The Department of Political Science is part of the College of Arts and Sciences. At the undergraduate level, the purpose of the college is to provide students with a solid, well-rounded, liberal arts education rather than train them for a specific profession. More courses are taken to fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences requirements than are taken in the major. Assessment of the kind of education political science majors receive at Ohio University can, therefore, only be made within the context of their whole liberal arts program.

1. To develop the ability of majors to think critically and effectively express their views in written and verbal communication.

2. To provide majors with courses offering the requisite knowledge and skills for contemporary world citizenship.

3. To provide majors with a basic understanding of national and world politics as well as the broad discipline of political science.

4. To enable majors to gain that particular sense of exploration that comes from mastering a given area of study.

5. To provide majors with effective advice and preparation for their post-college life, including achieving jobs or advanced study.

6. To offer career-oriented programs for students interested in teaching, law, foreign service, or public service.

1. Master of Arts in Political Science: The goals of the M.A. program are similar to those of the B.A. except that there is considerably more focus on pre-professional training in a specialized area of political science. Among the goals of the M.A. program are to prepare students for a) entrance into Ph.D. programs in political science; b) entrance into law schools; c) entrance into the public service; d) upgrading credentials of persons working in secondary education and the public service.

2. Master of Public Administration: The goal of the M.P.A. is to prepare students for careers in the public service at the local, state and federal levels and to upgrade the knowledge and skills of persons already working in the public service.

These general goals are the same as last year's. They were developed through discussions within the department's Curriculum Committee and with the faculty as a whole during the process of our curricular review during 1993-96. They were discussed by the faculty as a whole again last year during the department's discussion of assessments of outcomes.

While it is not a modification of the goals, one of the results of our assessment last year was that students felt that one of the weaker aspects of our program was advising. This resulted in an effort to improve the advising process, though this proved difficult to achieve due to the fact that during the 1996-97 academic year the department had an unusual number of faculty on Group IV contracts.

A. Questionnaires: A questionnaire was developed last year by the department and given by all faculty members to their advisees during the spring advising period for fall quarter. It asked students to rate on an A to F scale:

a. their overall educational experience at Ohio University

b. their experience in political science

c. the advising they received as majors

d. whether they received a good understanding of the American political system

e. whether they gained a good understanding of politics in other countries and the world

f. whether they had enough chances to write about political topics

It also included open-ended questions about:

a. the strengths of the political science program at Ohio University

b. the weaknesses of the political science program at Ohio University

c. what they would like to see improved or added to the program

A similar questionnaire was included in the POLS News sent out to all alumni majors in July 1996. The same questionnaire was again given by faculty advisers to majors during the advising period in spring 1997. Because we recognized from the previous spring's experience that graduating seniors tend not to come to see their adviser to pick up their DARS reports, the questionnaire was sent with a stamped envelope to all senior majors registered to graduate in June 1997. It included an additional question about what they planned to do after graduation. Faculty members were also asked to report on the post-graduation plans of their senior advisees.

The department's Assessment Committee takes the quarterly student evaluation of courses and instructors as a serious indication of the success or failure of faculty members in carrying out the instructional mission of the department. Awards for teaching excellence are also taken as an indication of teaching effectiveness.

The examination of the syllabi of all courses taught was used as a means of assessing whether or not faculty members are keeping up with the latest developments in their field but also to check on the degree to which they encourage students to think critically and to express themselves verbally and in writing.

The Public Affairs Internship program (POLS 4/595) allows students to gain practical experience in areas about which they have studied and where they hope to work in future. The reports by the internship sponsors, in turn, provides us with an indication of how well the department, college and university have prepared our students for work in these areas. The sample is biased somewhat by the requirement that the participants in the internship program must have at least a 3.0 G.P.A.

The views of alumni about their experience at Ohio University and particularly in Political Science as well as their experience since graduation are solicited by Institutional Research but also by the annual departmental newsletter, POLS News. Alumni feedback is also gathered informally by those faculty members who attend the Political Science alumni luncheons with President Glidden in Columbus and Washington, DC. Alumni also participate in the advisory board to our M.P.A. program.

3. How Well Goals Been Accomplished: Strengths and Weaknesses

The goal of providing majors with an understanding of national and world politics is related to how effectively members of the department teach courses dealing with these subjects.

To the extent that student evaluations of courses and instructors is a measure of effective teaching, the Department of Political Science rates extremely high. All courses are evaluated by the students. The norm for the department is ratings above 4 on a five point scale.

To the extent that teaching awards are an indication of effective teaching, over half of the full-time faculty in the department in the 1996-97 (12 out of 23) have received awards at some time and two of the early retired part-time faculty have received teaching awards. Eight members of the department have been named University Professors (a total of 14 awards). Two of these, Patricia Weitsman and Julie White were selected in Spring 1997. Eight members (four of the UP's and four others) have received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award. John Gilliom received this in Fall 1996. Five members of the department have received the Jeannette G. Grasselli Outstanding Teacher Award in the social sciences (in the seven years it has existed). John Gilliom received this award in Spring 1997. Two faculty members have received the Outstanding Tutor Award in the three years it has existed. Two faculty members (one now early retired) have received the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award in the past.

