THIS MONTH'S HEADLINES:

  1. SPRING 2025 COURSES
  2. ENROLLING IN MAJORS
  3. ENROLLING IN MINORS
  4. NEW COURSE TITLED PEOPLE POWERED: THE PARTICIPATORY DIMENSION OF DEMOCRACY
  5. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
  6. PROGRAM ABOUT ECOCIDE AND WAR AND ANIMAL LIFE IN UKRAINE ON OCTOBER 17
  7. PRE-LAW ADVISER NEWS
  8. FACULTY IN THE NEWS
  9. STUDENT GROUP NEWS
  10. FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM PAGES

1. SPRING 2025 COURSES

Here is a list of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Sociology courses scheduled at Penn State Behrend in Spring 2025.

  • PLSC 001 - American Politics (GS, US)
  • PLSC 003 - Comparing Politics around the Globe (GS, IL)
  • PLSC 014 - International Relations (GS, IL)
  • PLSC 017N - Introduction to Political Theory (GS/GH)
  • PLSC 132 - Politics of International Intolerance (GS, IL, World Cultures)
  • PLSC 177N - Politics and Government in Washington, D.C. (GS/GH, US)
  • PLSC 197 - Special Topics - People Powered: The Participatory Dimension of Democracy
  • PLSC 467 - International Relations of the Middle East
  • PLSC 482 - American State and Urban Politics
  • PLSC 484W - Foreign Policy of Soviet Successor States
  • CRIMJ 100 - Introduction to Criminal Justice (GS)
  • SOC 1 - Introductory Sociology (GS)
  • SOC 5 - Social Problems (GS)
  • SOC/CRIMJ 13 - Juvenile Delinquency (GS)

2. ENROLLING IN MAJORS

Students who are eligible to enroll in a major (usually completion of 30 or more credits, with a GPA of 2.0 or above) are strongly encouraged to do so. Enrollment in the POLSC major provides at least four benefits:

  1. The ability for academic advisers to make needed degree substitutions, including proper placement of transfer credits on degree audits
  2. Eligibility to be invited to certain events, such as dinners with alumni and community leaders
  3. Eligibility for certain awards open only to POLSC majors
  4. Notifications about certain jobs or internships for POLSC majors

Students enroll in a major via LionPath and the “Update Academics” tab.

The Penn State Behrend POLSC major currently has four options:

  1. Politics and Government (General Option) - This option allows students to choose their own concentrations of coursework within Political Science and helps to prepare students for a variety of careers, including government employment, social studies secondary education, activist politics, and graduate school in political science.
  2. Crime and Law - This option requires coursework in criminology and law and helps to prepare students for careers in law or criminal justice, including students planning on law school.
  3. International Relations - This option requires coursework in international politics and comparative politics and prepares students for careers with international institutions or in business in other countries, and for graduate school work in international affairs.
  4. Public Policy - This option requires coursework related to how to make government and policy decisions effectively and prepares students for careers with government offices, businesses, interest groups, or think tanks related to public policy, or in public administration, or for graduate degree programs in public policy or public administration.

Each option requires completion of 36 credits of PL SC courses and 6 credits of general education courses from other relevant fields. To learn the requirements of the options, see the Bulletin listing.

Lists of approved courses in each option can be found on the Political Science website.

Students are allowed to complete more than one option within the POLSC major if the requirements of each option are met.

3. ENROLLING IN MINORS

Students enroll in a major via LionPath and the “Update Academics” tab.

  • The Politics and Government minor requires 18 credits (6 courses): PLSC 1, PLSC 3, 6 credits of PLSC at the 400-level, and 6 other credits of PLSC at any level. Note that there is also a political science minor administered by the University Park department: students must choose courses from approved lists created by the U.P. department to complete that minor. Political Science majors are not eligible to complete a Political Science or Politics and Government minor.
  • The Crime, Law, and Psychology minor requires 2 sociology courses, 2 political science courses, and 2 psychology courses related to criminal justice for completion. Specific course requirements can be found online.
  • The Legal Studies minor requires PLSC 1, CRIMJ 100, and 12 credits from approved approved lists.
  • The Politics and Public Policy minor requires PLSC 1, PLSC 202, STAT 200, and 9 credits from an approved list.
  • The Latin American Studies minor requires PLSC 456, HIST 178 or 179, SPAN 100, and 9 credits from an approved list.

4. NEW COURSE TITLED PEOPLE POWERED: THE PARTICIPATORY DIMENSION OF DEMOCRACY

PLSC 197: People Powered: The Participatory Dimension of Democracy - Spring 2025

While much of the premium is placed on elections and voting turnout in democracies, how do people engage in decision-making process between these rare opportunities to exercise their sovereignty?
 
