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Program Review 2008/2009

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Program Review 2008/2009 Program Review 2008/2009 Members of Political Science/International Relations Program Review Committee: Jessica Clemente, Student, Political Science major. Kenneth Deutsch, Professor of Political Science and International Relations Edward Drachman, Professor of Political Science and International Relations (sabbatical Spring 2009) Victoria Farmer, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations Jeremy Grace, Professor of Political Science and International Relations Marilyn Klotz, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations Jeffrey Koch, Professor and Chair of Political Science and International Relations Peter Markulis, Professor of Strategic Management and Small Business Management Mary Mohan, Associate Professor of Communications Rebecca Root, Assistant Professor of Political Science Chad Salitan, Student, Political Science and International Relations Major. Robert Goeckel, Professor of Political Science and International Relations (sabbatical during the 2008/2009 academic year). External Reviewers: Robert Spitzer, SUNY-Cortland John Ishiyama, North Texas University 1 Table of Contents Geneseo’s Mission Statement 3 Introduction 3 Review of Previous Program Review 4 Recommendations 8 Structure and Resources of the Department of Political Science and IR 9 Political Science Curriculum 13 International Relations Curriculum 15 Political Science and International Relations Co-Curricular Activities 21 International Relations Career Outcomes 24 Political Science Career Outcomes 24 Political Science and International Relations Assessment 25 Political Science Focus Group 27 International Relations Focus Group 30 Survey of Political Science and International Relations Alumni 35 Survey of Political Science Majors 35 Survey of International Relations Majors 36 Appendix A: Faculty Resumes 37 Appendix B: Bulletin Description of International Relations and Political Science 75 Majors, and course descriptions Appendix C: Career Outcomes of International Relations Majors 85 Appendix D: Career Outcomes of Political Science Majors 87 Appendix E: Survey Results for Political Science and International Relations Alumni 110 Appendix F: Survey Results for Political Science Majors 145 Appendix G: Survey Results for International Relations Majors. 154 2 Geneseo’s Mission Statement SUNY Geneseo, nationally recognized as a center of excellence in undergraduate education, is a public liberal arts college with selected professional and master's level programs. It combines a rigorous curriculum and a rich co-curricular life to create a learning-centered environment. The entire college community works together to develop socially responsible citizens with skills and values important to the pursuit of an enriched life and success in the world. Values Geneseo is distinguished by one overriding purpose: to achieve excellence in higher education. The College realizes this through a spirit of cooperation and collaboration among all members of the community. Geneseo Values Excellence, and upholds high standards for intellectual inquiry and scholarly achievement; Innovation, and affirms a spirit of exploration that fosters continued excellence; Community, and embraces the educational aspirations and interests that its members share; Diversity, and respects the unique contributions of each individual to the campus community; Integrity, and promotes the development of ethical citizens; Service to Society, and models the qualities it seeks to develop in its students; Tradition, and celebrates its long history of collaborative, learning-centered education. Planning Goals 1. Provide every student the highest quality education through a rigorous, challenging, and active learning experience in close working relationships with faculty and staff that encourages intellectual engagement and personal growth. 2. Recruit, support, and foster the development of a diverse community of outstanding students, faculty, and staff. 3. Enrich the collegiate experience by strengthening the integration between curricular and co- curricular programs. 4. Cultivate relationships between the College and wider community that support College programs and serve the community. 5. Expand funding for institutional priorities and initiatives through public and private support, grants, and entrepreneurial activities. 6. Promote institutional effectiveness through ongoing assessment in every program. 7. Provide facilities, equipment, and a physical environment (of a quality) consistent with the College's aspirations for national recognition. Introduction The Department of Political Science and International Relations’ Program Review sought to assess its effectiveness in undergraduate education for the Political Science and International Relations majors. The Department contributes significantly to Genesoe’s mission, upholding academic excellence, affirming innovation, fosters community and a respect for diversity, promotes integrity, service to society, and recognizes Geneseos history of collaborative, learning-centered educational experience. The department reviewed the curriculum for both majors, attained opinion of current majors and alums, reviewed its co-curricular offerings, compared the Political Science curriculum with that at comparable schools, and reviewed the recommendations of the most recent program review. The department contributes to Geneseo’s 3 general education core requirements with the following courses: American Politics, Comparative Politics, and International Relations. The department offers several courses that enable students to complete Geneseo’s Nonwestern traditions requirement; and the Modern Political Analysis courses can be used to complete the Numeric and Symbolic Reasoning Requirement. The department also contributes to a number of minors at Geneseo: American Studies, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, East European Studies, Asian Studies, and Public Administration. Student and alumni satisfaction with the department is high; in fact, student opinion of the department is higher than that expressed in the 1997 and 2003 program reviews. The department supports numerous co-curricular activities, building strong relations between students and the department, as well as supplementing class room activities. Most, but not all, of the recommendations from the previous program review were implemented. Geneseo’s Department of Political Science and International Relations has the highest student/faculty ratio of any SUNY college; and the highest student/faculty advisement load of any department at Geneseo. As will be revealed below, in each case the difference is large. In spite of the fact that the department was allocated an additional position in 2006 and Jeremy Grace became the student/faculty ratio has improved modestly due to the continued growth of the International Relations major. The department is a rigorous department, every course requires a significant amount of writing, and the department is known as being one of the “stingiest” for awarding As at Geneseo.1 As stated in the 1997 and 2003 program reviews, the Political Science major would be enhanced by the addition of a senior seminar/capstone course. Several attempts have been made devise a method to implement a capstone course for the Political Science major, but none of these have been approved. Additionally, the growing number of students in the International Relations major has is making it even more difficult to implement a capstone/senior seminar for the Political Science major. Review of Previous Program Review Below are the department’s recommendations—verbatim—from the 2003/2004 program review. 1. In light of the disparities in male and female’s appraisals of the department, faculty must convey, and take seriously, the intellectual development of all students. 2. There should be less reliance on adjuncts and visiting professors to teach courses. 3. The open American Politics position should be filled. 4. The department should offer a senior seminar/capstone course. Many other Political Science Departments and other majors in the social sciences at Geneseo offer a capstone/senior seminar-type course. The small number of Political Science faculty and 1 SUNY-Geneseo data reveals that Political Science/International Relations allocates the 2nd lowest proportion of As as a department. 4 the large enrollments in Political Science Courses has made it difficult to offer this option. 5. Given sufficient resources a course on Political Change and Democratization should be offered. 6. If resources are sufficient the department should be expanded to increase the range of courses offered. Courses on Asian Politics and South American Politics (both from a comparative perspective), Politics of the European Union, Rational Choice Theory, and an additional quantitative methods course would be welcome additions. 7. The department should delete courses listed in the Geneseo Bulletin that have not been offered recently and seem unlikely to be offered in the foreseeable future. 8. The opportunity for students to complete an Honors thesis in International Relations needs to be reviewed. While such an option currently exists on the books, administrative difficulties (calculation of IR Majors’ GPA) have prevented its implementation. The implementation of this option will increase the number of Honors Theses the department is asked to supervise, which may introduce a new problem. 9. The department should continue to offer colloquiums,
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