About Us

The faculty of the Department of Political Science includes dozens of full time members, including several with joint appointments in other departments such as Public Policy, Economics, History, and Law as well as many distinguished visiting faculty from other universities in the United States and Europe. Members of the faculty have published dozens of books and hundreds of articles that have appeared in every major political science journal. Various members of the faculty edit or serve on the editorial boards of major professional journals of the discipline.

Our faculty have won national competitions, grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Program, the Social Science Research Council, the Ford Foundation, the Lilly Foundation, the Olin Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

They have been fellows or guest scholars at the Brookings Institution, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung, the Hoover Institution, and the National Humanities Center.

The faculty includes past presidents of the American Political Science Association, the Southern Political Science Association, the International Studies Association, the Public Choice Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. Some faculty members have served also on the U.S. Circuit Judge Nominating Commission, the National Security Council, and the National Science Foundation. They have also served in the U.S. House of Representatives and in federal agencies such as the Agency for International Development, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Defense. Faculty members frequently testify before congressional committees and consult with state and foreign governments.

Additionally, our department is recognized for outstanding undergraduate teaching. Teaching honors attest to the importance we give to instruction. Four faculty members have received the university's Trinity College Distinguished Teaching Award and five have been nominated for the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award. Two political scientists have won the university's Howard Johnson Distinguished Teaching Award, an award given to those faculty members whose teaching inspires confidence in and respect for the highest tradition of American democracy, free enterprise, and Western civilization.

Political science at Duke is an exciting place to be. Our faculty is internationally recognized as scholars and as teachers. They bring their own excitement about learning with them when they enter the classroom. Ask one of the upperclassmen who have taken political science classes and they will tell you that the classes are fun, you'll learn a lot, and no subject is more important. Political science really is the "queen of the sciences".

Our students are trained to tackle the greatest political questions of our time. Politics permeate every aspect of our life, from local funding for public education to global challenges such as poverty and terrorism. When you study political science you gain practical knowledge and conceptual tools to pursue careers in law, business, journalism, public service, and education.