Welcome to The Department of Government

The department is distinguished by the breadth and quality of its faculty, students, and curriculum. It is the largest department in the College of Liberal Arts and is home to 2200 majors and 115 Ph.D. students. Nationally recognized for its quality, the Department has fifty professors, a dozen joint and emeritus professors, ten lecturers, and more than fifty teaching assistants. The Department houses the Public Policy Institute research unit. Through some 200 courses each year, the Department offers undergraduate and graduate studies in an array of fields: American Political Institutions and Processes, Comparative Politics, Formal Theory, International Relations, Methodology, Political Theory, and Public Law. Its graduates go on to careers in virtually every profession and have become leaders in politics and diplomacy, education, law, business, medicine, the arts, and in a great many governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations.



Current News


Department of Government Commencement Ceremony 2008
Information for Graduating Students



Eric McDaniel

Prof. Eric McDaniel Receives Fellowship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Assistant Professor Eric L. McDaniel has accepted the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s invitation to join their Scholars in Health Policy Research Program.



American Political Science Association

Prof. Catherine Boone Heads American Political Science Association Africa Workshop



National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation Awards Grant to Profs. Tasha Philpot and Daron Shaw for Election Study



Daron Shaw

Prof. Daron Shaw Receives President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award



Recent GOV Department faculty publications

Recent Books by Government Department Faculty
A number of Government Department faculty published books during 2007.



Pen and Paper

2008 Undergraduate Honors Thesis Work



GRADUATE NEWS
Catch the latest happenings in Graduate Newsoffsite link



Door in Paraguay

Award-winning Government/Plan II graduate, Julie Wimmer, finds adventure and challenges in Paraguay
After graduating from UT in May, 2005, with a Bachelor of Arts in Plan II Honors, Government, and Latin American Studies, I worked as a legislative assistant in the office of State Representative Pete P. Gallego before receiving my invitation from the Peace Corps to serve as an Urban Youth Development Consultant Volunteer in Paraguay.



Participants in the GOV 358 course

Group Project Investigates Politics of Carbon Markets
In GOV358: Introduction to Public Policy, taught by Dr. Alessandra Lippucci, groups are required to complete a project regarding a major policy issue. One group presented on carbon markets, titled “Carbon Markets for Dummies”. The educational presentation discussed carbon markets from both global and local perspectives and demonstrated the dynamics of the carbon market through an interactive game. Both upper and lower division classes explored this topic through these students’ presentation.