The fact that the respondents to our questionnaire, majors, seniors, and alumni, all rate their experience in the department higher than their overall educational experience at O.U. (e.g. spring 1997 majors gave their experience in the department a grade of 3.7 or A- and their overall experience a 3.1 or B) is a reflection of the continuing effectiveness of teaching in the department. The written comments about the strengths of the program confirm this.

B. Effective Advising

All members of the department participate in advising undergraduates. Faculty members who teach law-related courses act as pre-law advisers; those who teach international relations act as pre-foreign service advisers; and those who teach public administration act as pre-public administration advisers. The majority of the approximately 300 majors in political science do not indicate a pre-professional interest and are advised by those faculty who specialize in American politics, comparative politics and political theory. Several faculty members also advise University College exploratory students and Arts and Sciences undecided students.

On the questionnaire given to majors during the spring 1996 advising period and again in the spring 1997 advising period, the question "How would you rate the advising you have received in your major," received the identical grade (on an A to F scale) of B+ (3.4).

On the other hand, the questionnaires returned by graduating seniors and by alumni had a significantly lower grade. The alumni gave advising a B- (2.7) and the graduating seniors gave it only a C+ (2.3). The Assessment Committee members believed that the differences in the responses to this question probably reflects the kind of advising students are looking for, i.e. the majors focused on academic advising while the seniors and alumni focused more on career advising. Several graduating seniors mentioned the need for better career advising. The Committee decided that this question should be investigated more carefully in next year's assessments. They also recommended that faculty advisers should address questions of future careers more explicitly with advisees and should give them copies of the American Political Science Association's pamphlet Careers and the Study of Political Science: A Guide for Undergraduates. This pamphlet has been available in the department office but has not been systematically distributed to majors. It was also suggested that the department revive the practice of inviting representatives of Career Services and of various public service organizations to address majors concerning future careers.

Politics, by its nature, is an area of contention and debate where differing views are often expressed, at times with considerable emotion. The study of politics is, therefore, concerned with the critical analysis of different policies, programs, political theories, and political systems. Majors in political science are called upon to think critically in almost all of their courses.

Writing skills can be promoted by the assignment of papers and the use of essay examinations. The annual examination of course syllabi in spring 1997 indicated that papers are assigned in 76% of all political science classes (up from 74% last year). The courses not assigning papers were mostly large introductory courses, but an increasing number of them now require papers. Essay exams are used in all courses above the 200 level.

As part of the effort to improve the writing skills of majors, the department offers a junior composition course, Writing on Political Topics (POLS 305J).

The department requires both its Honors-Tutorial and Arts and Sciences departmental honors students to write theses. Of the students who graduated in 1996-97, there were six Political Science honors-tutorial theses written (second only to History in total number) and seven departmental honors theses (1/3 of all departmental honors theses written at O.U. in 1996-97). More undergraduate theses were written by political science majors in 1996-97 than in any other department on campus.

At the same time, based on the returns from the questionnaire given to majors both in spring 1996 and in spring 1997, work on students' writing skills is an area that the department needs improve. In response to the question "Do you feel that you have had enough chance to write about political topics," the majors who responded gave it the lowest grade of the six graded questions asked - below a B average (2.94 and 2.8). The alumni gave writing a low grade also (2.83). On the other hand the graduating seniors gave the chance to write on political topics a B+ (3.3). The difference between the seniors and the majors as a whole may reflect the greater amount of writing now required in upper level courses as compared to the large introductory ones. Nevertheless, writing is an area that the department needs to continue to make efforts to improve at the graduate as well as undergraduate level. Faculty members expressed the need to improve the writing skills of our graduate students at several department meetings in spring 1997.

Skills in oral expression can be promoted by in-class discussion and debate and by oral presentations. Class discussions are part of virtually all upper-level political science courses and several instructors include considerable discussion and debate in their large introductory courses. An examination of written student course evaluations and the comments on the questionnaires indicates that students generally appreciate the chance for discussion and are critical of instructors who only lecture. The amount of student participation in class and its weight in grading was not measured in the examination of syllabi this year. On the other hand, it was found that 21% of the courses had students deliver oral presentations (up slightly from 19% in 1996).

The questionnaire asked majors two graded questions regarding knowledge attained. One concerned their understanding of the American political system and how it works. This consistently received very good grades. Majors gave it their rating 3.8 (up from last year's 3.35), alumni gave it 3.6, and graduating seniors 3.3. On the other hand, the question about their increased understanding of the world situation did not do as well: majors 2.9, seniors 2.8 and alumni 2.8. This may be because majors have tended to focus more on American politics than international relations or comparative politics. The department has taken steps to remedy this situation. In the past we have not required all majors to take a course in world politics. One of the changes made in the undergraduate curriculum during 1996-97 is the requirement that beginning fall 1997 all majors must take the new introductory course, POLS 150, Current World Problems. Future assessments will be able to see if this has an impact on the rating on this question.

