Majoring in Government

Overview

As a government major, you connect with some of the most complex issues of our time. You delve into political theory, comparative politics, U.S. politics and international political issues. You study gender rights as well as environmental politics and policy. You examine civil liberties and how societies weigh them against national security needs. We offer a dynamic program with a large and engaged faculty and a high level of student interest. Award-winning professors challenge you to explore issues and articulate your thoughts through written and oral presentations. Our majors have successful careers in policy analysis, journalism, law, national security, international nongovernmental organizations and government relations. Many attend law school or graduate programs in law enforcement, public administration, political science, media relations and journalism.

International opportunities and study abroad

Most government majors study abroad. Some spend a semester with a small group of Connecticut College students and one or two professors who travel together. Government faculty have led these Study Away Teach Away programs to Vietnam, Italy and Spain. Some government courses also include a travel component of one to three weeks.

Special opportunities

You can focus your interest in government and international issues by pursuing a certificate from one of the College's interdisciplinary academic centers. The Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy stresses service learning and action research. If environmental issues are your passion, consider the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment. For an international emphasis, look to the Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts – it includes foreign language study and an overseas internship.

What can you do with a majorcertificate in Government?

Here are some of the positions our graduates have gone on to hold:

Associate Attorney, New York City Housing Authority
China Trade Analyst, U.S. Department of Commerce
Program Associate, Council on Foreign Relations
CEO, Cambodian Threads
Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs, Maine Department of Marine Resources
Executive Director, New York City Housing Authority
Analyst, ExxonMobil
Assistant Attorney General, Washington State
Director, Quinnipiac University Poll
Chief Data Officer, City of Chicago

Global Relationship Manager, Bloomberg LP
Municipal Trading Assistant, Oppenheimer & Co.
Bureau Chief, Associated Press in Nigeria
Senior Project Manager, WNET
Diplomat, U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
Account Strategist, Google Inc.
Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch
Director of Special Programs, Good Harbor Consulting
Associate Director, Action Without Borders/ Idealist.org
Assistant Professor of Political Science, American University

Faculty

Tristan Borer, Professor of Government and International Relations, Government and International Relations Department Chair
Human rights • Human rights and the media • Transitional justice • Gender and human rights • International relations

MaryAnne Borrelli, Professor of Government (On sabbatical 2014-2015 academic year)
United States politics and government • Gender and United States politics • The Presidency • Congress

Wendell John Coats, Professor of Government
History of Western political philosophy from Plato to the present

Jane Dawson, Virginia Eason Weinmann '51 Professor of Government and Environmental Studies, Director of the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment (On sabbatical Spring 2015)
International environmental justice • International environmental politics • Comparative environmental activism and politics

William Frasure, Professor of Government and International Relations
United States politics • Environmental policy and law • Law and public policy

Alex Hybel, Susan Eckert Lynch '62 Professor of Government and International Relations
U.S. foreign policy • International relations theory • Democracy in Latin America

Dorothy James, Professor of Government and International Relations
U. S. Politics (especially presidential politics, political parties, campaigns and elections, and the impact of the media and interest groups on politics) • Constitutional Law, civil liberties, judicial behavior • Balancing National Security with Individual Freedom • American Political Thought

Peter Mitchell, Visiting Instructor of Government and International Affairs
International public law (humanitarian, human rights, sea and airspace, environment) • Rule of law • International relations • The Judiciary • Law and society • Constitutional law

David Patton, Professor of Government and International Relations
Comparative politics • European politics • European Union • Federal Republic of Germany

William M. Rose, Professor of Government and International Relations
International politics, especially issues of war and peace • Terrorism and insurgencies: causes, consequences and policy implications • Ethnic conflict, the security dilemma, and prospects for civil war and peace • Post-Cold War and post-9/11 challenges for U.S. foreign policy

Caroleen Sayej, Assistant Professor of Government and International Relations
Persistent authoritarianism in the Middle East • Contemporary Islamic social movements • Modernization and identity politics • Middle Eastern studies • Comparative politics • International relations

John Qunjian Tian, Associate Professor of Government and International Relations
Chinese political economy • East Asian political economy • International political economy • Comparative political economy and politics

Find out more information about the Government Department.

About Connecticut College

Majoring Pursuing a certificate in Government at Connecticut College, you’ll find a high level of intellectual challenge, a supportive campus culture that gives you the freedom to design a unique educational experience that reflects your interests and goals, and a four-year career development program that will help you create an integrated liberal arts experience that bridges naturally to a successful career. We offer 60 majors, minors and programs in the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities, as well as the option of a self-designed major. Our beautiful arboretum campus is located in the historic New England seaport community of New London, Conn.

Student profile

Andrew Greaves

Government

Q: Why Connecticut College?
A: I was struck by the honor code and the accessibility of professors. When I visited as a prospective student, I sat in on Professor Larry Vogel's introductory philosophy course. Not only did he include me in the class discussion and speak to me afterwards, but he also recognized me and remembered my name when I was on campus the next fall.

Q: Why did you decide to study government?
A: I was drawn by the course offerings. Every semester I was presented with classes that fulfilled my major and allowed me to delve into nuanced topics that I had been exposed to in my introductory classes.

Q: Did you study abroad?
A: I studied in a peace and conflict program in Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. I liked the focused curriculum, the opportunity to learn Serbo-Croatian and the program's independent study capstone. I completed an internship in Sarajevo and did research on young Sarajevans who had been displaced during the war. Later I presented my paper at an international conference in the U.K.

Q: Did you complete an internship?
A: I interned at a refugee center in Vancouver. I developed an educational program on the repercussions of the Canadian government's new refugee policies.