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Dear Prospective Graduate Student:
The Government Department at Harvard is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious political science departments. The 2005 U.S. News and World Report survey rated it the top doctoral program on the basis of its standing among political scientists in leading departments around the nation. An authoritative study by the National Academy of Sciences confirmed this finding.In many ways, Harvard's resources are unique, for graduate students who join us here are surrounded on every side by intellectual and cultural opportunities: strong programs at Harvard in cognate disciplines and fields such as economics, sociology, history, anthropology and philosophy; some of the top area studies training programs in the world; policy research programs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; legal studies at the Law School; a remarkable array of research institutes and seminars that draw scholars from around the world; and the benefit of being in the Boston-Cambridge area, one of the great intellectual and cultural centers of the United States.
There is a keen sense of history at Harvard, and an awareness in the Department of its own long tradition. At the same time ours is a remarkably vital and diverse intellectual community of scholars and students. Every subfield (American politics, political theory, comparative politics, international relations, methodology and formal theory) is strong, and represented among the faculty is a broad spectrum of backgrounds, approaches, and substantive political interests.
The Department is committed to providing to our graduate students not only teaching and research opportunities but every possible form of support. Our Director of Graduate Studies, our Job Placement Officer, and the office of graduate affairs headed by Thom Wall offer academic advice and services of many kinds. The university's fellowship program offers excellent financial support. Our research Centers provide funding for research at the dissertation stage, and before. We provide many forums, formal and informal, for graduate students to present their work. The Department supports graduate student travel to conferences and assists with the cost of preparing papers. We offer seminars on teaching and job-hunting. In short, our resources, both personal and financial, are geared to creating the best possible conditions for your work and professional development. We understand that your success is ours.
An entering class is made up of roughly 20-25 students, depending on the year, and the close bonds of intellectual fellowship and friendship that form among our graduate students are one of the great rewards of pursuing a doctorate here.
We are pleased that you are interested in finding out more about graduate study with us. This web site is intended to provide you with information about the Department and its faculty. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us by email at graduate@gov.harvard.edu, or give us a call at 617-495-2149.
Nancy Rosenblum,
Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Chair |
