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Academics

Our department provides students with an immersive, complete college experience.  High-impact practices are established techniques professors use to enhance their classrooms by creating that immersive environment, such as:

  • internships
  • simulations
  • diversity and inclusion
  • undergraduate research
  • collaborative learning
  • civic learning

High Impact Practices

Internships

The department is putting new emphasis on internships. Each year, several students complete internships in governmental institutions.  Recent interns have placed in numerous political campaigns, law firms, at the CIA headquarters and State Department’s Ukraine bureau. 

Students secure their own internships so they can align the work with their career goals.  If you're interested in seeking an internship, start with our internship page for details on seeking and securing an internship as well as procedures to receive course credit for it.

Simulations

Many POSC classes use simulations to put students into the shoes of diplomats or decision makers. Dr. Daniel Reed’s Political Parties class simulates national party nominating conventions. Dr. Rackaway's American Government class simulates the process of getting a bill through the legislature.  Dr. Paige Tan’s international relations classes simulate international diplomacy, often putting students in the shoes of United Nations or European Union diplomats.  Dr. Tay Keong Tan’s INST 101 students engage in simulation exercise designed to bring the world back from the brink of collapse.  Dr. Tay Keong Tan's INST 101 class held and in class debate over the use of drones  in military strikes.

Diversity and Inclusion

In Dr. Yankle’s POSC 233 class, students conduct an implicit bias assessment using local police traffic stop policies as the background issue.

Undergraduate Research

Dr. Tay Keong Tan’s World Poverty and Global Sustainability class developed an award-winning Anti-Poverty Toolkit for the United Nations using research they conducted in class. 

The success of the Anti-Poverty Toolkit resulted in another faculty-student research project undertaken by Dr. Tay Keong Tan and student Anna Ogan to develop a United Nations PRME Sustainability Mindset Repository. This is a repository of open, universally accessible, multimedia materials for scholars in the field of global sustainability and sustainable development (accessible at: www.sustainabilitymindset.net). It has some over 100 artifacts and is currently being used by some 150+ international scholars of the PRME Working Group on Sustainability Mindset.

Collaborative Learning

In Dr. Yankle’s POSC 438 class, the Constitution Day Project required that students create an informative poster that asked groups to provide the details about a Supreme Court case background, a look into the decision, as well as providing greater political and social context for the decision.  Students commented on other groups’ posters as well as responded to comments on their group poster.

Students in classes across the major present their work at Political Science Days, the Wicked Festival, and Undergraduate Research events.  

Civic Learning

Students in Dr. Yankle’s Big Questions in Political Science class developed concept studies to take more in-depth looks at policy issues discussed in class.  Students worked in teams to develop a complete policy background brief. 

Students in Dr. Rackaway's State and Local Government class created a campus-wide strategic voter registration, education, and mobilization plan for Highlanders Vote

Students in Dr. Paige Tan’s terrorism class do policy recommendations to the US and other governments on how to fight terrorism.  Students in dictatorships offer policy proposals to help protesters overcome non-democratic regimes.