Sul Ross State University

Graduate Program in Political Science

The Master of Arts degree in Political Science is designed to serve the needs of students who are interested in teaching and research at the college level, who are preparing for political or administrative careers in public or governmental service, who are preparing for careers in secondary education, who are preparing for continued graduate studies, and who, as citizens, simply want to know more about public affairs.

The Master of Arts degree with a major in Political Science may be tailored to meet the needs of the individual student by selecting the courses to be taken to provide a specialization, such as international and comparative politics. For example course work for this specialization could be distributed among three disciplines political science as the major field, and the supporting disciplines of history and business.

Other arrangements with political science as the major field might use appropriate graduate courses from supporting areas such as economics or education As a concentrated degree program which combines subject matter from a specific number of related disciplines, it may be used to establish professional teaching certification in political science as well as to complete a master's degree preparatory to the Ph.D.

Students desiring the applied program in public administration should follow the degree plan outlined in the Master of Arts with a major in political science (public administration option), a program designed to meet the needs of individuals currently employed in, or desiring careers in, public service. Except for the thesis option, course work in political science must be supported by a minimum of nine to 12 semester credit hours of graduate course work in a related discipline.

Requirements for a degree may be satisfied as follows:

• Complete a minimum of 36 semester credit hours of graduate credit course work including PS 5307, OR
• Complete a minimum of 24 semester credit hours of graduate credit course work including PS 5307 plus 6 semester credit hours of PS 6301-6302, Thesis, AND
• Successful completion of the comprehensive examination required of all graduates. Courses taken at the 3000- and 4000-level for graduate credit, arranged courses individual instruction courses, and transfer courses may not total more than 12 semester credit hours.

Admission

While presentation of an undergraduate major in political science is not a requirement, background familiarity with the discipline and/or the general field of United States Government must be evidenced in one of two ways:

Credit on the undergraduate level for at least 12 semester credit hours of political science, OR a score of at least 60 percent on an American Government examination administered by the department. Text materials and sample questions are available upon request from the department chairman.

Students pursuing a second master's degree must present the same background for study in political science. Any graduate hours already earned in political science (perhaps a minor or electives in the first master's degree) are counted toward the 12 hours background. This test must be successfully completed during the first semester following the student's enrollment.

Students pursuing a second master's degree may have up to twelve semester credit hours of graduate work from the completed degree program credited to the Master of Arts degree in political science. This will occur only after full admission to the political science program has been granted by the Director of Admissions and the chairman of the department.