Department of History, Politics, Languages & Cultures at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Department Website
Department Chair: Umeme Sababu
Political Science Program Director: James Daniel Fisher
Degrees offered: BA in Political Science, with additional concentrations in International Affairs and Legal Studies
Tell us about your department and faculty.
Edinboro University is located 15 miles south of Lake Erie and the City of Erie, about 1.5 hours from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo, and about 3.5 hours from Toronto. Edinboro has a small and energetic political science program that pairs a classic liberal arts education with a variety of resume-enhancing extracurricular activities on and off campus.
Edinboro’s political scientists have expertise in international relations, American politics, law and politics, reproductive politics, politics and popular culture, and political theory. Students also benefit from working with professors in other departments with expertise in criminal law and procedure, political communication, political geography, and women’s studies.
We train our students to be “analysts and activists”—our graduates possess a sophisticated understanding of political dynamics and are trained to translate their understanding of politics into effective action. We tell our students to “know the world, train for action, and change the world.” All of us are at Edinboro because we prioritize teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.
Tell us about your undergraduates.
We have a relatively small number of majors (about 45-65 in any given year) but each one receives individual attention from the faculty and they enjoy working with one another. We want students who are inquisitive, skeptical, and looking to make a difference in the world—and our students don’t disappoint!
Students are able to supplement their coursework with a variety of extracurricular activities and work experiences. Every year, our Model United Nations team travels to New York City to compete. We also have a traveling Model NATO team. Our Mock Trial Team is coached by seasoned litigators and competes annually in a regional competition. Political science students can be found on the staff of the student newspaper, The Spectator, and other campus media organizations. They also participate regularly in Edinboro’s Student Government Association.
Our students can and do earn academic credit for a politics- or law-focused internship. Edinboro University also participates in The Harrisburg Internship Semester (THIS), which places one Edinboro student per semester in a paid internship in Pennsylvania government in Harrisburg. In recent years, our students have presented work at academic conferences, and have participated in summer political training programs (for example, the National Education For Women’s Leadership Pennsylvania Summer Institute at Chatham University).
A proportion of our students attend excellent law schools (we have a robust pre-law program with active advising and a variety of law-related courses) and a variety of graduate schools (Ph.D. programs but also master’s degree programs in public administration, international affairs, and intelligence studies). The majority of our students, however, secure employment with their BAs in political science—many in politics, but many also in business, health care, and education.
Learn more about Edinboro’s political science program here: http://www.edinboro.edu/academics/schools-and-departments/cahss/departments/history-politics-languages-and-cultures/faculty-and-staff.html