Political Science

• Mission Statement

  The WSU Political Science Department strives to embody and cultivate the habits and skills of clear thought, rigorous analysis, and effective argumentation in writing and speech. We examine politics at all levels: institutions, small groups, voters, social and political organizations, towns and cities, economic systems, countries, nations, transnational flows, and global environmental systems.

• Student Learning Outcomes
  • Certificate (Not Applicable)

     

  • Associate Degree (Not Applicable)

     

  • Bachelor Degrees

    Values 
    Cultivating Civic Dispositions
    Understand and model civic dispositions conducive to democratic involvement. Specifically, we recommend attention to fostering the civic attitudes of political efficacy, empathy, civic duty, civic confidence, and civic reflection, and an inclination to engage in dialogue across difference.

    Skills
    Political science students will demonstrate an ability to

    1. Analyze political phenomena and critique arguments in a theoretically and empirically informed manner.
    2. Engage as global citizens through problem solving, collective action, and collaborative decision making.
    3. Identify, evaluate, properly use, and cite verifiable sources of evidence.
    4. Engage thoughtfully with competing values and perspectives.
    5. Use qualitative and quantitative methods effectively and appropriately.
    6. Communicate effectively in written and verbal modes to a variety of audiences.
        

    Content
    Political science students will be able to

    1. Understand and apply key concepts used to study political institutions, processes, and actors in a variety of settings.
    2. Understand and evaluate diverse theoretical and disciplinary approaches to the nature, ethical distribution, and uses of power.
    3. Understand, apply, and evaluate approaches and theories that address political phenomena.
    4. Understand the different ways individuals and groups engage in politics at the local, regional, national, and global levels, and evaluate the effectiveness and effects of different strategies of civic engagement.
        

   

• Curriculum Grid

• Program and Contact Information

  Program information:
  Political science as a discipline is uniquely equipped to the cultivation of knowledgeable and participatory members of their communities. When students complete our major or one of our minors they will be empowered to be agents of change in their communities, nations, and the world at large. We contribute to the college, university, region, and state by examining critical questions about power and public life from local, national, transnational, global, and comparative perspectives in partnership with students and members of the community. We do so to foster the capacities of engaged and critical community members who actively pursue questions and meanings of political community, and civic life.  We fully support Weber State University’s commitment to quality teaching (WSU mission statement), and consistently support that broader mission in transforming lives by meeting all students where they are, and challenging and guiding them to achieve their goals academically and in life.  We provide a safe and welcoming learning environment with experienced faculty where students are encouraged to think critically about the world and its problems and to interact intellectually with one another and their professors.
   

   

  Contact Information:
  Dr. Janicke Stramer-Smith
  Program Coordinator
  jstramersmith@weber.edu
   

  Political Science Department Website

• Assessment Plan

  In November, 2022, the WSU Political Science program adopted new learning outcomes, drafted in concert with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. In February, 2023, the American Political Science Association adopted discipline-wide learning outcomes. Our program adopted these outcomes. As a result, our assessment plan is to begin program wide assessment using the disciplinary outcomes. At this moment, we have one full semester of data with the discipline outcomes and one semester with the now retired outcomes. Our plan is to align our outcomes to formative and summative assessments throughout our program, so the unit of analysis will be the assessment, not the course. 

  Secondly, our assessment includes regularly reviewing our data and reflecting on how we could best meet the challenges and needs of our students.
   

• Assessment Report Submissions
  2023-24
  2021-22 - Conducted Program Review
  2019-20 - No Report Submitted
  2017
  2016 - Conducted Program Review
  2015

• Program Review

  2021-22

  2016-17
   

This information is part of the cyclical program review process. Details such as mission statements, learning outcomes, etc., are updated as part of the biennial assessment reporting process, an integral component of program review.