POLITICAL SCIENCE

A major in political science is designed to help students understand the complexity of political developments in both the United States and throughout the world. The major also provides students with a broad education that will help them prepare for a wide variety of careers in various levels of government service, law, education, journalism, business, and the nonprofit sector. The department offers many courses that meet foreign culture/international requirements of the core curriculum of Arts and Sciences and of the wide range of certificate programs sponsored by the University Center for International Studies. Majors in political science may also participate in the new undergraduate program in public service sponsored by the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and the College of General Studies (CGS).

Requirements for Major

A major consists of a minimum of 24 credits in political science plus 12 credits in a related area. The department offers a wide range of courses in four fields: American government, comparative government, international relations and law, and political theory.

The core courses in each field provide first- and second-year students with a broad introduction to the substances and methods of each field. The filed courses provide third- and fourth-year students with specific courses in American and foreign political systems, the foreign policies of a wide variety of states, and alternative conceptions of the basis and nature of political life. The combination of core and field courses permits the student to develop an awareness of the breadth and variety of political science as a discipline and a more detailed competence in one of its fields.

Credits should be distributed as follows:

Core Courses

At least two of the following:

• PS 0200 American Political Process
  An introduction to the institutions and political processes in the United States. The course surveys the presidency, Congress, and the judicial system as well as political behavior, public opinion, political attitudes, and the party system.
• PS 0300 Comparative Politics
  An introduction to political systems outside the United States. The course surveys a variety of theoretical approaches to the comparison of political systems and an examination of the political processes, institutions, and current political developments in a variety of political systems in all of the major regions of the world.
• PS 0500 World Politics
  An introduction to the study of foreign policy, covering the international political environment in which nation-states and other actors operate, as well as the specific policies adopted by particular states.
• PS 0600 Political Theory and Analysis
  An introduction to the history of Western political ideas, including the thought of Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Mill, and Marx.

Field Courses

At least 18 credits, including one 1000-level course in each of the four fields of political science.

American Politics

• 1201 Constitution and Civil Liberties
• 1202 American Constitutional Law
• 1203 Judicial Politics
• 1204 Women in Politics
• 1205 Ethnic and Racial Politics
• 1211 Legislative Process
• 1212 American Presidency
• 1213 Law and Politics
• 1230 Interest Group Politics
• 1231 Political Parties and Elections
• 1232 Political Attitudes and Public Opinion
• 1233 Political Psychology
• 1234 Electoral Behavior and Democratic Process
• 1235 Media and Politics
• 1241 Public Administration and Political Systems
• 1242 Intergovernmental Relations
• 1251 Urban Government
• 1252 State Government
• 1261 American Public Policy
• 1262 Health Policy in the United States
• 1263 Governments in the Economy
• 1264 Problems of Public Management
• 1265 Public Policy Implementation
• 1267 Environmental Politics and Policy
• 1281 Seminar in American Politics (honors)

Comparative Politics

• 1301 Theory and Concepts in Comparative Politics
• 1302 Political Development
• 1303 Movement Politics
• 1311 Western European Government and Politics
• 1312 British Government and Politics
• 1313 French Government and Politics
• 1314 German Government and Politics
• 1315 Italian Government and Politics
• 1316 Scandinavian Government and Politics
• 1317 Politics of the European Union
• 1321 Latin American Politics
• 1322 Latin American Political Development
• 1326 The Politics of Revolution
• 1328 Comparative and Development Administration
• 1331 Government and Politics of Southeast Asia
• 1332 Government and Politics of Contemporary China
• 1334 Vietnam War
• 1336 Contemporary China, Politics, Society, and Economy
• 1341 Government and Politics of the USSR and the Russian Federation
• 1343 Comparative Socialist Political Systems
• 1346 Political East Europe
• 1347 (Conflicts in) Contemporary Europe
• 1348 Xenophobia in Modern Europe
• 1349 The Transatlantic Market Place and Global Political Economy
• 1350 Russia, the CIS, and the Expanding European Union
• 1351 Government and Politics of the Middle East
• 1352 Introduction to African Politics
• 1353 African Liberation Movements
• 1361 Comparative Political Party Systems
• 1362 Comparative Urban Government
• 1363 Globalization and Law
• 1370 Special Topics
• 1371 Elites in Modern Society
• 1372 European Environmental Policy Making
• 1373 Welfare State in Comparative Perspective
• 1374 Politics of Global Inequality
• 1375 Religion and Politics
• 1378 Two Centuries of Democratization
• 1379 Is Fascism Back?
• 1381 Comparative Government Seminar

