Mission

The Government Department's mission is to offer a nationally acclaimed program of teaching and research in political science. This has four principal components and constituencies:

• A mandate from the Texas Legislature to provide six credit hours of instruction in American and Texas government for all University undergraduates;

• An undergraduate major that educates leaders and informed citizens, equips them with knowledge and critical skills appropriate for a variety of careers inside and outside the public sector, and enables graduates to gain admission to professional schools in law, public affairs, and other fields;

• An undergraduate track, including an Honors program, appropriate for students interested in graduate study leading to a Ph.D. in political science;

• A Ph.D. program designed to educate scholars for political science teaching and research, in which the discipline's major fields, and the principal approaches in them, are taught by a diverse and expert faculty.