Distinguished Majors Program

The Department of Politics offers a Distinguished Majors Program (DMP) as an advanced program for students who major in Government or Foreign Affairs. The program provides qualified majors with the opportunity to pursue in-depth analysis of issues and topics related to the major. Students in the DMP take one more upper-level course in the Department than other majors and write a thesis under close faculty supervision during their fourth year. Participants in the program also meet for occasional seminars and discussion (often with selected faculty members) on topics of mutual interest.

The standards for admission, program requirements, and the procedure for evaluation are outlined below:

Admission to the Program

Students wishing to join the program should first declare a major in the Department, either in Government or Foreign Affairs. Students seeking admission to DMP should have Departmental and University grade point averages of 3.4 or above. DMP application materials should be submitted to the DMP faculty director, Professor Paul Freedman.

Application materials should include the following:

• A completed application sheet, which can be picked up in room 240 Cabell or fill out the application and email to Paul Freedman
• A five-page statement explaining your interest in and qualifications for the program. The statement should demonstrate your commitment to the rigorous and in-depth study of politics, domestic or international. It should outline your proposed thesis topic, and justify that topic as one that merits a full year of research, thinking, and writing. Finally, it should provide information on the courses you have completed relevant to that topic.
• One sample of written work, preferably for a Politics course, which in your view best exemplifies your capabilities.
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: please append to your application a one-page list of the works relevant to your thesis that you consulted while preparing your application or that you intend to consult with writing the thesis.
• Two sealed letters of recommendation by faculty members submitted directly to the DMP faculty director. At least one of these letters should be from among Politics faculty; try to avoid submitting letters from TAs; and try to familiarize your recommenders with your theseis topic so that they might comment on that topic and on your competence to under take it.
• A copy of your most recent transcript.

Deadline

Declared Politics majors should submit complete application files by April 4 of their third year. Special arrangements on an ad hoc basis may be made for outstanding transfer students. The director may also choose to place some students on a waiting list, pending review of performance in the second semester of the third year; in such cases students will be notified individually.

Politics Requirements

Students in the DMP must maintain grade point averages of 3.4 or better, both cumulatively and in the department.

Requirements of the DMP

Students in the DMP are required to take 3 hours in the Department as a prerequisite plus 30 hours in the major. These 30 hours must include:

• At least 15 hours at the 400 and 500 levels including six credit hours of PLaD 496.
• Courses to satisfy general departmental distribution rules for Government or Foreign Affairs majors.

The DMP Seminar

In the fall semester, members of the DMP will meet regularly (but not weekly) to discuss issues related to conceptualizing, researching, and writing social-science theses. A small amount of readings will be assigned to inform that disussion. In the spring semester. members of the DMP will present their preliminary hypotheses and findings to the seminar.

The DMP Thesis

Students in the DMP are required to write a thesis of high quality, earning six credits, during the fourth year. The thesis course, PLAD 496, is a year long course, carrying six credit hours, and graded at the end of the second semester. Students are responsible for obtaining a faculty member to serve as their thesis advisor for both semesters of the PLAD 496 course.

Complete first drafts of theses must be submitted by April 1; the final deadline for completed theses, reflecting all revisions, is the third week of April, on a date set each year by the director.

Program Evaluations

Students who successfully complete the requirements of the DMP will be evaluated according to the following rankings: Distinction, High Distinction, or Highest Distinction. Evaluations will be based on the following: (l) quality of the thesis, (2) overall work in major field of study, (3) overall College record.

Faculty thesis readers will forward evaluations to the Department's DMP faculty director, will review the evaluations and students' records, and forward recommendations to the College Committee on Special Programs.

Superior theses will be nominated by faculty advisors for the Emmerich-Wright Prize, which is given annually to the outstanding thesis, as determined by a faculty committee. The prize carries a cash award.

For more information on the Department's DMP, contact Paul Freedman.