Political Science Graduate Program

The Master of Arts in Political Science was established in 1969. Currently the program enrolls 15 to 20 full-time graduate students on campus each year, and 40-50 off-campus students into its On-Line Master of Arts in Political Science Program (OLMA). This relatively small scale provides excellent opportunities for close student-faculty interaction. The faculty of the department is drawn from outstanding universities from all regions of the United States and it offers expertise in all major fields of political science. In recent years, M.A. students in political science have enrolled from a wide variety of American colleges and universities. Students have also entered our M.A. program from a number of other nations (see listing), lending an international flavor to the educational environment.

The Department of Political Science offers a program of graduate study designed to provide students with a broadly based firm grounding in the full scope of the discipline and a strong foundation in research methods. It covers all sub-fields of the discipline, and prepares students for careers in academic life and government service. It is especially well suited for students who want to acquire sophisticated theoretical and analytical skills before either pursuing a doctoral degree in political science or entering a career in a public or private research organization.

The On-Line Masters of Arts in Political Science is identical in course content, requirement, and work load to the widely respected and high-quality residential MA degree program that has been offered in Blacksburg since 1969. The faculty are among the nation's most professionally active political scientists, who are well-known for their research publications, editorial board service, research grants, and classroom teaching. The Department of Political Science offers a broad array of methodologically sophisticated, theoretically grounded, and empirically oriented graduate courses, to new audiences in the Commonwealth, across the nation, and anywhere in the world.