At Lewis & Clark, our political science majors are grappling with some of the 21st century’s most enduring questions and concerns: what is the best use of government power? How do individual and group behaviors affect political institutions? What are the consequences of public policies? What can we learn from the history of politics, and how can we apply that to contemporary political practice?

Armed with the tools and methods of the social sciences, our students are thinking critically about political institutions and processes.

Political science covers a broad spectrum of ideas; this is reflected in our faculty, who connect theory to practice both in the classroom and in their own work. It’s also reflected in our students’ innovative research. Recent theses have ranged from “Oregon’s Elite and Their Public Schools” to “Political Participation of 18 to 24 Year Olds” to “Evolution of the Jury.” Program graduates have gone on to run U.S. Senate campaigns, manage the cleanup of Superfund sites, serve as ambassadors, and serve in the US House of Representatives.

We connect our students to local government agencies—including the Oregon state legislature—but we also know where the action is. Our annual program in Washington, D.C. puts students in the center of our nation’s political system, and involves close encounters with Supreme Court justices, key administrators, and members of Congress. Many of our students return to D.C. after graduation to work as policymakers, lobbyists, activists, and more.