Advising and Resources
Advising in Political Science
Academic advising for undergraduate students in the Department of Political Science is coordinated by the POLS Academic Advisor.
All incoming first-year and transfer students are assigned to the POLS academic advisor. All rising juniors and seniors are also assigned a faculty advisor. Regardless of class level or assigned advisor, all students are welcome to make an appointment with the POLS academic advisor via the Nexus scheduling app.
Fall 2021 Advising
Students will have the option of conducting advising appointments either in-person or virtually using Webex. Students can choose either option when they schedule 30-minute advising appointments using Nexus. The POLS advisor will also be available for walk-ins during certain hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
For quick questions regarding add/drop, schedule adjustments, and signatures, please email jessamy.hoffmann@uconn.edu.
POLS Academic Advisor
Jessamy Hoffmann
Office Location: Oak 409B
jessamy.hoffmann@uconn.edu
Contact Regarding:
- General Education and major requirements
- Course planning and registration
- Transfer credit re-evaluations
- Education Abroad course alignment
- Academic support and educational opportunities
- Career and graduate school plans
- Crime and Justice Minor questions
- Honors Advising
POLS Advising Resources
Important Dates
Fall 2021
- Monday, August 30 - Fall semester begins
- Monday, September 6 - Labor Day, no classes
- Monday, September 13 - Last day to add/drop/swap
- Monday, September 20 - Last day to make up incomplete or absence grades
- Friday, September 24 - Deadline for seniors to apply for Fall '21 graduation and submit final plan of study
- Monday, September 27 - Last day to request late add/drop
- Monday, October 25 - Registration for winter and spring courses begins
- Monday, November 15 - Last day to withdraw from a course & last day to change courses on P/F to letter grade, & last day to place courses on P/F
- Sunday, November 21-Saturday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Break
- Friday, December 10 - Last day of classes
- Saturday, December 11-Sunday, December 12 - Reading Days
- Monday, December 13-Wednesday, December 15 - Final exams
- Thursday, December 16 - Reading Day
- Friday, December 17-Sunday, December 19 - Final exams
Internships
The Department offers several internship opportunities where students can get hands-on experience in politics and government at the local, state, and national levels. Find out more about specific programs and requirements on our Internships, Research, and Clubs page.
POLS 2998 courses will count towards the major and minor and will meet subdivisions as listed below. POLS 2998 courses will not show in the subdivisions assigned on your advisement report. Please keep track of the subdivisions on your plan of study.
Fall 2021
| Instructor | Title | Description | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berghel | Repression in a Digital Age (W course) | The spread and use of digital age technologies are impacting political cultures, civil societies, and state-society relations in every region of the world. This class will review the history of these technologies and the human and machine networks that developed alongside them. We will explore the debates about its potential for democratization as well as the evolution of these tools of interstate war, commerce, communication, and entertainment into 21st century instruments of state repression. We will draw upon insights from the literature on social psychology, contentious politics, and political regimes to help us investigate the variation in digital authoritarianism and identify patterns of state behavior as they relate to regime durability. Topics include mass mobilization, e-governance, the Arab Spring, mass surveillance, censorship, disinformation, and artificial intelligence. | Comparative Politics |
| Best | The 2020 Presidential Election | This course examines the 2020 presidential election, investigating how the race unfolded and what were the key factors shaping its outcome. It explores how Biden successfully won the Democratic nomination, topping 28 other candidates in the race, as well as defeated Trump in the general election. It focuses on the issues, groups, and tactics instrumental to the result. | American Politics |
| Evers | International Security (W course) | Theory and practice of international security. Topics include why groups use terrorism, why states go to war, the emergence of humanitarian intervention, and the role of technology ranging from nuclear weapons to computer viruses. | International Relations (Stamford) |
| Gercek | Social Contract Theory and its Critics (W course) | Social contract theory is a tradition in Western political thought according to which a legitimate political authority rests on individuals' mutual agreement. This course explores this tradition with a particular attention to its defenders and its critics throughout the history of political thought. It compares early-modern social contract theorists and their respective ideas of the “state of nature,” sovereignty, freedom, and political authority. It also explores modern challenges to social contract theory with a specific focus on issues of history, revolution, and alienation. The course also examines contemporary scholarship that makes affirmative or critical appeals to this tradition in order to address problems such as social injustice and settler colonialism. | Theory and Methodology |