The Survey of Graduates by Institutional Research indicates that from 1991 to 1995 the percentages of political science majors who felt that Ohio University prepared them extremely or very well for their careers has steadily risen.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 0% 9% 10% 13% 19%

Very Well 24% 20% 55% 44% 50%

Somewhat Well 72% 71% 31% 38% 31%

Not at All Well 4% 0% 5% 4% 0%

At the same time, the survey indicated less satisfaction with how the courses in the major gave them the skills and knowledge needed to perform their job. But again, there seems to be some increase in those saying extremely or very satisfied.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 0% 3% 10% 2% 8%

Very Well 20% 18% 22% 36% 35%

Somewhat 64% 53% 51% 52% 46%

Not at All 16% 26% 17% 9% 12%

The survey also indicated that the faculty played a very minor role in finding jobs for majors, though somewhat better than Career Services.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Career Service 0% 0% 0% 7% 4%

Faculty/Staff 4% 9% 2% 5% 0%

The percentage of graduates on the survey who have gone into the public service (Government, Health and Welfare, and Non-profit) as compared to business has tended to increase, though the majority still find jobs in the private sector.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Public Service 15% 29% 34% 29% 35%

Business 75% 60% 56% 63% 61%

The only area of political science that is directly career-oriented is the Master of Public Administration. Undergraduate pre-law, pre-foreign service and pre-public administration concentrations are primarily aimed at giving a foundation in these areas and preparing students for advanced study. At the same time, the department does try to provide selected majors with career-related experience through the Political Workshop (POLS 390) on election campaigns and in the Public Affairs Internship (POLS 4/595). An internship is a requirement for the M.P.A.. degree but M.A. students and undergraduate majors with a 3.0 or higher grade point average can apply for them.

The work on campaigns has led some of our students into careers as campaign managers, probably the best know being David Wilhelm, who took POLS 390 and went on to manage the campaigns of a number of prominent politicians including President Bill Clinton in 1992. Governor Voinovich's campaign manager is also a former participant in this workshop. In fall 1996 seventeen students participated in this program, working for candidates for local, state, and U.S. Congressional offices.

The Public Affairs Internship places pre-law students in law offices and in the offices of prosecuting attorneys, public defenders, and judges. It places students interested in careers in the public service in government offices at the local, state and federal levels as well as in various non-profit organizations. As a result of this program, Ohio University has developed a network of alumni who are willing to help place and, in some cases, hire our students.

Evidence of the success of this program at the state level can be seen in the large turnout at annual Department of Political Science State Government Alumni Luncheon, hosted each spring by President Glidden. Our alumni include, among others, the Governor, the director of the Legislative Budget Office, the director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, the chiefs of staff of the majority leader in the Ohio Senate and of the speaker of the House, the chief of staff of the Democratic Caucus, and many others various state agencies. The luncheons provide the department faculty who attend with a chance to discuss with our alumni their experience with our interns and to inquire about the kind of qualities and skills they are looking for. An outside assessment of the success of our program in Columbus was made by William Hanger, the director of institutional relations (i.e. lobbyist) for Miami University. He has attended our luncheons in recent years and has stated that O.U. has developed the best and most loyal alumni network and intern sponsors in state government of any university in Ohio. This network is informally referred to as the O.U. Mafia. These alumni continue to be very satisfied with our interns and to find positions for them. For example, this year our students worked as interns both in the Ohio Office of Budget and Management and in the Legislative Budget Office.

The department has placed an increasing number of students in federal government positions, in offices of Senators and Representatives, on Congressional Staffs, and in recent years in the Office of the Vice President. One indication of the success of our program is the staff director for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has said that she prefers O.U. interns to those from Ivy League universities because they have been consistently not only bright and able but also hardworking and unpretentious. Vice President Gore's office has been sufficiently impressed by our students that they have taken on a series of our interns and then given them jobs on his staff. This happend to another intern this year so that now four out of the sixty members of the Vice President's staff are O.U. graduates. Another political science alumnus who has taken on a number of our interns in Washington is Richard May, the Chief of Staff of House Budget Committee.

As part of the effort to improve the opportunities for our interns in Washington, in spring 1997 for the second time a luncheon was held in Washington, DC, for political science alumni and interns in federal government service with support from President Glidden. It included our interns and former students working for Vice President Gore, Senator Glenn, Congressmen Ney and Strickland, other congressional staffs, and government agencies. This was a considerably smaller luncheon than the one in Columbus but similarly gave the faculty members attending it an opportunity to find new sources for internships and to receive feedback concerning the qualities and skills that the alumni in office are looking for in the interns.

