Twenty one faculty members teach and conduct research in the major subfields of the discipline: American, comparative, international relations, public policy and administration, political theory, and political methodology, with sub-specializations in public law, political communication, political psychology, French and European politics, American foreign policy, gender and politics, environmental policy, and qualitative methodology.
There are several features of our Ph.D. program that make it distinct from many of the others you might be considering: Giant Concrete WSU letters in front of the Brelsford Visitor center at night. A commitment to problem-driven research. The School is focused on problem-driven research that involves the analysis of national and international policy issues. At the heart of this approach are interdisciplinary research efforts to pursue scholarly activity that will solve the complex and wicked problems that democratic societies face. It is research that 'speaks to scholars, policy-makers and citizens. Our school's research has focused on a variety of pressing problems: bio-ethics in medicine, political civility, environmental justice, gender equality, legal justice, democratic participation and representation, elite problem solving, terrorism, civil unrest, WMD proliferation, and disability policy, among others. A commitment to methodological diversity. We promote, sustain and teach a multi-methods approach in order to contribute to large-scale problem solving through scientific inquiry. In a multi-methods approach, researchers marshal the full range of methodological tools, often in conjunction with one another, that cut across traditional boundaries, e.g. qualitative (process tracing, qualitative comparative analysis, case studies, discourse analysis) and quantitative tools (survey research, statistical analysis, experiments, etc.). We pursue projects that adapt our methods to our research agendas rather than being driven by a specific methodology. Our graduate and undergraduate training emphasize this methodological diversity.
