Chair's Letter

September 2007

Welcome to the Department of Politics!

Department of Politics Chair, Jeffrey W.Legro

Department of Politics Chair,
Jeffrey W. Legro

If you thought you knew the department, look again. UVA Politics is on the move. Building on valued traditions and strengths, we are recruiting new faculty and adapting our research and teaching to illuminate a world in motion. As you look through these pages you will find professors and students interested in pushing the frontiers of big questions about politics at home and abroad.

Under the leadership of outgoing chair, Sid Milkis, the department hired six exceptional new faculty members in 2007. They were highly recruited by others and hail from the best universities in the nation. We are delighted to have them as colleagues. They bring expertise and creativity to such topics as corruption in South America, race and criminal policy, investment in developing countries, NGOs in world politics, partisan politics in Congress, and Dewey’s political thought. Their research is based on cutting edge methods in game theory, case studies, statistics, data building, interpretive analysis, and historical research.

They complement a faculty that is highly distinguished and well-published. Since 2000, Politics professors have produced 49 books, many of which have appeared in top university and commercial presses, including Cambridge, Princeton, Oxford, Chicago, Yale, Cornell and Stanford. The 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (produced by Academic Analytics) ranked the Department 10 th in the nation. UVA Politics has notable strengths in such areas as political theory, great power relations, race and politics, elections and campaigns, U.S. foreign policy, and American political thought and development, to name a few. The faculty have rich knowledge of key regions such as China, the Middle East, Europe, Japan, India, Africa, and the Americas. Our scholars aim both to advance debates within the academy and to connect their work to pressing problems in the broader world.

Politics is one of the most in-demand - and demanding - departments at Mr. Jefferson’s university. Students who find their way here are inspired by professors who take teaching and mentoring seriously and joyfully. And we are inspired by our students who regularly garner notable undergraduate awards - including in recent years Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Watson and Fulbright Fellowships. They also go on to top tier graduate programs in law, business, public policy and many social science disciplines. And they are recruited for demanding jobs in business, government, non-profits, and yes, politics.

Our graduate program is thriving. UVA Politics Ph.D.s are finding jobs in top 60 research universities and small liberal arts colleges. Moreover, the Department continued its strong record of placing our students in significant public and private sector organizations. They are stunningly successful at turning their work into books and articles. Just this year, two of our current students published their seminar papers in two of the discipline’s outstanding journals, International Security and Journal of Political Philosophy.

Whether you are interested in local, national, or global politics, you will find something of interest, and much of excellence, in the links on this page.

So take a look - and do not hesitate to contact us with your questions and suggestions.