Designated Emphasis

Graduate students in politics may obtain a designated emphasis on the Politics Ph.D. diploma indicating they have completed an additional specialized course of study in another department that offers a designated emphasis. Please consult the department of interest for more information.

To receive a designated emphasis in Politics, graduate students from other departments must complete the following requirements in addition to degree requirements for the doctorate in their home (or coordinating) department.

• The student must have a designated graduate advisor from among the Politics faculty. This advisor will be in addition to the graduate advisor from the student’s home department. The Politics advisor must serve on the student’s qualifying examination committee and the student’s dissertation committee.
• The student must take four (4) graduate courses offered by the Politics department. Two of these courses must be core courses (Political and Social Thought, Political Institutions, Political Economy, or Social Forces) and two courses may be electives appropriate to the student’s thesis research.  No more than one of these two elective courses may be an independent study.
• The student must prepare a significant piece of writing in the area of Politics. This writing may take the form of a doctoral dissertation chapter or a paper to be submitted for publication.

After all requirements for the designated emphasis, the student should obtain the signed approval of her/his faculty advisor in Politics and the Graduate Director of the Politics department. A copy will be sent to the student’s home department as verification that all the requirements have been met.

Click Here to fill out the Politics Designated Emphasis Application via DocuSign