Political science department broadens course offering
Posted by The Skyliner on February 4th, 2009Samantha Mayo
Staff Writer
The political science department will be diversifying and expanding its course offerings for the fall 2009 semester.
Dr. Mark A. Roeder, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, says that the Political Science department is looking at offering courses that apply to other fields of study. Among the courses being considered are an international relations course that is highly applicable to both business and intercultural Studies, a public opinion course pertaining to mass communication and a political psychology course for psychology majors.
Roeder specifically described the political psychology course saying that it will include personality studies of world leaders and a social psychology emphasis. Constitutional Law, Congress, Foreign Policy and European Politics may also be offered. Roeder hopes the new course offerings will appeal to a wide variety of students.
He says that the department’s two main goals are “to ensure that students, regardless of major, become good political consumers, and to train Christian students to engage in politics.”
Roeder believes that offering a wider variety of courses will enhance the department’s ability to achieve both purposes. With those goals in mind, the department also hopes to offer a course on campaigns and elections in the fall of every election year.
However, the department is only able to offer the courses that generate the most interest, so the final selection of classes for the fall semester will be determined by student feedback. Roeder can receive any student responses at mroeder@ngu.edu.
In addition to offering new classes this coming fall, the political science department is also working toward making some larger, long-term changes.
After spring 2010, the department plans to modify the political science minor to include the study of international law as well as American law, which is currently required. In the next three to five years, the department hopes to further enhance political science studies with the development of a political science major and a dual history and political science major. The department is also exploring the possibility of a pre-law concentration after the political science major is in place. Student interest as well as department budget and staffing will dictate the exact timeline for these changes.