International Relations & Law

• 1501 Theory of International Relations
• 1502 International Law and Problems of World Order
• 1503 International Organization
• 1504 Nationalism
• 1509 Conflict and War Theory
• 1510 Cold War: Soviet Union and the West
• 1511 American Foreign Policy
• 1512 Europe after the Cold War: Cooperation and Conflict
• 1513 Foreign Policies in a Changing World
• 1514 Political Strategy in International Relations
• 1516 Transnational Politics
• 1521 Eastern Europe in World Politics
• 1522 Latin America in World Politics
• 1523 East Asia in World Politics
• 1530 New International Relations of Europe
• 1531 United States National Security
• 1533 Political Violence and Revolution
• 1542 Global Environmental Politics
• 1543 Globalization and International Politics
• 1544 Political Economy of American Trade Policy
• 1551 Cognitive Psychology and International Relations
• 1581 Seminar in International Relations (honors)

Political Theory and Analysis

• 1601 Political Theory: Plato–Machiavelli
• 1602 Political Theory: Machiavelli–Rousseau
• 1603 Contemporary Political Thought
• 1604 European Social Thought and Political Practice
• 1605 Modern Political Ideologies
• 1607 American Political Thought
• 1611 Liberalism and Democracy
• 1612 Marxism
• 1613 Human Nature
• 1614 Theories of Justice
• 1622 Women and Political Theory
• 1623 Psychology and Politics
• 1629 Topics in Political Theory
• 1636 Politics through Film
• 1681 Seminar in Political Theory
• 1701 Field Methods Political Research
• 1702 Analysis of Political Variables
• 1710 Formal Political Analysis
• 1900 Internship
• 1901 Independent Study
• 1902 Directed Reading
• 1903 Directed Research

Related Area

A minimum of 12 credits in such related disciplines as anthropology, economics, history, sociology, or a related concentration in regional studies.

W Requirement

Students must complete one W course in the major.

Foreign Language

None required beyond the requirements of Arts and Sciences. Study of a foreign language is highly recommended for students with an interest in politics outside of the United States and for all those considering graduate work in comparative politics or a career in government agencies concerned with foreign affairs.

Statistics

Not required for majors, but highly recommended for all those interested in graduate education in political science, business, or public policy.

Department Honors Program

The department’s honors program is designed for all those who seek a more intellectually challenging program and more individualized contact with faculty. This program is highly recommended for students interested in graduate education in the social sciences and professional schools in law, business, and public affairs. The requirements beyond the normal departmental major include 1) completion of two additional seminars in political science at the 1000 or 2000 level or one seminar and a research project; 2) an overall QPA of 3.25, with a QPA of 3.5 in political science.

Independent Study

Students who have completed the field course may explore a particular subject in greater depth in a tutorial with the appropriate faculty member. Permission of the instructor is required.

Minor

A minor in political science is composed of one core course and four field courses in one of the four fields of political science.

Internships

A wide range of internships related to the study of politics at the local, national, and international levels are available in both the public and private sectors in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and other major cities. Students must work closely with a faculty advisor to assure full academic credit.

Study Abroad

Majors in political science receive full academic credit for participation in all study abroad programs. The University of Pittsburgh is a participant in a wide range of programs of foreign study.