One means by which we assess the Public Affairs Internship program is by having the students' sponsors fill out an evaluation form concerning the performance of our interns. These records are kept by the directors of the programs. With very few exceptions, these evaluations have been extremely positive, though until this year they have not been systematically analyzed. Of the total of 58 interns during the past year, files were complete on 41. In terms of Work Habits, the breakdown was:

Excellent Good Fair Poor

Promptness 78% 22% 0% 0%

Appearance 85% 13% 2% 0%

Willingness 83% 15% 2% 0%

Cooperation 88% 12% 0% 0%

Work w/o Supervision 68% 30% 2% 0%

Quality of Work 76% 24% 0% 0%

No intern received a letter grade below B and 90% were in the A range. The breakdown was:

A+ 14%

A 66%

A- 10%

B+ 0%

B 10%

The department has a Public Administration External Advisory Board composed of alumni and friends who serve in public offices at all levels of government. A major purpose of the board meets with the public administration faculty annually to discuss the program and ways in which it could be improved. It is a good means of receiving an outside assessement of our program but it has not been as active in the past few years as it was earlier. Efforts will have to be made to reenergize it.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a very competitive $30,000 national scholarship for students interested in careers in the public service. In the past 15 years five O.U. students have won it and as many have been finalists. All of the winners so far have been H.T.C. political science majors, though students in other departments and programs have been selected as O.U. candidates. Members of department and of the O.U. Truman Selection Committee work with students who are interested in this scholarship (from any department) to help with their application essays and to get them prepared for the competition. In 1996-97 one of our students succeeded in being chosen as a finalist but he was not selected for the scholarship.

The other directly career-oriented aspects of the political science program can be assessed by success in getting graduates into law schools and graduate programs in political science.

The Survey of Graduates by Institutional Research indicates that about half the respondents have continued on for graduate study.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Enrolled 43% 50% 44% 50% 48%

(full time) (54%) (64%) (62%) (62%) (79%)

(part time) (46%) (36%) (38%) (38%) (21%)

The Survey of Graduates indicates that the majority felt the university prepared them extremely or very well for additional graduate work, though there has been a decline in the extremely well category in the last two years that requires investigation.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 15% 26% 36% 25% 6%

Very Well 38% 43% 50% 58% 72%

Somewhat Well 46% 30% 14% 13% 22%

Not at all Well 0% 0% 0% 4% 0%

While the faculty members who write the letters of recommendation for their students have an idea of where they have been accepted, no exact statistics have been maintained on the number who have applied, whether they have been accepted and where they have been accepted. Members of the department made a greater effort this year to keep track of where their students are going to graduate school. Among the seniors graduating in June 1997, 14 are known to have been accepted into law schools (at Columbia, Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, Georgetown, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Toledo, Dayton, Cleveland State, Case Western Reserve, Cincinnati, and Akron). Three seniors are known to have been accepted into Ph.D. programs in political science (at the University of Washington, George Washington, and Georgetown) and one into a Ph.D. program in higher education administration (at Pittsburgh) and another (dual major) in clinical psychology (at Wright State). Seven seniors are known to have been admitted to Masters programs, four in political science (at O.U.), one in public administration (at O.U.), one in international relations (at Georgetown) and one in social work (at Cleveland State). In addition, at least three M.A. students are known to have been accepted into Ph.D. programs in political science (at the University of Washington, Texas A & M, and Northern Arizona).

In 1993 the department applied for and received an 1804 Grant to carry out a thorough review of the Political Science curriculum. This was basically completed in 1993-95 on undergraduate curriculum and in 1995-96 on the graduate curriculum. This review included an examination and comparison of the curricula of a variety of departments at other universities; study of the American Political Science Association's materials on developments in the various subfields of political science and of their sample syllabi; and bringing in outside reviewers to assess our program and suggest changes (from Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, University of South Carolina, University of New Mexico, University of Washington, and the City University of New York). Most of the department's present curriculum was found to be very much in line with those at comparable departments. Ours was stronger than most in the area of comparative politics but not as fully staffed in some areas of international relations, political theory and public law. Inclusion of courses in international political economy and in rational choice theory were recommended by some of the visiting assessors.

The proposed changes in the undergraduate curriculum were discussed and approved by the department in spring 1995. Because the changes will have an impact on the graduate curriculum and on the staffing of courses, the Curriculum Review Committee decided to spend 1995-96 working on the graduate program in order to present all of the changes as a package in fall 1996. The graduate portion of the changes was also a reaction to the UCC report on our last five year review which called for more graduate-only courses.

The changes in the curriculum worked out as part of the department's assessment of the curriculum in 1993-96 were submitted to the curriculum approval process in 1996-97 and the text of the 1997-98 undergraduate and graduate catalogs have been modified to reflect this. New courses and requirements at the undergraduate level should address some problems seen in our assessments, such as the relatively low scores on knowledge of the world situation. Several new graduate-only courses have been designed to improve the writing and research skills of our graduate students.

As a result of the assessments last year and again this year, the department's Undergraduate/ Advising Committee will become more active in inviting speakers to discuss career options with majors and will provide all faculty advisers with career-oriented materials especially for juniors and seniors.

Since the department will be introducing its curricular changes during 1997-98, no new changes are anticipated until these have been evaluated.

1. The questionnaire to graduating seniors will be modified to gain more specific answers about the strengths and weaknesses of the program and about post-graduation plans.

2. A questionnaire will be sent to alumni presently in law schools and graduate programs at other universities to find out what might be improved in their training at O.U. to help them in their academic work.

3. A letter will be sent to the internship supervisors asking about the kinds of knowledge, skills and abilities they value most highly in students who come to work for them.

4. Exit interviews with graduating seniors was part of the department's plan for this year but failed to be implemented. We will try to get this organized next year.

5. We plan to get more thorough information on the number of students who apply for graduate schools and their success in getting accepted.