| Grande | Theory and Politics of the University (W course) | This course examines the university as an arm of the state, a tool of social reproduction, and site of possibility. Students will consider how conventional renderings of higher education presume a depoliticized if not romanticized vision of the university, detached from politics of imperialism, militarism, racism, and nationalism. Students will consider the broader social and political economy of the university, engaging contemporary debates on the corporatization and privatization of public higher education, rising tuition rates and student debt, the assault on humanities and ethnic studies, and the adjunctification of labor. Finally, students will work to imagine the university beyond its current parameters, thinking critically about the radical possibilities of a university aligned with social and political movements beyond the institution. | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics OR American Politics |
| Morrell | Political Theory and Popular Music | An exploration of 17th to early 20th century political theories of anarchism, communism, conservatism, feminism, liberalism, race, and the state of nature, and an examination of their echoes in contemporary popular musical genres, for example folk, hip-hop, pop, reggae, and rock. Students will conduct original content analysis research connecting political theory to contemporary popular music genres and artists. | Theory and Methodology |
| Orozco Mendoza | Comparative Political Theory | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics | |
| Richards | IR in Film (W course) | Not only have films addressed seemingly every possible issue in the realm of world politics, but the medium itself allows these issues to be explored in ways that inform and connect to us differently than can a book, journal article, or newspaper story. Thus, as students of international relations, we do ourselves a favor in taking seriously the intellectual possibilities offered to us by films. We will be discussing films from across a wide spectrum of well-established genres, including: science fiction, comedy, anime, drama, romance, and documentary. Our goal is to appreciate and understand how films affect how we think about world politics. | International Relations |
| Scruggs | Public Opinion and Science: The Crisis of Faith in Science and Technology | This class will examine the decline in public confidence about science. Why don’t all Americans agree that most scientists believe that humans are causing global warming and warming is increasing? Is vaccine hesitancy greater in America than Europe? Is disagreement about science and technology driven by relative ignorance, or by conflicting values of the importance of science and technology? What is the promise or peril of cutting-edge technologies for automation (e.g., artificial intelligence or autonomous vehicles) and biotechnology (e.g., CRISPR-CAS9)? We will examine these questions in part by examining data from public opinion polls, and students will learn how to access and evaluate key questions using public opinion poll data. | Comparative Politics OR Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Sylvester | The Politics of Memorializing War and Peace (W course) | War is memorialized far more than other types of public action, surely more than activities we associate with peace. This course explores the politics of what is memorialized, where and how in the USA and internationally, and considers issues such as attacks on memorials and debates over reasons certain memorials exist and other meaningful events are not memorialized. | International Relations |
| Venator-Santiago | Law and Ideology | This course provides a historical overview of the relationship between law and political ideologies. The course examines a wide range of historical examples of how different legal ideologies were invoked to legitimate political arguments. We will read a wide array of texts alluding to a wide array of debates including Socrates, Trial, the pamphlets of The White Rose, and President Clinton’s free speech argument on behalf of restraint during the Rwandan genocide. | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Waddell | The United States and the Vietnam War | How to tackle such a subject? A course on the United States and the Vietnam War means confronting a huge swath of modern American history, the enormous institutional changes initiated by World War II, and the attitudes and outlooks of an entire generation of political leaders. It also means confronting the experiences and memories of those who experienced the war firsthand. How to do this in one semester? My approach is to intermix scholarly analysis with memoirs and documentaries – to gain some analytical tools for comprehending why and how the War proceeded the way it did, but also to listen closely to the voices of those who experienced it. | American Politics OR Public Administration, Policy, and Law OR International Relations (Hartford) |
