Political Science at Aquinas College

The mission of the Political Science Department is to foster critical, reflective, informed, and empowered participants and citizens. The Department introduces students to fundamental theoretic approaches, methods of study, and content about how people and governments behave in a political context.

Department Goals

• Goal I: Create and foster critical thinking participants.
• Goal II: Create and foster an atmosphere of participation.
• Goal III: Support the liberal arts and career focus of Aquinas College through a range of courses and activities.
• Goal IV: Effectively prepare students to continue their academic work in graduate programs in law, political science, public policy, public administration, and related fields.
• Goal V: Continue to offer both a major and a minor.
• Goal VI: Continue to support programs in Urban Studies, Community Leadership, International Studies, Women’s Studies and AQ General Education.
• Goal VII: Continue to offer the necessary courses in support of those who plan to teach in the K-12 education system and specifically those pursuing Secondary Education Certification for a Social Studies Major with a Political Science Minor.
• Goal VIII:  Continue to provide quality advising to all the above.

 
Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will understand and analyze theoretic and philosophical perspectives of politics;
2. Students will develop the vocabulary and background information about the institutions and dynamics of the political world to understand and critically interrogate important political events, developments and conversations in both domestic and international spheres.
3. Students will be able to critically analyze elements, distribution and implications of power;
4. Students will be able to formulate discipline-appropriate research questions, plan original research, and carry out primary and secondary research using a variety of academic, scholarly, popular and professional resources.
5. Students will understand and employ major themes, problems, tools of analysis and vocabularies of the primary subfields of political science: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory
6. Students will be able to understand various political systems at different levels of analysis - local, national and international - so that non-specialists can understand their role and responsibility as citizens of this country and the world.