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The Department of Political Science is a diverse group of active scholars committed to teaching, research, and mentoring young scholars. Our faculty expertise spans American politics, comparative politics, international politics and political theory, with focuses in political behavior, judicial politics, Latin American politics, international conflict, and contemporary political theory and the history of political thought. Home to the Latin American Public Opinion Project, the department also offers access to the resources of Vanderbilt's many interdisciplinary centers. Large enough to meet most students' specific interests and provide broad academic training but small enough to be a supportive, friendly community, the department offers the perfect balance for ambitious, accomplished graduate and undergraduate students.

Meet our New Faculty 2009-10
Joshua Clinton (Associate Professor; Ph.D. Stanford; formerly Associate Professor at Princeton University; )
Zeynep Somer-Topcu (Assistant Professor, Ph.D., UC-Davis; comes to Vanderbilt from a visiting student researcher position at Cal Tech)
Emily Nacol (Assistant Professor, Ph.D. University of Chicago)

Visiting Speakers

October 13, 2009 -- Stephen Hadley, Former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. 12-1 PM, Bennett-Miller Room, Vanderbilt University Law School
October 22-24, 2009 -- The Political Science Department, in partnership with The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI), hosts the Legislative Elections, Process, and Policy: The Influence of Bicameralism Conference at Vanderbilt University

Public Opinion Speaker Series
All talks will occur from 12:10-1:30pm. For locations and talk titles, check back at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csdi/events.html

October 29, 2009 -- Vincent Hutchings (University of Michigan)
November 1, 2009 -- Bethany Albertson (University of Texas, Austin)
November 19, 2009 -- Don Kinder (University of Michigan)
December 3, 2009 -- Jennifer Jerit (Florida State University)

Vanderbilt International Relations Colloquium, a new speaker's series in the Department of Political Science
We will start in the Spring semester of 2010. Talks will be held on Fridays at noon. We have four speakers:

January 29th, 2010 -- David Leblang, J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance, University of Virginia
February 12th, 2010 -- Sara Mitchell, Associate Professor, University of Iowa
March 26th, 2010 -- Alexander Wendt, Ralph D. Mershon Professor of International Security, Ohio State University
April 9th, 2010 -- Robert Trager, Assistant Professor, UCLA

Honoring Prof. Tate
Neal Tate (CV), a professor and chair of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Political Science who provided strong leadership during a successful rebuilding of the department, died on Sept. 13, 2009. Tate, 65, had been recovering from major surgery. The Department of Political Science honors his life and many rich contributions to the field of political science, to Vanderbilt University, our department, and most of all, the impact his friendship has had on us personally. More...