Think beyond your textbook

Political Science portal

Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, teaches a political science master class as part of her visit to campus in November 2007. Vice President Al Gore, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich have each taken a turn recently in the classroom at Drew.

The study of Political Science at Drew University engages students in the study of how people govern themselves -- from the smallest communities to the international system. In the town meeting, the halls of Congress, or the United Nations, the great political questions are the same -- how to reconcile individual aspirations and community needs, freedom and equality, authority and justice, participation and power. A wide variety of courses are offered in the fields of American Government, Comparative Politics, Political Theory and International Relations to provide the knowledge and analytic tools students need to be informed members of their communities, nations, and the world. In addition, the department is responsible for Drew's Semester on the United Nations and the Semester in Washington. Political Science majors also participate on the Semester on the New Europe, the London Semester, and the Wall Street Semester.

A Day Under the Dome

Professor Patrick McGuinn and students in his Congress and state and local politics classes meet with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine in his statehouse office. The visit was part of a day in Trenton that included meetings with several notable Drew alumni who work in the state capital (Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez and Mike DeLoreto, chief of staff to Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, among them) and time to observe a senate voting session and assembly committee hearings.

Faculty Spotlight

Four new political science faculty with the weight of the world on their minds.

A Tale of Two Governors

In fall 2008, former New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne will teach a semester-long course on politics and the media. Ironically, Byrne is succeeding in the classroom the man who succeeded him in the Statehouse. Gov. Tom Kean taught a popular course on governing a state while he was president of Drew. Byrne plans to invite Kean to be a guest lecturer in his class.

The Drew Forum

Political science major Seth Gorenstein asks former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about the presidential campaign, the economy and whether he'd want to be president of a liberal arts college.

Since 1994, the Drew has brought many of the nation’s leading political figures and opinion shapers to campus to lecture. See the full list of who has been to campus.