Summer 2021
| Instructor | Title | Description | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venator- Santiago | Constitutional Dictatorship | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
Spring 2021
| Instructor | Title | Description | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Zaki | Comparative Law and Society (W Course) | Comparative Politics | |
| Anievas | IR Theory and Rise of the West | What is often referred to as ‘the West’ has been the dominant power in world politics in the modern epoch. It was, however, not always like this. The ‘rise of the West’ was a historical process that was far from inevitable. The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize students with this history and the dominant theoretical frameworks that seek to explain it. To this end, the course will introduce students to a wide range of literatures and debates concerning the ‘rise of the West’ and, relatedly, the global origins and expansion of capitalism and the making of the modern international system. While focusing in particular on the field of International Relations, the course materials will also draw on various contributions from the classical social theory tradition, historical sociology and world history. | International Relations |
| Best | Politics in the Time of Trump | American Politics | |
| Dudas | Heroes and Villains in American Politics (W Course) | An exploration of how conventional understandings of heroism and villainy influence American politics and, reciprocally, how reigning trends in American politics influence widely shared conceptions of heroism and villainy. | American Politics |
| Gercek | Social Contract Theory and its Critics (W Course) | Theory and Methodology | |
| Grande | Black and Indigenous Theories of Resurgence and Liberation (W Course) | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics | |
| Hettinger | Gender and the Law | Public Administration, Policy, and Law | |
| Kelly | Surveillance of the Politics of Visibility (W Course) | In this course students will explore two distinct but intersecting themes: The “expansion of surveillance in U.S. society” and “the politics of visibility” that have accompanied this expansion. This course begins with a consideration of the theoretical foundations for understanding the cultural, social, and political impacts of surveillance. A central focus of the course will be on the role that surveillance plays in making things, people, and issues either more or less visible. Topics to be discussed include: national security, crime control, artificial intelligence, big data, income and racial inequality, and environmental justice. Students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss and analyze the readings. Grading will be based on weekly reading question response, seminar participation, a draft paper, and a final paper. | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Sterling-Folker | Nationalism and World Order (W Course) | International Relations | |
| Sylvester | Politics of War through Fiction | International Relations | |
| Venator | Constitutional Dictatorship | Public Administration, Policy, and Law | |
| Venator | Puerto Rican Catastrophe | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
Fall 2020
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Zaki | Gender and Politics in the Middle East (W Course) | Comparative Politics |
| Best | The 2020 Elections | American Politics |
| Gercek | Rethinking Collectivity | Theory and Methodology |
| Grande | COVID19, Indigeneity, Race and Racialization (W Course) | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
| House | National and Cyber Security | International Relations |
| Ladewig | The 2020 Presidential Election (W Course) | American Politics |
| Morrell | Political Theory and Popular Music | Theory and Methodology |
| Pressman | Contemporary Affairs in the Middle East | International Relations |
| Schurin | Critical Elections in US History (W Course) | American Politics |
| Sylvester | Politics of Memorializing War and Peace (W Course) | International Relations |
| Sylvester | Politics of War through Fiction (W Course) | International Relations |
| Venator | Totalitarianism and Latin America | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
| Venator | Legal Histories Research (W Course) | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
Spring 2020
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Zaki | Comparative Government and Politics in the Middle East | Comparative Politics |
| Bergendahl | CT General Assembly (internship participants only) | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Bergendahl | Women and the Law | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Besso | Political Crises in American Politics | American Politics |
| Best | Politics in the Times of Trump | American Politics |
| Dudas | Heroes and Villains in 21st Century Politics | American Politics |
| Kashwan | Indian Politics and Economy | Comparative Politics |
