PhD in Political Science

The Department of Political Science at the University of Connecticut offers a graduate program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The program is designed to prepare political scientists for teaching, research and administrative positions in the public and private sectors.The graduate curriculum is designed to serve the individual needs of students as they prepare for the variety of opportunities that the field offers. Emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of the dynamics and institutions of political life and learning the methods necessary for empirical and qualitative research and analysis. Graduate students receive a great deal of individual attention and are able to work closely with faculty members. Work toward the degree proceeds in two stages. In the first, students do course work to develop expertise in two chosen subfields in which he or she will take Ph.D. exams. Our subfields currently include: American politics, international relations, comparative politics, political theory, and public law. (See our Areas of Concentration page further details on each area.) Once the student has completed his or her scope, method, and elective requirements and successfully passed the Ph.D. exams, he or she becomes ABD (or all but dissertation) and constitutes a dissertation committee with which he or she prepares a dissertation proposal outlining an original research project. When this project is complete, he or she defends the dissertation.