Graduate Courses
The Department of Political Science currently offers a variety of regularly scheduled seminars, occasional special seminars, graduate readings courses arranged with faculty (POLSC 5040), graduate research courses arranged with faculty (POLSC 5020) a graduate internship (POLSC 5030), and a thesis course (POLSC 5000).
Seminar in Quantitative Methods:
3 credits. Required of all graduate students. Presents an introduction to the fundamentals and use of quantitative methods in public administration. Major topics include systematic research in public administration; research design; measurement techniques; and data analysis.
Research in Public Administration, Public Policy and Politics:
1-6 credits, max. 6. Individually supervised research. This research course is used for the creative component (3 credits), in place of a thesis (6 credits).
Internship in Public Administration and Government:
1-6 credits, max. 6. Individually supervised internships in administration and governmental career areas. Paper required.
Readings in Politics, Public Policy or Public Administration:
1-6 credits, max. 6. Prerequisite: consent of supervising professor. Readings in the student's major area of study.
Advanced Problems in Government, Politics, and Public Policy:
1-6 credits, max. 6. Special Seminar, topics vary from semester to semester.
Seminar in International Relations:
3 credits, max. 6. Research on the dynamic and institutions of international politics.
Seminar in the International Political Economy:
3 credits, max. 6. Research on the mechanics and theories of interaction between economic and political phenomena.
Seminar in Public Budgeting and Finance:
3 credits, max. 6. Major processes and practices involved in governmental budgeting in the U.S. at national, state, and local level.
Seminar in Comparative Politics and Government:
3 credits, max. 6. The political processes, and governmental institutions of foreign countries.
Seminar in Political Behavior:
1-3 credits, max. 3. Examination of contemporary theories of political behavior with emphasis on empirical studies.
Seminar in Natural Resource Policy, Law, and Administration:
3 credits, max. 9. Analysis of the legal and public policy aspects of environmental regulation, including special emphasis on Federal Regulations.
Seminar in American Political Institutions:
1-3 credits, max. 3. American institutions, including Congress, Presidency, courts, political parties, and interest groups.
Seminar in Urban Politics and Management:
3 credits. Concepts, processes, and techniques of managing urban political systems to include problems of leadership, decision-making, general management, and group behavior.
Seminar in Public Management:
3 credits. Introduction to the general principles of management as they are applied in the public sector. Topics include systems theory, organization design, and techniques of supervision.
Seminar in Public Organizations:
3 credits. Analyzes governmental units and public sector agencies. Attention will be given to the principle theoretical models for their design and structure. Also seeks to understand system-subsystem relationships in the processes of decision making, communication, influence, and leadership.
Seminar in Public Personnel Administration:
3 credits. An analysis of the structure and role of human resources, focusing on the development of the public service, personnel planning, personnel functions, and issues in personnel relations. A special emphasis will be on labor management relations.
Seminar in Program Planning and Evaluation:
3 credits. Methodology of planning and evaluation of government programs. Emphasizes research design and alternative methods for handling threats to validity of research results. Also includes the politics of program planning and evaluation.
Seminar in Public Policy Analysis:
3 credits. An introduction to public policy analysis with emphasis on the examination of public policy areas, including fire protection and emergency management policy.
Seminar in Fire and Emergency Services Administration:
3 credits. This course will focus on fire protection and emergency management policies and administration.
Practical Environmental Compliance:
3 credits. Analysis of the legal and public policy aspects of environmental regulation and compliance. A special focus will be on the local context of environmental law.
Seminar in Women and Politics:
3 credits, max. 12. The course covers topics concerning women and politics.
Regulatory Risk Analysis:
3 credits. Risk based decision making, government's risk analysis paradigm, risk analysis policy, and social aspects of risk assessment. Special emphasis will be placed on risk assessment as it applies to the fire service and emergency management area.
Populations at Risk:
Describes populations at risk for increased injury, death and property loss. Identifies policies, programs and resources for risk reduction. Applies research for purposes of planning and capacity building.
Disaster Recovery:
Prerequisites POLS 5373 Processes, conditions and components of recovery in disaster contexts. Topics include environmental, economics, housing , ,infrastructure and policy. Roles of voluntary organizations; securing and managing resources.
Area Description
American Politics:
Students specializing in American government study the current and classical scholarly literature in American government focusing on the Congress, presidency, and courts. Elections, public opinion, interest groups and parties are also important aspects of American politics for students to study and research.
Comparative Politics:
This subfield exposes the stu-dent to theories and approaches concerning relationships between states and society and how governments function throughout the world. OSU faculty members have area specialties focusing on the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Western Europe, including the European Union.
International Relations:
The international relations sub-field concerns the relationships between and among nation-states, nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental organizations as well as U.S. foreign policy. Areas of focus include international political economy, the United Nations, international organizations, and security.
Public Administration:
Public administration focuses on the accomplishing side of government. In this area, students study how public policy is implemented and how governmental goods and services are delivered to the populace. An emphasis is placed on management functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, leadership, and budgeting.
Public Policy:
This subfield teaches students the nature of the policymaking process and how to evaluate public policy. Included in this area of study is policy analysis—using quantitative and qualitative methods in an effort to make more "rational" public policies.
Public Law:
Students studying the public law sub-field will study the judicial process and politics, and key issues of constitutional law. Students will analyze court decisions concerning the First Amendment, equal protection, due process, federalism and other contemporary legal issues. Additionally, students will get a firm grounding in how the courts operate in our democracy, including the history of the Court, biographies of justices, and quantitative analysis of decision making.
Women and Politics:
In many ways this subfield has an interdisciplinary focus. It examines how gender affects American politics, the politics of other nations, and the relationships between nations. Additionally, it looks at public policy and legal issues related to gender and the struggle over women’s political rights. Students will work with OSU faculty members who specialize in women’s issues across the globe, including Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, as well as the United States and Oklahoma.
|
