PhD Studies - Overview

Questions?

SPA: Graduate Admissions
(202)885-6230
spagrad@american.edu
Ward Circle Building, Room 310

Jacqueline Linde
Assistant Dean

Brenda Manley
Director of Graduate Admissions

Mailing Address

Overview

A student in our program can earn one of three Ph.D. degrees. The Ph.D. in Political Science is based primarily on fields in American Politics & Comparative Politics. The Ph.D. in Public Administration is anchored in Policy Analysis and Public Administration. The Ph.D. in Justice, Law & Society comprises its own field, and also fields in Policy Analysis and/or Public Administration. However, many of our students take advantage of all three of our degrees by selecting courses from three of the six Ph.D. fields offered with SPA. Others take fields outside of SPA, such as International Relations or Public Finance. Although the core of the Ph.D. program revolves around Ph.D. seminars, our students frequently participate in Masters courses on topics of interest to them. This option allows students to satisfy interests which are unique to the specialized topic of a dissertation.

During the first year we give our students two invaluable tools to succeed in the program and in a career in research and/or teaching. First, is a working knowledge of the ideas and issues in each field, gained by taking 2 or 3 pro-seminars; and second, development of the methodological skills needed to conduct effective research in your major field of study, gained by taking 2 or 3 methods courses.

In a recent survey, almost all of our Ph.D. students cited their training in both qualitative and quantitative methods as one of the greatest benefits American University has to offer. Our goal in developing these skills is to provide students with knowledge of research tools necessary for conducting original research. Students take a mixture of advanced research and methods seminars in the second and third years of the Ph.D. program. As a result, a number of our students publish in major journals, and our Ph.D. student routinely present papers at professional conferences.