Political Science and Criminal Justice

Political Science: U.S. Politics Option

Mission Statement, Program Goals, and Student Learning Outcomes

Mission Statement

The mission of the Political Science Program is to provide students with the educational experiences and environment to become familiar with and competent in the attitudes, subjects, and skills of the discipline of political science, the capacity to attain career success that allows them to utilize the knowledge, skills, and judgment acquired in our program, and a sense of civic responsibility.

Program Goals

  • Inquisitiveness: Students ask relevant questions within the field.
  • Open-mindedness: Students understand and appreciate multiple positions.
  • Judgment: Students choose positions following appropriate data and analysis.
  • Professionalism: Students understand the unique perspective of political science in the analysis of international, national, state, and local governments and politics, and the societies, groups, and individuals that shape them.
  • Citizenship: Students understand the role of active participation in a democratic society.

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Students can distinguish among theories of politics and analyze current political situations in theoretical terms.
  • Students can describe basic structural components of national government (legislative, executive, and judicial) and explain their relationship to each other and to subnational units.
  • Students can identify the various types of actors in international relations and relate these in describing current global issues.
  • Students can apply their political science knowledge and skills in applied settings.
  • Students can formulate hypotheses, construct research designs, and apply appropriate analytical skills, including quantitative reasoning, to the study of political science.
  • Students can locate appropriate sources by searching electronic and traditional data bases.
  • Students can use and cite appropriate sources correctly.
  • Students can write and speak with sufficient clarity to convey their attitudes, knowledge, and skills.