A&S—Political Science
Contact Information
- Department Chair: Barry Ames
- Main Office: 4600 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
- 412-648-7250
- Fax: 412-648-7277
- E-mail: polisci@pitt.edu
- www.pitt.edu/~politics
Additional information concerning the department’s graduate program may be obtained from the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Political Science, Graduate Administrator, 4601WWPH, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Phone: 412-648-7270. Fax: 412-648-7277. E-mail: polisci@pitt.edu.
Graduate Program
The Department of Political Science offers the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. However, the MA degree functions primarily as a stepping stone to the PhD. The department does not have a distinct MA program, and does not, except under very unusual circumstances, admit students for graduate study who seek a terminal Master of Arts degree. However, PhD students who, for various reasons, choose to discontinue their training after two years are eligible for a terminal MA, contingent upon the successful completion of the requirements outlined below.
The graduate program in political science incorporates six fields:
Students choose three of these fields as areas of specialization. The first field must be one of the following: American Politics, Comparative Politics, World Politics, or Normative Political Theory. Students may combine work for the MA and PhD degrees with a program of regional specialization leading to a certificate in Latin American studies, Asian studies, West European studies, or Russian and East European studies.
Applicants for admission must submit transcripts of all college-level work, three letters of recommendation, a career statement, and scores on the verbal, quantitative, and writing assessment-analytical sections of the Graduate Record Examination. International applicants whose first language is not English are required to submit either the TOEFL administered by the Educational Testing Service with a minimum score of 550 (paper-based test)/213 (computer-based test)/ 80 (new internet based test or iBT) or the IELTS administered by the University of Cambridge, Local Examinations Syndicate with a minimum score of 6.5 (taking the academic writing and reading modules). For fall term admission and awards consideration, complete applications must be submitted by January 15. The department admits students only for the fall term.
Graduate students entering the program with a fellowship or teaching assistantship/teaching fellowship who have demonstrated high-quality graduate work and are maintaining good academic progress can expect to have financial aid renewed for up to three years. If they have successfully passed the PhD comprehensive examinations at the outset of the fourth year, additional financial aid from the department will be contingent upon a yearly review indicating that they are making substantial progress toward completing the dissertation. A graduate student who has not passed the PhD comprehensive examinations in September of the fourth year of graduate work ordinarily is not eligible for additional financial assistance until these examinations are passed.
For the MA, students must earn 30 hours of credit with a B average or better in courses numbered 1000 or above. At least half of these credits must be carried in courses numbered 2000 or above. All MA students are required to complete a 9-credit core-course sequence in theory and methods (PS 2020, 2030, and 2040), comprising graduate-level training in empirical analysis of political behavior and normative political thought. The remainder of the students’ MA course work is used to develop competence in one of the four main fields of political science offered by the department. Unless otherwise noted below, students must complete at least four graduate seminars in their first field prior to the PhD qualifying exam.
Students whose first field is American politics must take the core course in American politics (PS 2200). Those students who select world politics as their first field must complete a minimum of six courses, including “Theories of International Relations” (PS 2501), two courses each in two areas of concentration (international organization and global governance (IO), international political economy (IPE), and international conflict and security (ICS)) and a sixth course in any area of concentration within world politics.
Students must then pass a comprehensive examination, for MA purposes, covering one of the four general fields: World Politics, American Politics, Comparative Politics, or Normative Political Theory (beyond the core course sequence).
Credit Requirement: A minimum of 72 credit hours, including the master’s degree, earned from any suitable combination of formal course work, independent study, research, teaching, or dissertation work as detailed elsewhere in this bulletin.
Students in the PhD program must choose three fields, one of which must be from the four main fields: American politics, comparative politics, world politics, and normative theory. The requirements for the first field are outlined above in the section regarding requirements for the MA. Unless otherwise stated below, students are required to complete at least four graduate seminars from one of the remaining five fields of study for their second field, and three courses from one of the remaining four fields of study beyond the departmental core (PS 2020, 2030, and 2040) for their third field.
Students who select American politics as their second field must complete the core course in American politics (PS 2200). Students who select world politics as their second field must complete a minimum of four courses in world politics, including PS 2501, two courses in one area of concentration within world politics and one course in another area of world politics. Students for whom world politics is a third field must complete a minimum of three courses including PS 2501.
PhD Qualifying Examinations: The MA comprehensive exam also serves as the PhD qualifying exam for those students who wish to pursue graduate work at the PhD level. Students admitted to the graduate program with MA degrees from other institutions must take the MA comprehensive/PhD qualifying exam, usually within their first year of study at the University of Pittsburgh.
Supervised Teaching Experience: Supervised teaching experience is an integral part of the doctoral program. Normally, teaching experience is gained by conducting recitation sections of an introductory course or by assisting a faculty member in an undergraduate course, followed by the teaching of one’s own course, in the fourth or fifth year of study.
Comprehensive Examination: Students take a PhD comprehensive examination after approximately one year of coursework beyond the MA, comprising a research paper in their first field, a written exam in their second field, and an oral exam in both fields. Students are not required to take an exam in their third field of study.
Dissertation Overview: Following successful completion of the comprehensive examination, the student files an application for admission to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. At this stage the student presents a proposed topic for doctoral research and a research design for its execution to be reviewed by the dissertation committee.
Dissertation Defense: The final oral examination in defense of the doctoral dissertation is conducted by the doctoral committee and is open to the University community.
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