Department of Political Science: Tufts University

About the Department

Excellence in Teaching

Faculty in the Department teach in four subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Within the American subfield, our courses cover political institutions, public policy, mass political behavior and public opinion, and constitutional law. Policy specializations include environment, health care, immigration and language, and welfare. Our Comparative politics curriculum spans the globe. We offer courses on regional politics in Africa, East Asia, Latin America, Western Europe, and the Middle East, as well as courses that cross regional boundaries and emphasize general themes such as democratization, political economy, and state building. Our political theorists teach both ancient and modern political thought, including specialized courses on specific philosophers such as Machiavelli, Montesquieu, and Nietzsche. In these classrooms, students also face the enduring questions of political philosophy, questions relating to liberty and equality, justice, democracy, power, and morality. In the International Relations subfield, our offerings cover national security policy, American foreign policy, international political economy, international law and organizations, and the relationship of domestic to foreign policy. We also teach courses on regional issues of international relations, in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, in particular.

Course Overview

During any one student's four years at Tufts there will numerous courses offered in the Department of Political Science. Even so, undergraduates can go outside of the Department to some selected Tufts programs and receive political science credit for approved courses. Advanced students can enroll with the instructor's permission in graduate courses at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as in the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program. A limited number of Political Science majors are accepted into a five year BA-MA program with the Fletcher School. Students apply during their junior year. Course work extends, of course, beyond our campus through the Tufts-in-Washington program and approved study abroad programs.

Awards

The Political Organizations and Parties of APSA have selected Professor Jeffrey Berry for the 2008 Samuel J. Eldersveld Career Achievement Award. Professor Berry's contributions have helped to shape research on political organizations and his students have had the honor to learn from his breadth of experience. In addition, the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section of the American Political Science Association has selected Associate Professor Deborah Schildkraut to receive the Best Paper Award for the best paper delivered on a section-sponsored panel at the 2008 Annual Meetings of the APSA for her paper, "Immigrant Resentment: When the Work Ethic Backfires".

Over the years the University and the profession have recognized the high quality of instruction in the Department with many awards. Professor Robert Devigne and Associate Professor Malik Mufti won the prestigious Leiber Award for Distinguished Teaching and Advising, Dean James Glaser was awarded the Lerman-Neubauer Prize for Intellectual Mentorship, and Professor Robert Devigne, Associate Professor Consuelo Cruz, and Associate Professor Elizabeth Remick were awarded the UNITE Award for superior teaching by junior faculty. In addition, Professor Kent Portney received the American Political Science Association's 1997 Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovative Teaching in Political Science, as well as an American Political Science Association award for Best Instructional Software.

The quality of instruction offers students exposure to a dedicated, diverse, and accomplished faculty. Research and Scholarship >

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