Honors Society

Students who have achieved a QPA of 3.0 in political science are encouraged to join Pi Sigma Alpha, the national honors society in political science. This society sponsors many extracurricular activities linked to the study of politics.

For more information about the program in political science, contact:

Professor Robert Donaldson
4J35 Posvar Hall
412-648-7269

PSYCHOLOGY

The psychology major is part of the liberal arts program of A&S. As such, it provides students with the skills needed to succeed in a job and in graduate school, to think critically and communicate effectively about human behavior and related topics. The Department of Psychology also functions from the perspective that psychology is a natural science. The emphasis it places on research is evident in the foundation courses required to declare the psychology major (e.g., statistics, research methods), as well as in the focus on the scientific methods throughout the content of all other psychology courses. To complement their arts and sciences training, the department also encourages students to participate in directed research and/or supervised field placement opportunities. For more information on the psychology department and its programs, please visit www.pitt.edu/~psych or merlin.psych.pitt.edu/psyadvise.htm.

Psychology majors can participate in one of two major options:

General Major in Psychology

All psychology majors are automatically enrolled in the general major track. This track provides students with a broad background in psychology and a firm understanding of the scientific method. The majority of students select this option.

Honors in Psychology

The honors major offers students a challenging and unique opportunity: to conduct their own independent research study under the guidance of a faculty member; additional course and QPA requirements apply. Students interested in pursuing honors in psychology should contact an advisor in the psychology advising office.

General Major Requirements

In addition to the A&S basic skills and general education requirements, psychology majors must complete 29 credits in psychology, four credits in statistics, and 12 credits of corequirements. The distribution of the major requirements is as follows:

Foundation Courses (Three courses that are required to declare the major; students must earn a C or better in all three foundation courses if they wish to graduate with a psychology major.)

• PSY 0010 Introduction to Psychology or PSY 0012 Foundations of Psychology
• STAT 0200 Basic Applied Statistics or STAT 1000 Applied Statistical Methods
• PSY 0035 Research Methods

Core Courses (Four courses: Developmental Psychology plus one course from each of the three pairs of courses)

• PSY 0310 Developmental Psychology
• PSY 0105 Introduction to Social Psychology or PSY 0160 Psychology of Personality
• PSY 0405 Learning and Motivation or 0420 Human Cognition and Learning

Note: The 400-level courses have required laboratory components.

• PSY 0505 Introduction to Biopsychology or 0510 Sensation and Perception

1000-level courses (three courses)

Students must take three 1000-level courses, one of which may be PSY 1900 Supervised Field Placement, PSY 1902 Directed Individual Reading, or PSY 1903 Directed Individual Research. For students participating in the honors major, PSY 1973 Honors Directed Research or PSY 1975 Honors Thesis/Majors may be used to fulfill one of the 1000-level course requirements.

Corequirements (four courses)

The psychology department requires that students further develop their scientific skills through certain approved courses in math, biological sciences, social sciences, and philosophy. A list of these approved courses is available in the psychology advising office. The corequirements may be used to fulfill A&S general education requirements, where appropriate, or can be taken as separate courses.

Psychology majors must also follow these rules and requirements:

• Psychology majors must maintain at least a 2.0 QPA average in their departmental courses.
• Although the psychology department permits its majors to elect the S/N grading option for any psychology course, students are reminded that most graduate and professional schools, and many employers, prefer to see standard grades on the transcript.
• Majors must take one of the W courses offered within the department. PSY 0035 Research Methods is offered every term and is a W course.
• In addition to their major requirements, all A&S students are required to complete a related area, minor, or certificate. Students should consult a psychology advisor when deciding which courses they would like to pursue to fulfill this requirement.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Religion is one of the creative expressions of the human spirit. As such, it has shaped and, in turn, been shaped by virtually all historical traditions as well as by many other forms of human activity such as the arts, literature, political thinking, and social behavior. The academic study of religion, therefore, should be undertaken through diverse scholarly methodologies, and it should treat experiences in a variety of cultural contexts in different periods. Students who wish to understand the manner in which religion, in its broadest terms, has contributed to the shaping of the human experience are encouraged to undertake a course of study that will expand their methodological skills as well as give them a firm command of a particular cultural or historical context. Courses in the study of religion tend to emphasize the human search for meaning and value in history; the manner in which particular religious traditions, practices, thoughts, and orientations have evolved over time; and the degree to which religious views have interacted creatively with other systems of thought and other meaningful expressions of human activity. In addition to courses in the Department of Religious Studies, related courses are offered in other departments as well, such as anthropology, classics, history, philosophy, and sociology. For more information on the department and its programs, visit www.pitt.edu/~relgst.

