My name is Ali Brewer and I'm the
advising coordinator for the Political
Science department.
Political Science is dedicated to
explaining and understanding politics.
I first became interested in my freshman
year and it's when my instructor cited Harold
Lasswell's definition of politics which
says
"politics is who gets what, when, and how."
That blew my freshman mind because it
was the first time I had made the
connection
that politics is all around us. Soon
after that
I learned David Easton's definition
which says that "politics
is the authoritative allocation of
values."
We live in a world of limited resources
and I wanted to better understand the
power dynamics governing
how resources and values are allocated
in the society.
There are many reasons to study
Political Science.
One of the big reasons I think is if you
understand how the structures of government work, i
think you're more likely to participate in the
political process
and to put it simply, our democracy needs
you. Also gaining a deeper understanding, a
scholarly understanding, of politics and
government enables
students to be better consumers of
information. We
live in a world where so many people
claim to be experts
by delving deeper and
examining complex political issues from
multiple angles,
using scholarly sources, is a healthy
practice. It lends you credibility
and it trains you to think critically.
The department offers a balanced
curriculum that is designed to
create a broad understanding of politics.
And students also examine the
development, the maintenance, and the dynamics of
democracy as well as the challenges that affect
democratic institutions.
And the department offers different
variations of the major.
So there are concentrations in law and
courts,
international affairs, and public
administration.
If you have a hard time choosing and you
have a broad interest in the discipline
then I would suggest the general major
because that
allows you maximum flexibility to choose
what you like in the discipline.
The department also offers an honors
concentration
which allows students to gain
experience developing original research
in the form of a thesis.
And finally, there's the option to pursue
an accelerated track where you can earn
your Bachelor's of Arts and public,
excuse me, Political Science and in
the Masters in Public Policy and
Administration degree
in five years. So that's really great and
the MPPA degree is designed
to train students who are interested in
careers in public service
and it's administered in partnership
with the Howard Bbaker Center for Public
Policy. In addition to the curriculum the
department offers,
a range of experiences that students can
have outside of the classroom
which really helps learning and, as a
matter of fact, there are
two summer study abroad programs. One to
London, England and the other to Florence, Italy and both of those are faculty-led.
So you get to go with professors.
You can earn six hours of credit in
Political Science
and the London program actually offers
an additional
three hours of internship but that's
optional.
The department also sponsors the
Tennessee legislative internship program.
Students who are selected for this
program spend the spring semester
in Nashville interning for the Tennessee
General Assembly.
In the department, it's also possible to
earn academic credit for internships if you are pursuing an internship that's
related to politics and government.
And it's also really common for students
to engage in undergraduate research with
faculty.
So the the major really provides a
foundation
for careers in law and government,
in education, in media,
in non-profits, and develops
transferable skills and critical
thinking and problem solving
in leadership and collaboration oral and
written communication
and global and intercultural competency.
All things that
employers and grad schools look for in
applicants.
So I'm so glad that you're interested in
Political Science, at the very least
you're watching this video,
and I hope that it motivates you to find
out more about Political Science.
You're welcome to visit our website
which is polisci.utk.edu.
You can find my information on the
website if you have questions about the
major or the minor.
I wish you all a very successful first
semester and welcome to the volunteer family.
