Dear Prospective Graduate Student:
As you are investigating various graduate programs in political science, I hope
you will take the time to consider the PhD program in government and politics
at the University of Maryland. Located a short metro ride from Washington, we
have a renowned faculty and a track record of producing outstanding scholars
and teachers. Students regularly co-author with faculty, and these collaborations
have recently resulted in several books and articles in journals such as the
American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Journal of Conflict
Resolution, American Politics Research, and Social Science Quarterly. Our students
successfully compete for positions at top colleges and universities-from elite
liberal arts colleges such as the University of Richmond, to elite comprehensive
universities like UCLA. We also have a proven track record of placing students
in policy-oriented positions in Washington.
Students can specialize in American politics, comparative politics, formal theory,
international relations, political economy, and political philosophy. There
are also opportunities for students to study more specialized fields such as
public law, racial and ethnic politics, national security, public policy, political
psychology, conflict studies, international political economy, urban politics,
and environmental politics. We have been fortunate enough to make several
outstanding hires in the past few years, and at least six new faculty-three in
race and ethnic politics and one each in security studies, political philosophy,
and the Middle East-will be joining us in Fall 2008.
We have a very popular mentoring program, and many students work with faculty
on major funded research projects. Departmental faculty have acquired significant
external research funds from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department
of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S.
Institute of Peace, the National Security Agency, the State Department, and the
Earhart, Pew, MacArthur, Ford, and Johnson Foundations. Students and faculty
also participate in the ongoing activities of the Center for American Politics
and Citizenship, the Center for International Development and Conflict Management,
the Center for Philosophy and Public Policy, Maryland Collective Choice Center,
Project ICONS, the Committee on the Political Economy of the Good Society, the
Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda, and the recently-founded National
Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
Our proximity to Washington provides unequaled opportunities for our graduate
students. Students often draw upon the contacts and experience of former
students working in government agencies as well as faculty contacts with such
agencies. Students may also use the many specialized libraries located in the
area, and they can take courses offered at other local institutions through the
Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan area. We have an outstanding
library and significant computing facilities (from campus computing centers to
our own graduate computer lab). Students may also participate in the activities
of, and use data from, the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social
Research and the Council for European Studies.
We offer a variety of multi-year financial aid packages (assistantships, fellowships,
and internships) to our top applicants, and we work very hard to maximize overall
student funding. If you would like further information about our program,
please don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from
you, and good luck in your future professional endeavors.
Sincerely,
Irwin L. Morris
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
David Andersen (IR) Sacramento State University
David Armstrong (Comparative) Postdoctoral position at Oxford Center for Research
Methods in the Social Sciences, Department of Politics and International Relations,
Oxford University
Nathan Bigelow (American) Austin College
Bidisha Biswas (Comparative) Western Washington University
Diana Boros (Theory) Visiting Assistant Professor, St. Mary's College of Maryland
Anna Brettell (Comparative) National Endowment for Democracy
Mitchell Brown (American) Auburn University
Sulan Chen (Comparative) United Nations Development Programme
Helma DeVries (Comparative Politics) Eastern Connecticut State University
Qing Duan (Comparative) People's University of Beijing
Joshua Dyck (American) SUNY Buffalo
Waseem El-Reyes (Theory) James Madison College/ Michigan State
Eduardo Frajman (Comparative) Aurora College
Lorrie Frasure (American) UCLA, postdoc Cornell
Elizabeth Freund (American) Albright College
Regina Gray (American) HUD
Hidetoshi Hashimoto (Comparative) East Tennessee State University
Adam Hoffman (American) Salisbury State
Laura Hussey (American) University of Maryland at Baltimore County
Anthony Kammas (Theory) Postdoc USC, Visiting Profess USC
Sungmoon Kim (theory) University of Richmond (2008), Center for Asian
Democracy, University of Louisville (2008, declined), City University of
Hong Kong (2009)
Jennifer Lucas (American) St. Anselm's College
Ozguc Orhan (Theory) Fatih University Istanbul
Arcelia Rodriguez (Theory) St. John's College New Mexico
Philip Roessler (Comparative) Postdoc Oxford, postdoc Stanford
Jennifer Dabbs Sciubba (IR) Rhodes College
Stephen Simon (American) University of Richmond
Carola Weil (IR) Postdoc Harvard and USC; US Institute of Peace; Associate
Dean Annenberg School of Communication USC
Chris Whitt (American) Augustana College
