Special Message To Prospective Graduate Students

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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