Major Requirements

The religious studies major consists of 27 credits in religious studies courses, at least half of which must be taken at the 1000 level. The required credits are divided between four components:

• At least one course in the theory or method of religious study, such as one of the following:
  • RELGST 0705 Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • RELGST 0710 Sociology of Religion
  • RELGST 0715 Philosophy of Religion
  • RELGST 1610 Myth, Symbol, and Ritual
  • RELGST 1630 Ritual Process
  • RELGST 1650 Approaches to Anti-Semitism
  • RELGST 1710 Perspectives on Religion
  • RELGST 1760 Religion and Rationality
• At least four courses in one area of specialization, three of which must be at the 1000 level. Examples of areas of specialization include religion in America, religion in Asia, Christian studies, Jewish studies, and religion and politics.
• At least two courses in an alternative tradition of a comparative nature, and one additional course complementary to those two, at least one of which must be at the 1000 level.
• A one-term independent study/research project (RELGST 1903 Directed Research—Undergraduate) developed and pursued in consultation with a faculty sponsor. The project must result in a major research paper, which will serve to bring together the principles accentuated in the student’s work within the department and will satisfy the A&S departmental W requirement.

Additional rules and requirements of religious studies majors are as follows:

• Majors must earn a grade of C in each departmental course taken. Courses required for the major must be taken on a letter-grade basis.
• Students should check with the departmental advisor for the credit by examination option.
• The required A&S 12-credit related area may encompass study of literature, language, art, or history of a culture the student is seeking to understand or disciplines or processes that are related to religion, such as social change, mythology, symbolism, and literature. Students may use foreign languages as their related area, but those languages must show some relationship to the primary religion or cultural context within the major. Students planning to attend graduate school should know that competence in those languages related to the culture they will be studying is mandatory. The department strongly encourages development of language skills during undergraduate years.

Minor in Religious Studies

This minor will offer students two areas of study, each requiring the completion of five specific courses (15 credits). Students may choose either a minor in Western religious tradition or one in Eastern religious tradition. Interested students should contact the religious studies department for more information.

SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers majors in Russian and Polish. These majors provide students with the opportunity to study the languages, literatures, and cultures of Russia and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Croatia, and Serbia.

Students in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures include those whose primary interest is languages or literature, who wish to enhance their career opportunities in a special way, who have an interest in the politics and culture of Russia and Eastern Europe, and who have a desire to explore their ethnic heritage. Many Russian majors continue their studies in graduate school or go on to careers in law, engineering, business, and government. Students of Polish, Slovak, Serbian, Ukrainian, and Russian find knowledge of those languages valuable in working in local Western Pennsylvania institutions, politics, business, health-related professions, and media because of the large population of those ethnicities in this region, which traces its roots to the various Slavic nations of Eastern Europe. Students are advised to begin language study early to gain as complete a command of the language as possible. For more information on the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and its programs, see www.pitt.edu/~slavic.

During the fall and spring terms, the department offers language courses in Russian, Polish, Slovak, and Ukrainian, with Serbian and Croatian available through the Language Acquisition Institute. Students with any prior experience with Russian or Ukrainian (such as from having spent any time in Russia or the former Soviet Union or from having parents who are able to speak or understand any Russian or Ukrainian) are required to consult with the instructor before being admitted to any language course in the department.

