FSU political science department among nation’s best for doctorates

Dale Smith

Florida State University’s political science department has been graduating top-notch doctoral students for years, and now a study by researchers at Princeton and Harvard has confirmed it.

FSU’s department has been ranked 22nd among all U.S. universities and 8th among public universities based on the success of its Ph.D. graduates in the academic job market. The study was published in the July issue of PS, an official journal of the American Political Science Association.

"Our political science department is already among the Top 10 public universities in terms of research productivity, and this ranking makes clear that it also does a great job of preparing its students for the highly competitive academic marketplace," said College of Social Sciences Dean David Rasmussen.

The PS rankings looked at the overall percentage of new Ph.D.s who hold tenure-track positions in political science as well as the influence of the universities where they were employed.

"This ranking is evidence of the effectiveness of our doctoral program and commitment of our faculty to produce graduates who will be competitive for academic positions at the best universities in this country," said Professor Dale Smith, chair of the political science department.

Harvard’s political science department was ranked the No. 1 among all universities, public or private. The other public universities with top-ranked departments were the University of Michigan, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, University of California at San Diego, Michigan State University, Ohio State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.