The Department of Political Science is part of the College of Arts and Sciences. At the undergraduate level, the purpose of the college is to provide students with a solid, well-rounded, liberal arts education rather than train them for a specific profession. More courses are taken to fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences requirements than are taken in the major. Assessment of the kind of education political science majors receive at Ohio University can, therefore, only be made within the context of their whole liberal arts program.

1. To develop the ability of majors to think critically and effectively express their views in written and verbal communication.

2. To provide majors with courses offering the requisite knowledge and skills for contemporary world citizenship.

3. To provide majors with a basic understanding of national and world politics as well as the broad discipline of political science.

4. To enable majors to gain that particular sense of exploration that comes from mastering a given area of study.

5. To provide majors with effective advice and preparation for their post-college life, including achieving jobs or advanced study.

6. To offer career-oriented programs for students interested in teaching, law, foreign service, or public service.

1. Master of Arts in Political Science: The goals of the M.A. program are similar to those of the B.A. except that there is considerably more focus on pre-professional training in a specialized area of political science. Among the goals of the M.A. program are to prepare students for a) entrance into Ph.D. programs in political science; b) entrance into law schools; c) entrance into the public service; d) upgrading credentials of persons working in secondary education and the public service.

2. Master of Public Administration: The goal of the M.P.A. is to prepare students for careers in the public service at the local, state and federal levels and to upgrade the knowledge and skills of persons already working in the public service.

These general goals are the same as last year's. They were developed through discussions within the department's Curriculum Committee and with the faculty as a whole during the process of our curricular review during 1993-96. They were discussed by the faculty as a whole again last year during the department's discussion of assessments of outcomes.

While it is not a modification of the goals, one of the results of our assessment last year was that students felt that one of the weaker aspects of our program was advising. This resulted in an effort to improve the advising process, though this proved difficult to achieve due to the fact that during the 1996-97 academic year the department had an unusual number of faculty on Group IV contracts.

A. Questionnaires: A questionnaire was developed last year by the department and given by all faculty members to their advisees during the spring advising period for fall quarter. It asked students to rate on an A to F scale:

a. their overall educational experience at Ohio University

b. their experience in political science

c. the advising they received as majors

d. whether they received a good understanding of the American political system

e. whether they gained a good understanding of politics in other countries and the world

f. whether they had enough chances to write about political topics

It also included open-ended questions about:

a. the strengths of the political science program at Ohio University

b. the weaknesses of the political science program at Ohio University

c. what they would like to see improved or added to the program

A similar questionnaire was included in the POLS News sent out to all alumni majors in July 1996. The same questionnaire was again given by faculty advisers to majors during the advising period in spring 1997. Because we recognized from the previous spring's experience that graduating seniors tend not to come to see their adviser to pick up their DARS reports, the questionnaire was sent with a stamped envelope to all senior majors registered to graduate in June 1997. It included an additional question about what they planned to do after graduation. Faculty members were also asked to report on the post-graduation plans of their senior advisees.

The department's Assessment Committee takes the quarterly student evaluation of courses and instructors as a serious indication of the success or failure of faculty members in carrying out the instructional mission of the department. Awards for teaching excellence are also taken as an indication of teaching effectiveness.

The examination of the syllabi of all courses taught was used as a means of assessing whether or not faculty members are keeping up with the latest developments in their field but also to check on the degree to which they encourage students to think critically and to express themselves verbally and in writing.

The Public Affairs Internship program (POLS 4/595) allows students to gain practical experience in areas about which they have studied and where they hope to work in future. The reports by the internship sponsors, in turn, provides us with an indication of how well the department, college and university have prepared our students for work in these areas. The sample is biased somewhat by the requirement that the participants in the internship program must have at least a 3.0 G.P.A.

The views of alumni about their experience at Ohio University and particularly in Political Science as well as their experience since graduation are solicited by Institutional Research but also by the annual departmental newsletter, POLS News. Alumni feedback is also gathered informally by those faculty members who attend the Political Science alumni luncheons with President Glidden in Columbus and Washington, DC. Alumni also participate in the advisory board to our M.P.A. program.

3. How Well Goals Been Accomplished: Strengths and Weaknesses

The goal of providing majors with an understanding of national and world politics is related to how effectively members of the department teach courses dealing with these subjects.

To the extent that student evaluations of courses and instructors is a measure of effective teaching, the Department of Political Science rates extremely high. All courses are evaluated by the students. The norm for the department is ratings above 4 on a five point scale.

To the extent that teaching awards are an indication of effective teaching, over half of the full-time faculty in the department in the 1996-97 (12 out of 23) have received awards at some time and two of the early retired part-time faculty have received teaching awards. Eight members of the department have been named University Professors (a total of 14 awards). Two of these, Patricia Weitsman and Julie White were selected in Spring 1997. Eight members (four of the UP's and four others) have received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award. John Gilliom received this in Fall 1996. Five members of the department have received the Jeannette G. Grasselli Outstanding Teacher Award in the social sciences (in the seven years it has existed). John Gilliom received this award in Spring 1997. Two faculty members have received the Outstanding Tutor Award in the three years it has existed. Two faculty members (one now early retired) have received the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award in the past.

