Graduate
Department of Political Science
University at Buffalo, SUNY
520 Park Hall (North Campus)
Buffalo, New York 14260
Phone: 716-645-3441
Fax: 716-645-2166
Professor Harvey D. Palmer, Director of Graduate Studies, hpalmer@buffalo.edu
Graduate Coordinator (to be determined)
For questions about the graduate program, please email your questions to pscigpro@buffalo.edu
General information about our Graduate Programs
A variety of graduate programs leading to an M.A. or Ph.D. degree in Political Science are offered by the Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo. These programs are designed to meet the needs of students with differing interests and career orientations.
Traditionally, the Ph.D. has been the degree required for those planning a career in teaching and research at the college or university level. For this purpose, the Department's Program provides an introduction to the various fields within Political Science, grounding in the intellectual and analytical traditions and practices of the discipline, and specialization within selected sub-fields. Fields of study at the graduate level are American politics, comparative politics, international politics, methods of inquiry, and public law. The first three fields are regularly available as major fields in the doctoral program. The latter two are not regularly available as major fields and require special prior arrangement. Interested students should inquire about the availability of faculty and courses in these two fields at the time of application to the program.
The Department's doctoral program now affords, in combination with work taken in other disciplines or subject specialties, an entry into other career paths as well. For example, the Department sponsors, with the faculty of Law and Jurisprudence, a dual M.A./J.D. and Ph.D./J.D. programs in Political Science and Law. This program develops competencies appropriate to a broad range of career interests.
The Master's degree similarly may serve quite diverse purposes related to intellectual development and to both academic and other professional career goals.
Professionalization Series for Graduate Students
Several years ago, the Graduate Program initiated a series of six informal seminars in which different faculty and graduate students would discuss aspects of becoming a successful political scientist that were not directly raised in substantive graduate courses. Below are the topics in the seminar meeting of this professionaliztion series:
Undergraduate Teaching (October 2007),
Taking Comprehensive Examinations (February 2008 and September 2009),
Professional Conference Participation (February 2008 and October 2009),
Job Search & Interview Process (September 2008),
Writing a Dissertation (November 2008), and
Journal Manuscript Submission (February 2009 and April 2009).
The next professionalization seminar will be led by Professor Claude Welch and Fait Muedini. The topic is teaching an undergraduate course. The seminar will be on Friday October 9th at 3 PM in Park 502.
Professor Jim Gimpel, of the University of Maryland and editor of American Politics Research, conducted the professionalization meeting on April 7, 2009 on submitting manuscripts to professional journals and dealing with the review process.