Associate Professor Carroll Jones; Assistant Professors Burke, Kuthy, Mead, Mkrtchian, Sinha.
Chair: Celia M. Carroll Jones
Students may major in either Government or Foreign Affairs.
The requirements for a major in Government (GV) are a minimum of 37 semester hours in Government, to include the following courses: GVFA 101, 140, 370, and 470; two political philosophy courses (GVFA 310 and one course selected from GVFA 312-315); two American institution courses (GVFA 331-333); and one Constitutional law course (GVFA 430 or 431). Philosophy 216 may count towards the remaining 12 elective hours. Government students are encouraged to take courses in Classics, Economics and Business, History, Religion, and Philosophy. Government majors are strongly encouraged to participate in off-campus study. either in a Summer Term course, or in an approved Washington Semester or Study Abroad program.
Students considering graduate study in political science, public policy, or public administration are encouraged to take Math 121(Statistics) and GVFA 250 (Research Methods in Political Science) before beginning their junior year.
The requirements for a major in Foreign Affairs are a minimum of 37 semester hours in approved courses, 19 to include GVFA 101; 140; 310; 440 or 443; 370 and 470 and Economics 101. Students studying Foreign Affairs must complete the major by taking 18 credits from the following: Economics and Business: three to six credits from 103, 210, 261, 262; Government and Foreign Affairs: at least three credits from 223, 224, 225, 226, 227 and 228; additional electives from 231, 242, 250, 321, 322, 323, 341, 342, 413, 414, 442; Interdisciplinary Studies: 275, 465. With application to, and permission of the Department Chair, certain courses from other departments (History, Religion, Modern Languages, for example) may be accepted as well. Students are strongly encouraged to study abroad either through a Summer Term course or during a semester of foreign study, preferably in the spring semester of the junior year. Students interested in foreign affairs or comparative politics are strongly encouraged to undertake a minor in a foreign language or at a minimum to complete a 300-level modern language course. Foreign Affairs majors should complete their mathematics requirement before the junior year. The degree will not be complete until the student has publicly presented the product of his Senior Seminar paper GVFA 470, normally in the fall of the senior year.
The requirements of the Legal Studies minor are eighteen hours, including GVFA 430; GVFA 431 or 440; ENGL 193, ENGL 334, or THEA 260; ECON 213, GVFA 233, GVFA 331, GVFA 437, or PSYC 319 and two courses from PHIL 201, 215, 216 or 314. Government majors may count no more than two courses from their major toward credit in the Legal Studies Minor.
The requirements of the Public Policy minor are eighteen hours, including MATH 121, GVFA 231, GVFA 334 or GVFA 437; one course from BIOL 317, ECON 307, GVFA 250, MATH 222, PSYC 250; one course from BIOL 103, PHIL 215, PHIL 314; one course from ECON 202, ECON 208, ECON 211, ECON 212, ECON 215; GVFA 230, or GVFA 234. Government majors may count no more than two courses from their major toward credit in the Public Policy Minor.
updated 7/25/2025