Skip Navigation
Search

Our Program

The majority of your courses will be taught by our full-time research faculty

Below you can find a brief example of our curriculum, followed by short biographies of our faculty and information about their classes.

An Example of Our Curriculum

Our program is full-time and takes a calendar year to complete.

Fall Semester: 4 courses

    • Introductory Statistics (POL 501)
    • Research Methods (POL 504)
    • Passionate Politics: Mobilization, Interest Groups, and Social Movements (POL 562)
    • Behavioral Economics and Public Policy (POL 521)

Spring Semester: 4 courses

    • Intermediate Statistics (POL 502)
    • Dynamics of Public Opinion (POL 561)
    • Moral Politics (POL 571)
    • Culture, Values, and Public Opinion (POL 567)

Summer Semester: A capstone project
One of the following:

    • Master’s Thesis (POL 568) (recommended for those intending to pursue doctoral study)
    • Internship in MA in Political Science (POL 569) (recommended for all other students)

Our Faculty and Classes

Leonie Huddy

Leonie Huddy Teaches about Passionate Politics

Dr. Huddy is our department chair and a SUNY Distinguished Professor. She is a pioneer in creating the modern field of political psychology. For more on Dr. Huddy and her research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Huddy had to say about her course: 

“In my Passionate Politics course, we’ll see how people’s social identities – their attachments to important groups in their lives – mobilize them to vote and be politically active. We’ll also look at the role of emotions like anger and anxiety in our political lives.”

Peter DeScioliPeter DeScioli teaches about Moral Politics

Dr. DeScioli is an Associate Professor. He studies how our moral minds lead us to create laws and politics. For more on Dr. DeScioli and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. DeScioli had to say about his course: 

“In my Moral Politics course, we’ll see how moral outrage can make citizens and legislators refuse to compromise. Our moral convictions can grind negotiations to a halt, leaving everyone worse off.”

Brian GuayBrian Guay teaches about the Dynamics of Public Opinion

Dr. Guay is an Assistant Professor. He studies misinformation and political polarization. For more on Dr. Guay and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Guay had to say about his course: 

“In my Public Opinion course, we'll explore how people form beliefs and attitudes about the political world around them, and how this can lead to a strong democracy or the type of widespread polarization we see in the U.S. today.”

Reuben KlineReuben Kline teaches about Behavioral Economics

Dr. Kline is an Associate Professor. His research uses insights from economics to make sense of politics, including topics like artificial intelligence and climate change. For more on Dr. Kline and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Kline had to say about his course:  

“In my course on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, we will see how policymakers can use our understanding of human psychology to design and implement better public policies. We’ll also learn the latest techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of a policy.”

Gallya LahavGallya Lahav teaches about Culture and Values

Dr. Lahav is a Professor in our department. She studies migration and integration in democracies. For more on Dr. Lahav and her research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Lahav had to say about her course: 

“In my course on Culture, Values, and Public Opinion, we’ll see how democracies are affected by and react to culture, ideology, socio-economic cleavages, identity, and xenophobia. We’ll also go in depth with important, world-wide surveys such as the World Values Survey.”

Andrew DeltonAndrew Delton teaches about Research Methods

Dr. Delton is the director of the MA in Political Science and an Associate Professor. He studies rationality and emotions in politics, including their role in the politics of climate change and social welfare. For more on Dr. Delton and his research, go here. In addition to running the MA program, Dr. Delton also teaches in it. Here’s what he had to say about his course: 

“In my Research Design course, we’ll learn about the techniques that political scientists use to understand the world, including how to design surveys and experiments.”

Andrew EngelhardtAndrew Engelhardt teaches Statistics

Dr. Engelhardt is an Assistant Professor. He studies inclusion and group-based inequality in multi-racial democracies. For more on Dr. Engelhardt and his research, go here. Dr. Engelhardt teaches our course on Intermediate Statistics and this is what he had to say about it: 

“In my Statistics course, we’ll learn how to use state-of-the art stats programs to analyze the data that political scientists collect.”

*Please note that although this is a typical curriculum and set of faculty members, courses and professors may change based on department needs. The current course bulletin, with all graduate political science courses, can be found here.