Welcome to Political Science

Welcome to the Department of Political Science, where faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students explore complex governance challenges facing societies across the globe through research, teaching, and engaged scholarship.

Scholars in political science use methods of scientific inquiry to address fundamental questions about political institutions, policy processes, civic culture, political beliefs, identities, attitudes, and behavior and seek to understand how they shape governance, accountability, policy outcomes, domestic and international security, sustainability, and other important societal outcomes.

We engage across disciplines to address challenging problems

Nested in a dynamic, innovative university environment, Purdue political scientists have many opportunities to collaborate in transformative, policy-relevant research teams across campus and in interdisciplinary centers housed in Purdue’s Discovery Park. The department's faculty and graduate students are active in research labs housed in the department, the Kernan Experimental Social Science Lab, and cross-college initiative, the Methodology Center at Purdue (MCAP), exploring new frontiers in research methodology. We value diversity and openness to new ideas, and we foster a culture of discovery.

INSTITUTES AND CENTERS AT DISCOVERY PARK | THE METHODOLOGY CENTER AT PURDUE (MCAP)

We offer experiential educational programming

The Department offers the Ph.D. in Political Science and graduate certificates in Environmental Policy and Social Policy. We also offer a major and a minor in Political Science, along with an Environmental Politics and Policy Minor and an undergraduate certificate in Public Policy.

Students encounter high-impact learning opportunities through internships, Pi Sigma Alpha, Model UN, and collaborative research with faculty. Faculty regularly contribute to the Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program, and they co-sponsor an Integrative Data Science Initiative learning community in the Data Mine.