government functions
- effectively encounter criticism and opposing views
- critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to solve problems
Career Opportunities
With a strong foundation in the liberal arts, political science majors are well suited for a variety of careers. Occupational opportunities include government administration, politics and campaigns, public policy, non-profit organizations, international relations, business and journalism. Students are also prepared to pursue graduate programs in area studies, business, law or diplomacy. Although this list is not inclusive, political science majors can be found in the following careers:
- public administration
- international affairs specialist
- journalism
- law enforcement
- teacher/professor
- lawyer or judge
- legislative staff member
- lobbyist
- political analyst
- politician
- public policy researcher
- campaign management
- news correspondent
- sales and marketing
- social service worker
- speech writer
- human relations
- urban and regional planner
- non-profit organizations