The fact that the respondents to our questionnaire, majors, seniors, and alumni, all rate their experience in the department higher than their overall educational experience at O.U. (e.g. spring 1997 majors gave their experience in the department a grade of 3.7 or A- and their overall experience a 3.1 or B) is a reflection of the continuing effectiveness of teaching in the department. The written comments about the strengths of the program confirm this.

B. Effective Advising

All members of the department participate in advising undergraduates. Faculty members who teach law-related courses act as pre-law advisers; those who teach international relations act as pre-foreign service advisers; and those who teach public administration act as pre-public administration advisers. The majority of the approximately 300 majors in political science do not indicate a pre-professional interest and are advised by those faculty who specialize in American politics, comparative politics and political theory. Several faculty members also advise University College exploratory students and Arts and Sciences undecided students.

On the questionnaire given to majors during the spring 1996 advising period and again in the spring 1997 advising period, the question "How would you rate the advising you have received in your major," received the identical grade (on an A to F scale) of B+ (3.4).

On the other hand, the questionnaires returned by graduating seniors and by alumni had a significantly lower grade. The alumni gave advising a B- (2.7) and the graduating seniors gave it only a C+ (2.3). The Assessment Committee members believed that the differences in the responses to this question probably reflects the kind of advising students are looking for, i.e. the majors focused on academic advising while the seniors and alumni focused more on career advising. Several graduating seniors mentioned the need for better career advising. The Committee decided that this question should be investigated more carefully in next year's assessments. They also recommended that faculty advisers should address questions of future careers more explicitly with advisees and should give them copies of the American Political Science Association's pamphlet Careers and the Study of Political Science: A Guide for Undergraduates. This pamphlet has been available in the department office but has not been systematically distributed to majors. It was also suggested that the department revive the practice of inviting representatives of Career Services and of various public service organizations to address majors concerning future careers.

Politics, by its nature, is an area of contention and debate where differing views are often expressed, at times with considerable emotion. The study of politics is, therefore, concerned with the critical analysis of different policies, programs, political theories, and political systems. Majors in political science are called upon to think critically in almost all of their courses.

Writing skills can be promoted by the assignment of papers and the use of essay examinations. The annual examination of course syllabi in spring 1997 indicated that papers are assigned in 76% of all political science classes (up from 74% last year). The courses not assigning papers were mostly large introductory courses, but an increasing number of them now require papers. Essay exams are used in all courses above the 200 level.

As part of the effort to improve the writing skills of majors, the department offers a junior composition course, Writing on Political Topics (POLS 305J).

The department requires both its Honors-Tutorial and Arts and Sciences departmental honors students to write theses. Of the students who graduated in 1996-97, there were six Political Science honors-tutorial theses written (second only to History in total number) and seven departmental honors theses (1/3 of all departmental honors theses written at O.U. in 1996-97). More undergraduate theses were written by political science majors in 1996-97 than in any other department on campus.

At the same time, based on the returns from the questionnaire given to majors both in spring 1996 and in spring 1997, work on students' writing skills is an area that the department needs improve. In response to the question "Do you feel that you have had enough chance to write about political topics," the majors who responded gave it the lowest grade of the six graded questions asked - below a B average (2.94 and 2.8). The alumni gave writing a low grade also (2.83). On the other hand the graduating seniors gave the chance to write on political topics a B+ (3.3). The difference between the seniors and the majors as a whole may reflect the greater amount of writing now required in upper level courses as compared to the large introductory ones. Nevertheless, writing is an area that the department needs to continue to make efforts to improve at the graduate as well as undergraduate level. Faculty members expressed the need to improve the writing skills of our graduate students at several department meetings in spring 1997.

Skills in oral expression can be promoted by in-class discussion and debate and by oral presentations. Class discussions are part of virtually all upper-level political science courses and several instructors include considerable discussion and debate in their large introductory courses. An examination of written student course evaluations and the comments on the questionnaires indicates that students generally appreciate the chance for discussion and are critical of instructors who only lecture. The amount of student participation in class and its weight in grading was not measured in the examination of syllabi this year. On the other hand, it was found that 21% of the courses had students deliver oral presentations (up slightly from 19% in 1996).

The questionnaire asked majors two graded questions regarding knowledge attained. One concerned their understanding of the American political system and how it works. This consistently received very good grades. Majors gave it their rating 3.8 (up from last year's 3.35), alumni gave it 3.6, and graduating seniors 3.3. On the other hand, the question about their increased understanding of the world situation did not do as well: majors 2.9, seniors 2.8 and alumni 2.8. This may be because majors have tended to focus more on American politics than international relations or comparative politics. The department has taken steps to remedy this situation. In the past we have not required all majors to take a course in world politics. One of the changes made in the undergraduate curriculum during 1996-97 is the requirement that beginning fall 1997 all majors must take the new introductory course, POLS 150, Current World Problems. Future assessments will be able to see if this has an impact on the rating on this question.