In this course, we go beyond elections and explore meaningful channels to practice democracy—engage with our neighbors, solve public problems, and decide together. We will examine different models of participatory democracy, including participatory budgeting, participatory policymaking, citizens’ juries and assemblies, and legislative theater. The goal is to encourage students to rethink our assumptions regarding the nature of participation and representation, and to realize the potential for new mechanisms that can remedy the challenges of our times—deep polarization, distrust of government, skepticism of democracy itself.

5. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

PLSC 177N during Spring 2025 will include a Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C., where students will meet members of Congress, diplomats, executive branch agency officials, political party consultants, and interest group leaders and will tour government buildings. Students also meet many of our Penn State Behrend alumni who now live and work in Washington. Students cannot register for the course via LionPath and will need to fill out a form to commit financially to pay for their hotel rooms before being enrolled in the course. More details will be available in the next newsletter and in campus publicity in October.

6. PROGRAM ABOUT ECOCIDE AND WAR AND ANIMAL LIFE IN UKRAINE ON OCTOBER 17

Ecocide and War: How Animals Experience the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

This talk explores the costs of waging war in terms of how it affects human life as well as non-human life. Humans have rights but perhaps nature should, too. What could be gained by looking at war from the perspective of animals? How would evaluations change as to what constitutes a “just war” or a “just peace” if we considered the rights of animals and the rights of nature? Up until now, animals have been almost entirely absent from discussions of the ethics of war. By assessing how animals experience the Russo-Ukrainian war, a case can be made for the introduction of ecocide as a war crime given its environmental impact.

Speaker: Catherine Wanner is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies at Penn State University. Her research centers on the politics of religion and increasingly on conflict mediation, ecocide, and trauma healing. She is the author or editor of seven books, most recently Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine (Cornell University Press 2022) and editor of Dispossession: Anthropological Perspectives on Russia’s War Against Ukraine (Routledge, 2024).

Federal House, 6:30 p.m. Sponsored by Behrend Public Policy Initiative.

7. PRE-LAW ADVISER NEWS

Pre-Law Adviser and Attorney Melissa Shirey’s office hours this semester are Thursdays 3:30–5:30 p.m. in 155 Kochel. For advice about preparing for law school, LSATs, or choosing law schools, please drop by.

8. FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Dr. Maggie Shum, assistant professor of Political Science, received the Penn State Behrend Research Seed Grant for her research project “Voice After Exit: Hong Kong Diaspora’s Transnational Mobilization and Community Building in Five Host Countries”, and presented her work in the 2024 American Political Science Association (APSA) annual conference in Philadelphia this September. Dr. Shum gave a presentation “Democracy in Tough Places: How Taiwan’s Young Democracy Mature under the China Factor” at the Jefferson Educational Society in August. She was also invited to speak in the film panel discussion on “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” hosted by Penn State Sustainability and PSU Vote.

Dr. Robert Speel, associate professor of Political Science, published an article for The Conversation titled “Pennsylvania continues tradition as keystone state in presidential elections" that appeared in many media sources, including The New Pittsburgh Courier. He was also interviewed over 40 times in the past four months for local, national, and international media about political events related to this year’s U.S. presidential elections, including a live radio interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Swedish TT News Agency, Correio Braziliense in Brasilia, Observador in Portugal, La Presse in Montreal, Ming Pao in Hong Kong and Canada, USA Today, Miami Herald, Newsweek, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WGAL-TV in Lancaster, PA, WJET-TV in Erie, the Sunbury Daily Item in PA, and the Erie Times-News. In September he spoke at the Jefferson Educational Society Harborcreek location about the electoral college.

Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned, associate teaching professor of Political Science, gave an invited lecture on Values. Beliefs. Attitudes. at Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine in May 2024. She published "From Kursk to Kursk: Putin’s attempt to project an image as Russia’s ‘protector’ has been punctured throughout his 25 years in power” in The Conversation in August. Earlier this month, she traveled to Ottawa in Canada for The 2024 Danyliw Seminar on Contemporary Ukraine to present the latest findings of the on-going coauthored project “Fluidity of National Identity of Russian Speakers in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.” The research was done over the summer and was funded by Behrend SEED grant. She also became a Scholar in Residence at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie where she gave a talk in July titled "Ukrainian Domino: Implications of Possible Russian Success for the Free World” and published an introduction to a JES report: Democracy Can Win at the Ballot Box.

9. STUDENT GROUP NEWS

The Behrend Political Society meets every Monday 6:00-7:00 p.m. in 112 or 114 Reed. This week (September 30), the group plans to discuss the vice-presidential candidates before their televised debate on Tuesday evening. To get involved, contact President Bella Eibl at [email protected].

College Democrats will meet on Tuesday, October 8, at 4:30 p.m. in a room to be announced. To get involved, contact President Nick Richar at [email protected].

To get involved with College Republicans, contact President Anthony Farrar at [email protected].

10. FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM PAGES

All students and alumni are invited to like the Penn State Behrend political science Facebook page and get updated news and find out about events.

Photos and posters for upcoming events get posted on the Penn State Behrend political science Instagram page.