Political Science enrolls approximately 700 undergraduate students in its major, and its 30–35 faculty members teach many non-majors in courses at all levels of its curriculum.

Writing Plan

Creation Phase (Spring 2007)
The department devoted several regularly scheduled faculty meetings to the WEC process, which allowed the entire faculty to participate. In the first meeting, the question “What differentiates writing in Political Science from writing in other social sciences?” triggered an animated discussion about the meaning and look of effective “political analysis,” and caused one faculty member to comment, as he walked away from the meeting, “Now, for the first time really, I know how to respond when students ask me to tell them what I want!”

Implementation Phase (Fall 2007–Spring 2008)
Faculty determined that their curriculum was not providing adequate support for Political Science’s senior paper/project requirements. In implementing their Writing Plan, therefore, they converted 4000-level courses to Writing-Intensive, and, in each of these courses, required a paper that minimally met the requirements. This action triggered another: faculty members began to establish writing floors, or minimum proficiencies, for each level of their undergraduate curriculum building up to the senior year.