Requirement for the Political Science Major - 36 Credits

American Politics Concentration - 12 credits

Courses that examine how American government - local and national - functions and how policies are formulated and implemented in the United States (12 credits: choose four, at least two at the 300-level).

• POLS 0103 - State and Local Government Credits: 3
• POLS 0205 - Metropolitan Politics Credits: 3
• POLS 0212 - The U.S. Supreme Court Credits: 3
• POLS 0215 - American Political Thought Credits: 3
• POLS 0305 - American Foreign Policy Credits: 3
• POLS 0306 - Political Change in the U.S. Credits: 3
• POLS 0307 - Presidency and Congress: Political Dynamics Credits: 3
• POLS 0321 - American Public Policy Credits: 3
• POLS 0323 - Selected Topics in Political Science Credits: 3
• POLS 0397 - Political Science Internship Credits: 3 or 6
• POLS 0398 - Washington Internship Credits: 15
• POLS 0399 - Independent Study Credits: 3

• * Additional courses may count with department chair approval.

Required Electives - 15 Credits

15 credits of additional political science course work.

For Selected Topics courses (POLS 0323) to count toward the field of concentration, the courses must be within that field.

Students transferring from another school must complete a minimum of 18 credits in Political Science at Westfield State University.

The Department of Political Science encourages students to participate in internships.  Students may apply up to 6 credits of internships toward the 36-credit major, 3 of which may be applied toward the 18-credit minor.  For details, see the department internship manual on from the link   https://www.westfield.ma.edu/images/uploads/political-science/Internship_Manual.pdf or pick up a copy in the department.

Additional Graduation Requirements

All students must meet the University Graduation Requirements  and complete a common core of studies, distributed among the different academic areas as detailed in the Common Core  .