Political Science Resources

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Workshops & Activities

Our department offers an informative series of workshops where students and faculty present projects in progress, engage in practice conferences and job-talk presentations -- a great way to gain experience and to network with other students and faculty.

  • The Annual Dr. Han-Jyun Hou Conference

    Political Violence: Bargaining Through Coercion - September 2015

    Political violence is an overarching theme in social and political science research. It is well understood that states, groups, and individuals alike quite often seek to change or enforce political outcomes through violent behavior; but why these actors resort to violence is subject to great contention and debate. Further, the question of why these diverse actors choose violence is of significant importance to academics and policymakers alike, as more peaceful means to achieving political outcomes are clearly desirable.
     
    At the state-level, political violence involves issues of war and peace, mass repression, forced population resettlement, and counterinsurgency. At the group-level, it addresses the formation of violent non-state actors, protest and dissent, and targeted violence against civilians. Finally, at the individual-level, political violence entails the microfoundations of political behavior; an individual's choice to participate in more violent forms of political engagement. Why these units resort to violence is the central puzzle we aim to explore, as we encourage papers that address how violence shapes political processes, power, or institutions.

  • Comparative-American Workshop

    (formed Fall 2002)

    Meets bimonthly on Wednesdays during the semester. Students and faculty present projects in progress or engage in practice conference/job talk presentations.

    Faculty Advisor (For more information, contact)
    Gregory Robinson: grobinso@binghamton.edu

  • World Politics Workshop (formed Fall 2000)

    Meets weekly on Fridays during the semester. Students and faculty present project in progress or engage in practice conference/job talk presentations. Participants are from both the department of political science and the department of economics.
    Faculty Advisor (For more information, contact)
    Amanda Licht: alicht@binghamton.edu

    BU Women in Political Science (formed Fall 2004)

    B.U. Women in Political Science was founded in the Fall of 2004 to create an environment that allows women to better integrate into and succeed in the political science community. Our organization is designed to facilitate discussion of gender-specific issues, sharing professional and personal experiences to assist members in developing the skills necessary for an academic career and how to best accommodate both professional and family aspirations. We accomplish these goals by offering opportunities for faculty and students to interact professionally and socially both inside and outside the regular academic environment, by encouraging female faculty to act as role models for female students, and by stimulating student interaction to ensure a more efficient and supportive learning experience. A key goal of the organization is to create a positive learning and working environment in which women in political science can thrive and succeed.

    Meets two or three times during the semester. Provides an informal atmosphere where graduate students and faculty can interact to discuss the challenges that face women in the discipline and, more generally, provides a support network for female students.
    Faculty Advisors (For more information, contact)
    Olga Shvetsova: shvetso@binghamton.edu

Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society

As the national political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha’s purpose is to encourage and reward high achievement in the study of political science. Binghamton’s chapter, Zeta Theta was established in 1977, to bring outstanding students and faculty together, to promote the study of government and politics and to encourage and reward high achievement in political science. Click to learn more.

Political Science Graduate Student Organization

Meets as needed during the semester. As the departmental sub-organization of the university Graduate Student Organization, the PSGSO serves as the governing body of the graduate students. The PSGSO determines how funds allocated from the GSO should be spent and more generally addresses the issues/concerns of current graduate students. The PSGSO organizes two activities annually: the graduate student Fall Foliage Tour (a trip to vineyards on Cayuga Lake for wine tasting with dinner in Ithaca) and an end-of-the-year departmental function (a catered picnic at a Binghamton Mets Baseball home-game). The executive council is composed of second year graduate students.

For More Information