From the Chair

 

 

Welcome to the website of the Department of Political Science! It is a privilege to serve as the chair of the Department of Political Science here at Loyola.

Our department is a community of devoted, award-winning teachers who serve over 600 majors, as well as students in our Law and Politics Minor, MA in International Affairs, MA in Political Science, and PhD program. We offer numerous educational opportunities outside the classroom. Our internship program takes advantage of Chicago’s size and diversity to place students in a wide range of host offices in the city and beyond. Many of our students participate in the department’s award-winning Model United Nations, Moot Court, and Mock Trial programs.

I am proud of the role my colleagues play in helping students explore their passions and develop the skills they need to succeed in their lives beyond Loyola. Our students go on to pursue careers in a wide variety of fields including politics, law, government, international affairs, journalism, business, education, and social services. Some are recipients of prestigious scholarships, including the Fulbright award, and many go on to attend renowned professional schools and other institutions of higher learning, both in the U.S. and abroad.

We are also a department of world class scholars. We regularly publish articles in the most prestigious political science journals in the world, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics. Our faculty also publish books with top academic publishers like Cambridge and Oxford University Presses. We are internationally engaged in countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and have received prestigious grants to fund our research, including recent major grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the State Department. Some members of our department also have practical experience in the legal profession, the military, local politics, and the foreign service.

One of the things that has made our department so successful has been our embrace of the Ignatian concept of Cura Personalis: care for the whole person. We take this idea seriously in our department. Whether we are helping students navigate a challenging situation, figuring out how to respond to a critique of our scholarly work, or dealing with our own personal struggles, we approach each other with a spirit of support, cooperation and care. It makes us better teachers, better scholars, and better people.

I’m so grateful to be part of this dynamic and supportive intellectual community. I invite you to consider joining me and my award-winning colleagues here at Loyola, one of the country's leading Jesuit universities situated in one of the greatest cities in the world!

If you have any questions about our programs, please do not hesitate to contact our Undergraduate Program Director, Professor Eric Hansen (ehansen4@luc.edu); Graduate Program Director for Political Science, Professor Sarah Maxey (smaxey@luc.edu); Graduate Program Director for International Affairs, Professor Tofigh Maboudi (tmaboudi@luc.edu), or any of our other faculty, including me (ddoherty@luc.edu).

 

David Doherty

Professor & Chair

Department of Political Science

Loyola University Chicago