(upbeat music)
- My name is Sunil Dasgupta
and I teach political science
for UMBC at Shady Grove.
I also direct the political
science program at Shady Grove.
When large numbers of
people live together,
we need to figure out who is gonna
make decisions on our behalf.
Political science is to
study the art and science
of figuring out how that process happens.
- I started off doing
sociology and I always knew
that I was gonna go to law school,
so I did sociology and then eventually
I ended up finding my
way in political science.
I took one course and I
loved everything about it.
I said, "Why not just make it my major?"
- Pretty much got into political science
once I was at Montgomery College.
I took an anthropology
class and I really loved,
you know, the culture aspect.
I started paying attention
to, you know, diplomats,
what they do around the world and I kinda
wanted to be in that
kind of important role.
I chose political science as
my major and now I'm here.
- The program focuses
on three major areas.
One is on pre-law, second is public policy
and lastly we focus on
international affairs.
- I did an internship
this past spring semester
with the Maryland General
Assembly down in Annapolis.
I was an intern for Delegate
Aruna Miller of District 15.
My internship opened my
eyes a lot to what it takes
to, you know, get these
smaller bills or, you know,
the local bills passed
and, you know, have them
actually be effective as a law.
- I did an internship for Dr. Walters'
political science internship class.
I went to Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services
up in Baltimore, Maryland,
and currently right now
I'm working as a healthcare consultant
with Booz Allen Hamilton.
That CMS internship
actually lined me my job
which I currently have right now
and a lot of the things
that we were discussing
within Dr. Walters' class really applied
to what I was working on at CMS.
- Our internship program
is a very simple one.
We ask students to take a course
alongside their internship
and the courses start by a
professor right on campus
and together with the
internship a student can
earn as much as seven credits.
- My name is Abbey Viado
and my major is social work,
minor in political science.
I believe that social
work and political science
are so intertwined, I think
there's a lot of importance
in policy making in social work.
I actually did an internship in Annapolis
with State Senator Cheryl Kagan.
The constituent casework
basically involves
helping the constituents of
Senator Kagan in District 17
and the casework basically can range from
as minor as a pothole around the corner
or a broken light bulb from a light post,
but it can also be as intense
and serious as homelessness.
- I did an internship in
Protecting the Children Inc.
The internship is a
non-profit organization
and they help little
kids who are not able to
afford materials for,
like, school, backpacks
or pencils, in different shelters.
- My time in CMS, I think
my most valuable experience
that I had there was
looking at the statistical
programs that I was learning the basics of
at class here at Shady Grove,
but also combining that
into a more realistic
approach of how these programs
can really affect real
people, really looking at
the real-time implications
of what you're working on
and feeling like you're a part
of, y'know, something bigger.
- It's not all about
politics, you have so many
different branches and fields you can
go into with political science.
- We believe that
studying political science
gives students the opportunity
to do a wide range of things,
from going into an analytical
position looking at education
or healthcare or thinking
about how stock markets
respond to political signals.
- My internship experience
at CMS, along with
my other internship
experiences, I think really
set me up to be in the healthcare track,
but then again at the
same time since I've had
the political science
background, you can really apply
policy to almost any sector.
- In social work we can help people,
but if the policies are
broken we have a problem.
And so being in political
science I can have
this experience of being
able to make a difference
at the macro level.
- There are very difficult
problems around the world
that need to be solved.
It is extraordinarily
rewarding and exciting
to be part of a human endeavor that seeks
to better the lives of all of us.
Don't miss out on this opportunity.
(dramatic piano music)