| Kelly | Politics of Surveillance and Visibility | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Morse | Democracy and Democratization | Comparative Politics |
| Perkoski | Rebel Group Dynamics | International Relations |
| Venator | The Puerto Rican Catastrophe | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
Fall 2019
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Beltran-Alvarez | Political Thought of the Margins | Theory and Methodology |
| Bergendahl | Criminal Justice in Practice | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Best | Politics in the Time of Trump | American Politics |
| Doukas | Families, Intimacy, and the Political State | Theory and Methodology |
| Kashwan | Contentious Politics and Collective Action (W Course) | Comparative |
| Ladewig | Making the Modern American Presidency | American Politics |
| Ladewig | Congressional Apportionment and Redistricting | American Politics |
| Perkoski | Technology and Security | International Relations |
| Pressman | Protest in the United States | American Politics |
| Scruggs | Experiments and Experimental Design in POLS | Theory and Methodology |
| Simien | Historic Firsts in US Elections | American Politics |
| Sylvester | Politics of Memorializing War and Peace | International Relations |
| Venator | Totalitarianism and Latino American Political Thought | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
| Venator | Constitutional Dictatorship | Public Administration, Policy, and Law |
| Zaki | Comparative Gender Politics | Comparative Politics |
Spring 2019
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Anievas | IR Theory and the Rise of the West | International Relations |
| Bergendahl | CT General Assembly | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Dyson/Perkoski | Nuclear Security | International Relations |
| Gordon | Black Political Thought | Theory and Methodology |
| Gray | Gender and Reproductive Law and Politics | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Gupan | Globalization in the Age of the Internet | International Relations |
| Herrera | Environmental Justice | Comparative Politics |
| Hettinger | Political Inquiry | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Nunnally | Race, American Politics, and Public Policy | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
| Perkoski | Technology and Security | International Relations |
| Scruggs | Science, Technology, and the Public Interest | Comparative Politics |
| Tiky | Democratization and Development | Comparative Politics |
Fall 2018
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Bergendahl | Legal Reasoning and Writing | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Best | Politics in the Times of Trump | American Politics |
| Dudas | Heroism and Villainy in 21st Century Politics | American Politics |
| Gordon | Historical Women Political Thinkers | Theory and Methodology |
| Ladewig | Making the Modern American Presidency | American Politics |
| Ladewig | Congressional Apportionment and Redistricting | American Politics |
| Nunnally | Race, American Politics, and Public Policy | Race, Gender, and Ethnic Politics |
| Richards | International Relations and Film | International Relations |
| Schurin | Critical Elections | American Politics |
| Zirakzadeh | Comparative Democracy | Comparative Politics |
Spring 2018
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Anievas | IR Theory and the Rise of the West | International Relations |
| Bergendahl | Criminal Justice in Practice | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Bergendahl | CT General Assembly | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Best | Politics in the Time of Trump | American Politics |
| Dyson | Screen Politics: Televised Political Fictions | |
| Herrnson | How to Fix Elections | American Politics |
| Ladewig | Modern American Presidency | American Politics |
| Murray | Nuclear Weapons and US National Security | |
| Perkoski | Technology and Security | International Relations |
| Schurin | Critical Elections in U.S. History | American Politics |
| Zirakzadeh | Democracy in Comparative Perspective | Comparative Politics |
Fall 2017
| Instructor | Title | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| Bergendahl | Moot Court | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
| Bernstein | America’s Wars in Asia, Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan | American Politics |
| Best | Politics in the Time of Trump | American Politics |
| Gordon | Settler Colonialism / Indigenous Thought and Practice | Theory and Methodology |
| Herrnson | American Politics in the Movies | American Politics |
| Ladewig | Congressional Apportionment and Redistricting | American Politics |
| Ladewig | Making the Modern American Presidency | American Politics |
| Perkoski | Militant Group Dynamics | International Relations |
| Venator Santiago | U.S. Citizenship Law | Public Administration, Policy and Law |
Pre-Approved Related Courses
Students may take all 2000-level or higher courses in the following subject areas. Any course in these departments that is cross-listed with POLS will count towards the major and not as a related course.
