Welcome!

The Political Science Department is located on the third floor of Robinson Hall, room 318.

For correspondence with the department you may contact the office secretary Ms. Belinda Hale at: (517) 629-0414, or email: bhale@albion.edu

Office fax is: (517) 629-0991.

The study of politics is ideally informed by great, longstanding questions about justice. In practice, it often focuses on a systematic examination of institutions and processes of government, domestic and international.

At Albion College, the Department of Political Science has played a role particularly in training students for post-graduate education or professional school. A significant segment of our majors go on to law school, although an increasing number, of late, have also undertaken graduate work in political science and related disciplines.

The political science faculty is comprised of outstanding scholars who have won numerous awards for teaching and student advising. Members of the department have written books and articles on presidential campaigns and elections, national security, American political development, urban politics, the politics of cities and suburbs, citizenship, constitutional law, international migration and the civil rights movement and national security policy. 

In addition to offering to a rigorous curriculum, we believe that it is important for students to gain first hand experience in politics and public service. We offer a variety of credit-earning internships and off-campus study opportunities in Michigan, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Africa, Latin America, and Central Europe (including beautiful Prague). Majors from our department have interned at the White House, on congressional staffs, in political marketing firms, and a variety of interest groups and public service agencies. Our faculty have led student study visits to Great Britain, the Netherlands, Israel, Jordan, France, and the Czech Republic.

Our courses in constitutional law, civil liberties, jurisprudence, and the history of American legal and political thought offer excellent preparation for pre-law students. The department will also soon be home to the Program in Law, Justice, and Society – a new concentration that will provide students an opportunity for the interdisciplinary study of law within the context of the best principles of the liberal arts tradition. Our graduates compete for and are admitted to top, nationally recognized law schools, such as Harvard, the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago and Georgetown.

Other students are continuing their education in graduate programs in political science, public policy, and public administration at schools such as Cornell University, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of California-Berkeley, and Ohio State University. A growing number of Albion political science alumni work in important positions on Capitol Hill and for a variety of interest groups, advocacy organizations, and other fields.