Summer term intensive courses in Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Serbian, Russian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, and Ukrainian are offered. The Summer Institute, available in June, July, and the first part of August, covers an entire year of study on the first-, second-, and third-year levels. For prospective majors, the institute affords the opportunity to make rapid progress through the language in order to qualify for advanced courses or study abroad opportunities. Deserving of special mention is the department’s program in Slovak language, literature, and culture—the only such program in the United States and one that additionally offers the opportunity for several students each year to study in Slovakia. The summer study of Russian, Polish, and, beginning in 2004, Bulgarian affords the opportunity to study for the first half of the course in Pittsburgh and for the second part in the target country, with excursions to major cities and monuments. Scholarships are available for the summer study of languages.

Russian Major Requirements

The Russian major requires at least 30 credits above the level of RUSS 0040 Intermediate Russian 2 and must include the following:

• RUSS 0400 Advanced Russian 1 and 0410 Advanced Russian 2
• RUSS 0420 Russian Newspapers and Magazines and 0430 Readings in Russian Literature
• RUSS 0850 Early Russian Culture and 0860 Modern Russian Culture
• RUSS 0800 Masterpieces of 19th-Century Russian Literature and 0810 Masterpieces of 20th-Century Russian Literature
• RUSS 1400 Morphology of Modern Russian (optional)
• RUSS 1420 Fourth-year Russian 1
• RUSS 1430 Fourth-year Russian 2
• At least two courses in an approved related area in political science, history, economics, art history, or other Slavic language and literature

Additional courses at the 1000 level in Russian literature are strongly recommended. Prospective majors are encouraged to take RUSS 0800 Masterpieces of 19th-Century Russian Literature and RUSS 0810 Masterpieces of 20th-Century Russian Literature as early as possible as an introduction to Russian literature.

The following rules and requirements apply to Russian majors:

• Advanced placement assessment and credit by examination may be arranged through consent of the instructor and the department chair.
• RUSS 0800 Masterpieces of 19th-Century Russian Literature and RUSS 0810 Masterpieces of 20th-Century Russian Literature are offered regularly as W courses and will satisfy the departmental W course requirement.

For more information, see www.pitt.edu/~slavic/undergraduate.html.

Polish Major Requirements

Students interested in majoring in Polish should check with the department for current requirements for completing the major.

Minor in Slovak Studies

An undergraduate minor in Slovak studies motivates students to continue with their language and culture studies in a meaningful way. This program would be particularly useful for students majoring in anthropology, political science, and history, many of whom focus their work on Slovakia or Central Europe and see Slovak language and culture as a gateway to the study of the area. Several of the graduates with considerable work in Slovak at Pitt have been offered jobs at the Pentagon, international nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Radio Free Europe, and the U.S. Department of State.

Students who are interested in the minor may tailor their course selections according to the focus of their interest in the Slovak language or in Slovak culture.

The Slovak language option requires the following distribution of courses for a total of 17 credits:

All of the following:

• SLOVAK 0010 Elementary Slovak 1, 4 credits
• SLOVAK 0020 Elementary Slovak 2, 4 credits
• SLOVAK 0030 Intermediate Slovak 3, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 0040 Intermediate Slovak 4, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 0400 Advanced Slovak 1, 3 credits

The Slovak culture option requires the following distribution of courses for a total of 17 credits:

All of the following:

• SLOVAK 0010 Elementary Slovak 1, 4 credits
• SLOVAK 0020 Elementary Slovak 2, 4 credits

Three of the following:

• SLOVAK 1250 Cultural History of Slovakia, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 1260 Survey of Slovak Literature and Culture, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 1770 Czech and Slovak Film, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 1865 The Year Communism Crumbled, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 1270 Slovakia Today, 3 credits
• SLOVAK 0030 Intermediate Slovak 3, 3 credits