- ANTH - Anthropology
- ECON - Economics
- GEOG - Geography
- HIST - History
- HRTS - Human Rights
- PHIL - Philosophy
- PP - Public Policy
- SOCI - Sociology
Courses from the following list (or their W variant) and other courses as approved by advisor:
AAAS 2030: Art, Politics, and Propaganda
AFRA 2211: Introduction to Africana Studies
BADM 3720: The Legal & Ethical Environment of Business
BLAW 3175: Legal & Ethical Environment of Business
BLAW 3660: International Business Law
COMM 2200: Interpersonal Communication
COMM 2300: Effects of Mass Media
COMM 2500: Persuasion
COMM 3130: Communication in Conflict Management
COMM 3210: Gender and Communication
COMM 3241: Motivation and Emotion
COMM 3310: Media Literacy and Criticism
COMM 3321: Latinas and Media
COMM 3415: Protest & Communication
COMM 3530: Public Relations
COMM 3605: Communication Technology and Social Change
COMM 4200: Advanced Interpersonal Communication
COMM 4501: Advanced Persuasion and Communication
COMM 4510: Communication Campaigns & Applied Research
ENGL 2605: Capitalism, Literature, and Culture
ENGL 3265: Seminar in American Studies (AMST 3265W)
ENGL 3619: Topics in Literature & Human Rights (HRTS 3619)
ENGL 3633: The Rhetoric of Political Discourse in Literature and Society
FREN 3224: Issues in Cultural Studies, the Media, & the Social Sciences
FREN 3274: French Cultural Studies
GERM 3251: German Culture and Civilization
HDFS 3110: Social and Community Influence on Children in the US
HDFS 3249: Gender and Aging
HDFS 3520: Legal Aspects of Family Life
HDFS 3530: Public Policy and the Family
HDFS 3540: Child Welfare, Law and Social Policy
HDFS 3550: Comparative Family Policy
INTD 2245: Introduction to Diversity Studies in American Culture
JOUR 2001W: Newswriting II
JOUR 3000: Public Affairs Reporting
JOUR 3002: Journalism Ethics
JOUR 3020: Journalism Law
LLAS 3210: Contemporary Issues in Latino Studies
LING 2850: Introduction to the Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community
LING 3110: Experimental Linguistics
LING 3510Q: Syntax and Semantics
LING 3610: Language and Culture
LING 3850: Cultural and Linguistic Variation in the Deaf Community
PSYC 2100Q: Principles of Research in Psychology
PSYC 2101: Introduction to Multicultural Psychology
PSYC 2501: Cognitive Psychology
PSYC 2600: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
PSYC 2700: Social Psychology
PSYC 2701: Social Psychology of Multiculturalism
PSYC 3100: The History & Systems of Psychology
PSYC 3102: Psychology of Women
PSYC 3106: Black Psychology
PSYC 3241: Motivation and Emotion
PSYC 3600: Social-Organizational Psychology
SPAN 3204: Language and Culture of US Hispanics
SPAN 3205: Contemporary Spanish America
URBN 3210: Urban Anthropology
URBN 3276: Urban Problems
WGSS 2105: Gender and Science
WGSS 2124: Gender and Globalization
WGSS 2263: Women and Violence
WGSS 2267: Women and Poverty
WGSS 3042: Baseball and Society: Politics, Economics, Race, and Gender
WGSS 3105: The Politics of Reproduction
WGSS 3253: Gender Representations in US Popular Culture
WGSS 3255: Sexual Citizenship
WGSS 3264: Gender in the Workplace
WGSS 3269: Women’s Movements
WGSS 3270: Masculinities
Pre-Law Advising
UConn's Pre-Law Center is committed to helping students and alumni prepare for law school and legal careers. They offer events and workshops to help students get a sense of what it means to be a lawyer. They also help students with the law school application process by reviewing personal statements and resumes, providing information about various schools and programs, and assessing competing offers of admissions.
Learn more on the Pre-Law Center's website.
Professional Development and Careers
Visit our Careers and Outcomes page to learn about possible careers in political science and to find a list of professional development resources for undergraduate students.
UConn Minors
While not required to graduate, a minor will complement your political science major and allow you to explore other interests. View a list of UConn minors on the Undergraduate Catalog website.
More University Resources
Academic Achievement Center: Assists students in attaining their academic and personal goals by providing a comprehensive, personalized array of programs, resources, and services which enhance skill development, effective decision-making, and personal transitions to and within the university setting.
Center for Students with Disabilities: Engages in an interactive process with each student and determine appropriate accommodations on an individualized, case-by-case, class-by-class basis.
CLAS Academic Services Center: Coordinates all academic advising for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Student Health and Wellness: Offers a variety of virtual mental health services for students with an existing relationship with the center, students who are seeking new services, and students experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency.
Education Abroad: Coordinates study abroad programs for students in all majors and all Colleges.
Student Activities: Provides programs and services that promote student self-governance, respect for diversity, civic responsibility, and lifelong learning.
Forms
For more advising forms, visit the CLAS Academic Services Center's website.
Plans of Study
Transfer Credit Evaluation Form
Learn Through Experience
As part of the College of Liberal arts and Sciences (CLAS), your political science education connects you to countless opportunities to grow through hands-on experiences. Whether you participate in an internship, research, or education abroad, you’ll apply what you learn in the classroom and gain transferable skills that prepare you for any career.
View Internship, Research, and Clubs