The Survey of Graduates by Institutional Research indicates that from 1991 to 1995 the percentages of political science majors who felt that Ohio University prepared them extremely or very well for their careers has steadily risen.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 0% 9% 10% 13% 19%

Very Well 24% 20% 55% 44% 50%

Somewhat Well 72% 71% 31% 38% 31%

Not at All Well 4% 0% 5% 4% 0%

At the same time, the survey indicated less satisfaction with how the courses in the major gave them the skills and knowledge needed to perform their job. But again, there seems to be some increase in those saying extremely or very satisfied.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 0% 3% 10% 2% 8%

Very Well 20% 18% 22% 36% 35%

Somewhat 64% 53% 51% 52% 46%

Not at All 16% 26% 17% 9% 12%

The survey also indicated that the faculty played a very minor role in finding jobs for majors, though somewhat better than Career Services.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Career Service 0% 0% 0% 7% 4%

Faculty/Staff 4% 9% 2% 5% 0%

The percentage of graduates on the survey who have gone into the public service (Government, Health and Welfare, and Non-profit) as compared to business has tended to increase, though the majority still find jobs in the private sector.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Public Service 15% 29% 34% 29% 35%

Business 75% 60% 56% 63% 61%

The only area of political science that is directly career-oriented is the Master of Public Administration. Undergraduate pre-law, pre-foreign service and pre-public administration concentrations are primarily aimed at giving a foundation in these areas and preparing students for advanced study. At the same time, the department does try to provide selected majors with career-related experience through the Political Workshop (POLS 390) on election campaigns and in the Public Affairs Internship (POLS 4/595). An internship is a requirement for the M.P.A.. degree but M.A. students and undergraduate majors with a 3.0 or higher grade point average can apply for them.

The work on campaigns has led some of our students into careers as campaign managers, probably the best know being David Wilhelm, who took POLS 390 and went on to manage the campaigns of a number of prominent politicians including President Bill Clinton in 1992. Governor Voinovich's campaign manager is also a former participant in this workshop. In fall 1996 seventeen students participated in this program, working for candidates for local, state, and U.S. Congressional offices.

The Public Affairs Internship places pre-law students in law offices and in the offices of prosecuting attorneys, public defenders, and judges. It places students interested in careers in the public service in government offices at the local, state and federal levels as well as in various non-profit organizations. As a result of this program, Ohio University has developed a network of alumni who are willing to help place and, in some cases, hire our students.

Evidence of the success of this program at the state level can be seen in the large turnout at annual Department of Political Science State Government Alumni Luncheon, hosted each spring by President Glidden. Our alumni include, among others, the Governor, the director of the Legislative Budget Office, the director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, the chiefs of staff of the majority leader in the Ohio Senate and of the speaker of the House, the chief of staff of the Democratic Caucus, and many others various state agencies. The luncheons provide the department faculty who attend with a chance to discuss with our alumni their experience with our interns and to inquire about the kind of qualities and skills they are looking for. An outside assessment of the success of our program in Columbus was made by William Hanger, the director of institutional relations (i.e. lobbyist) for Miami University. He has attended our luncheons in recent years and has stated that O.U. has developed the best and most loyal alumni network and intern sponsors in state government of any university in Ohio. This network is informally referred to as the O.U. Mafia. These alumni continue to be very satisfied with our interns and to find positions for them. For example, this year our students worked as interns both in the Ohio Office of Budget and Management and in the Legislative Budget Office.

The department has placed an increasing number of students in federal government positions, in offices of Senators and Representatives, on Congressional Staffs, and in recent years in the Office of the Vice President. One indication of the success of our program is the staff director for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has said that she prefers O.U. interns to those from Ivy League universities because they have been consistently not only bright and able but also hardworking and unpretentious. Vice President Gore's office has been sufficiently impressed by our students that they have taken on a series of our interns and then given them jobs on his staff. This happend to another intern this year so that now four out of the sixty members of the Vice President's staff are O.U. graduates. Another political science alumnus who has taken on a number of our interns in Washington is Richard May, the Chief of Staff of House Budget Committee.

As part of the effort to improve the opportunities for our interns in Washington, in spring 1997 for the second time a luncheon was held in Washington, DC, for political science alumni and interns in federal government service with support from President Glidden. It included our interns and former students working for Vice President Gore, Senator Glenn, Congressmen Ney and Strickland, other congressional staffs, and government agencies. This was a considerably smaller luncheon than the one in Columbus but similarly gave the faculty members attending it an opportunity to find new sources for internships and to receive feedback concerning the qualities and skills that the alumni in office are looking for in the interns.

