Graduate Student Alum Spotlight Texas A & M University Maria earned her Ph.D.from the Department of Political Science, University of Arizona in 2000, which is the same year she started as an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, Texas A & M University. In the fall 2006, she was promoted with tenure to the associate rank. Maria is part of a collaborative project to study the way national-level electoral laws create incentives for congressmen to represent constituents or party leaders. Other research interests relate to representation of women. Most recently, she has focused on the conditions under which presidents include more women in their cabinets as well as participation of women in subnational elections and the judiciary. Maria’s research has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Tinker Foundation and has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Latin American Research Review, and Pulius: the Journal of Federalism |
Our Graduate Program The University of Arizona, Department of Political Science Graduate Program takes pride in the fact that we produce top-notch scholars and first-rate teachers. As reflected in our placement, our students have been tremendously successful over the years. Our graduates have taken tenure track jobs at a number of the leading research universities and liberal arts colleges in America, including the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), the University of Iowa, the University of Georgia, the University of Mississippi, the University of New Mexico, Rice University and Texas A & M University, among others. Click here for our graduate student placement history. For more specific information on our graduate program click here. To apply to our program click hereOur program’s success is tied directly to our terrific faculty. We have 18 full time faculty with publications in many of the top journals and top academic presses— click here to read faculty bios. Oriented toward the Ph.D., we offer three areas of study: 1) American Politics, with concentrations in political institutions (including the U.S. Congress, U.S. Supreme Court, the presidency, state legislatures, and state courts), voting and electoral behavior, minority politics, public policy, political parties and interest groups; Comparative Politics, with emphasis on the cross-national study of political institutions, leaders, and electoral behavior; and International Relations, with emphasis on the scientific study of conflict, conflict management, and institutions/organizations. Graduate students will be exposed to a number of approaches to the study of political science. In addition, the department offers a variety of methodology courses, including advanced statistical techniques, formal and mathematical models. Our graduate seminars are relatively small, which allows faculty to give students individualized attention. Graduate students may participate in research beginning in their first year of study and often make presentations at academic conferences during their second year. The program is designed primarily to prepare students for academic careers, although some graduates pursue careers outside academia. |
Dr. Laura Langer
Associate Professor
Social Sciences 319
Phone 520-621-8983
Email: llanger@email.arizona.edu
Laura Langer received her Ph.D. from Florida State University in December 1998. Before joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1999, she taught at Washington State University for one year.
She teaches courses on judicial process and behavior, civil liberties, law and public policy, and American state institutions.
Professor Langer's research interests are in the areas of judicial politics and behavior, American state political institutions, public policy, and methodology. She has refereed journal articles appearing in Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Public Choice, Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Research, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Her book, Judicial Review in State Supreme Courts: A Comparative Study, is published with the State University of New York University Press. In her book, she examines the conditions under which justices on American state courts of last resort vote strategically or sincerely when they invoke the power of judicial review. She finds that justices alter their voting behavior depending on the ideological distance from the other branches of government, institutional rules, political settings, and the saliency of the policy. Most recently, she received a National Science Foundation Career Development Grant to evaluate the relationships among justices on state courts of last resort, legislators, governors, interest groups, and the public, using original data from court cases and personal elite interviews. To date, she has conducted over 400 personal interviews from ten different American states and she has data from mail surveys from political actors in each branch of state government from all 50 states. She also is working on projects that examine opinion assignments on American state courts of last resort, the impact of courts on policy adoption, as well as the impact of federalism on income inequality in the American states.
Click here to see Professor Langer's More Detailed Web Page.
I have been the Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department since August 1994. My primary responsibility is maintaining graduate student records and all aspects concerning the Graduate Program. I work with Professor Laura Langer, Graduate Program Director.
Graduate College Forms
Master's/Specialist Plan of Study
Master's/Specialist Completion of Degree RequirementsDepartment of Political Science Forms
MA Exam Rules
MA Departmental Report
Ph.D. Requirements
Graduate College Doctoral FormsDoctoral Plan of Study
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PHD Exam Rules
PHD Departmental Report
Language Requirement Form
Prospectus Forms
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Prospectus Departmental Report
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Advancement to Candidacy
Announcement of Final Oral Examination
MISCELLANEOUS FORMS
Refunding Application (PDF)
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Application Form for Graduate Students on Job Market (PDF)
Petition Form
Special Member Request
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TA-Rules-Responsibilities (PDF)
Continuous Enrollment
MAILING
ADDRESS: Please send comments or questions about this web
site to
Department of Political Science
315 Social Sciences Building
P.O. Box 210027
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0027
Phone: (520) 621-7601
Fax: (520) 621-5051
Vickie Healey @ vhealey@email.arizona.edu
Page last updated April 24, 2008
