Information for First-Year Students

Welcome to the Political Science department!  We look forward to introducing you to our array of exciting courses.

Courses in Political Science acquaint students with a broad range of political values, theories and institutions. They range over four subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. What binds courses in these subfields together is that they ask, What is politics? What is power? What ends does power serve and what ends should power serve? These are just some of the questions that the major in Political Science addresses.

We recommend that first-year students potentially interested in Political Science enroll in one of our 100-level introductory courses, all of which are required courses for the major and minor, in the fall semester.  These include: 

• POLS 103: Introduction to American Politics (SS)
• POLS 105: Introduction to Comparative Politics (SS/DIV13)
• POLS 108: Introduction to International Relations (SS)

NOTE: You may have already earned credit for one of the above classes through AP or IB courses! College credits earned though the AP United States Government and Politics and/or the AP Comparative Government and Politics exams in high school will count toward the American Politics (103) and Comparative Politics (105) requirements, respectively. College credit from the IB Global Politics course may count toward the Introduction to International Relations (108) requirement. 

If you have any questions about Political Science courses, the major or minor, or any other aspect of the department, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Professor Kristin McKie, chair of the department, at kmckie@stlawu.edu.