One means by which we assess the Public Affairs Internship program is by having the students' sponsors fill out an evaluation form concerning the performance of our interns. These records are kept by the directors of the programs. With very few exceptions, these evaluations have been extremely positive, though until this year they have not been systematically analyzed. Of the total of 58 interns during the past year, files were complete on 41. In terms of Work Habits, the breakdown was:

Excellent Good Fair Poor

Promptness 78% 22% 0% 0%

Appearance 85% 13% 2% 0%

Willingness 83% 15% 2% 0%

Cooperation 88% 12% 0% 0%

Work w/o Supervision 68% 30% 2% 0%

Quality of Work 76% 24% 0% 0%

No intern received a letter grade below B and 90% were in the A range. The breakdown was:

A+ 14%

A 66%

A- 10%

B+ 0%

B 10%

The department has a Public Administration External Advisory Board composed of alumni and friends who serve in public offices at all levels of government. A major purpose of the board meets with the public administration faculty annually to discuss the program and ways in which it could be improved. It is a good means of receiving an outside assessement of our program but it has not been as active in the past few years as it was earlier. Efforts will have to be made to reenergize it.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a very competitive $30,000 national scholarship for students interested in careers in the public service. In the past 15 years five O.U. students have won it and as many have been finalists. All of the winners so far have been H.T.C. political science majors, though students in other departments and programs have been selected as O.U. candidates. Members of department and of the O.U. Truman Selection Committee work with students who are interested in this scholarship (from any department) to help with their application essays and to get them prepared for the competition. In 1996-97 one of our students succeeded in being chosen as a finalist but he was not selected for the scholarship.

The other directly career-oriented aspects of the political science program can be assessed by success in getting graduates into law schools and graduate programs in political science.

The Survey of Graduates by Institutional Research indicates that about half the respondents have continued on for graduate study.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Enrolled 43% 50% 44% 50% 48%

(full time) (54%) (64%) (62%) (62%) (79%)

(part time) (46%) (36%) (38%) (38%) (21%)

The Survey of Graduates indicates that the majority felt the university prepared them extremely or very well for additional graduate work, though there has been a decline in the extremely well category in the last two years that requires investigation.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Extremely Well 15% 26% 36% 25% 6%

Very Well 38% 43% 50% 58% 72%

Somewhat Well 46% 30% 14% 13% 22%

Not at all Well 0% 0% 0% 4% 0%

While the faculty members who write the letters of recommendation for their students have an idea of where they have been accepted, no exact statistics have been maintained on the number who have applied, whether they have been accepted and where they have been accepted. Members of the department made a greater effort this year to keep track of where their students are going to graduate school. Among the seniors graduating in June 1997, 14 are known to have been accepted into law schools (at Columbia, Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, Georgetown, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Toledo, Dayton, Cleveland State, Case Western Reserve, Cincinnati, and Akron). Three seniors are known to have been accepted into Ph.D. programs in political science (at the University of Washington, George Washington, and Georgetown) and one into a Ph.D. program in higher education administration (at Pittsburgh) and another (dual major) in clinical psychology (at Wright State). Seven seniors are known to have been admitted to Masters programs, four in political science (at O.U.), one in public administration (at O.U.), one in international relations (at Georgetown) and one in social work (at Cleveland State). In addition, at least three M.A. students are known to have been accepted into Ph.D. programs in political science (at the University of Washington, Texas A & M, and Northern Arizona).

In 1993 the department applied for and received an 1804 Grant to carry out a thorough review of the Political Science curriculum. This was basically completed in 1993-95 on undergraduate curriculum and in 1995-96 on the graduate curriculum. This review included an examination and comparison of the curricula of a variety of departments at other universities; study of the American Political Science Association's materials on developments in the various subfields of political science and of their sample syllabi; and bringing in outside reviewers to assess our program and suggest changes (from Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, University of South Carolina, University of New Mexico, University of Washington, and the City University of New York). Most of the department's present curriculum was found to be very much in line with those at comparable departments. Ours was stronger than most in the area of comparative politics but not as fully staffed in some areas of international relations, political theory and public law. Inclusion of courses in international political economy and in rational choice theory were recommended by some of the visiting assessors.

The proposed changes in the undergraduate curriculum were discussed and approved by the department in spring 1995. Because the changes will have an impact on the graduate curriculum and on the staffing of courses, the Curriculum Review Committee decided to spend 1995-96 working on the graduate program in order to present all of the changes as a package in fall 1996. The graduate portion of the changes was also a reaction to the UCC report on our last five year review which called for more graduate-only courses.

The changes in the curriculum worked out as part of the department's assessment of the curriculum in 1993-96 were submitted to the curriculum approval process in 1996-97 and the text of the 1997-98 undergraduate and graduate catalogs have been modified to reflect this. New courses and requirements at the undergraduate level should address some problems seen in our assessments, such as the relatively low scores on knowledge of the world situation. Several new graduate-only courses have been designed to improve the writing and research skills of our graduate students.

As a result of the assessments last year and again this year, the department's Undergraduate/ Advising Committee will become more active in inviting speakers to discuss career options with majors and will provide all faculty advisers with career-oriented materials especially for juniors and seniors.

Since the department will be introducing its curricular changes during 1997-98, no new changes are anticipated until these have been evaluated.

1. The questionnaire to graduating seniors will be modified to gain more specific answers about the strengths and weaknesses of the program and about post-graduation plans.

2. A questionnaire will be sent to alumni presently in law schools and graduate programs at other universities to find out what might be improved in their training at O.U. to help them in their academic work.

3. A letter will be sent to the internship supervisors asking about the kinds of knowledge, skills and abilities they value most highly in students who come to work for them.

4. Exit interviews with graduating seniors was part of the department's plan for this year but failed to be implemented. We will try to get this organized next year.

5. We plan to get more thorough information on the number of students who apply for graduate schools and their success in getting accepted.