Department ActivitiesAdvisingThe department chair serves as the principal undergraduate adviser and does final degree checks. However, students may choose any member of the department as their regular adviser. A faculty member other than the chair serves as principal graduate adviser.
Constitutions of the United States and MissouriStudents may fulfill the state requirement for the study of state and national constitutions by taking Political Science 210, American Government. This course also counts toward the social science-area requirement within The College of Arts and Sciences curriculum.
InternshipsThe department has an active internship program. Information on local, regional, national and international programs of interest to undergraduates in political science is posted on departmental bulletin boards and is available from faculty members. Credit is given for successful completion of internship programs approved by the department.
Special ServicesThe department occasionally invites distinguished political scientists from other universities to visit UMKC to provide lectures for its students and to meet with them for questions and discussions. Additionally, when it is appropriate, public officials, civil servants, foreign officials and others active in public affairs speak to political science classes as part of the academic program.Independent study in the form of tutorials is available in two courses: 497 and 498 (depending on student qualifications). In either case, without exception, the student must propose a topic for study, have the approval of the adviser and have the written consent of the instructor with whom the tutorial is to be taken before registration for the course. UMKC Honors Program participants may take any course in the department for honors credit by making special arrangements, involving extra work, with the instructor.
Honorary SocietyA chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honorary society, has been active at UMKC since 1975. Each year Pi Sigma Alpha seeks to recognize the best students of politics in order to -- according to its national constitution -- "stimulate productive scholarship and intelligent interest in the subject of government."
Special ScholarshipsEach year outstanding graduating seniors are selected to receive the department's highest honors, the Ruth L. Gant Memorial Scholarship and the Cornelius Roach Scholarship.Randall L. Miller Scholarship. Established 2005 in memory of Randall Miller, this $1,500 award will be given to students who are both citizens of Missouri and come from a household with an annual income of $40,000 or less. Full guidelines are still being developed. In addition, Roach Book Awards -- intended to help defray the costs of books -- are presented each semester, when resources permit, to declared political science majors who meet departmental standards of excellence.
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