Department of Political Science, Junior Fellows Program
Course Objective
The Department offers two opportunities for students to become more engaged with faculty — as Research Fellows and as Teaching Fellows.
Please click on these links for more information about the Political Science faculty who are accepting Junior Research Fellows or Junior Teaching Fellows applications.
Course Credit
Students accepted at JFs will be registered by the Department for 0, 1, 2, or 3 credits of 4911 undergraduate credit depending on the weekly hours required, as determined by the supervising professor. Supervisors are responsible for identifying the weekly research requirements of their project ahead of time and ensuring Junior Fellows do not go over their hourly requirements. If a project requires a front-loading or back-logging of research/teaching hours, approval must be acquired from the Program Director and coordinated with the Junior Fellow to ensure their schedule fits the projects requirements. It is the equal responsibility of the Junior Fellow and Supervisor to keep track of the research hours conducted. A maximum of six credits for Junior Fellows may be counted toward the political science major.
Program Application and Deadlines:
To be considered for selection as a JF, students must first fill out the online application. The deadline for Spring terms is November 10; the deadline for Fall terms is April 10.
Matching of Junior Fellows with Supervisors
Faculty are encouraged to identify and recruit prospective Junior Fellows from their own classroom experiences, or indicate their interest in working with a Junior Fellow by providing the Program Director with a open pool request form detailing the field and topic of research/teaching, the time commitment and desired expertise of the Junior Fellow, and a brief statement of how they feel their research/teaching project would benefit the professional development of the Junior Fellow.
The Program Director will assign Junior Fellows according to faculty nominations and the needs of the research/teaching projects, but not all projects or Junior Fellows are guaranteed to be matched unless nominated directly by a faculty member. Junior Fellow applicants from the open pool will be chosen and assigned based on merit and fit with the research projects available that semester. These assignments are based strictly on a competitive basis and the needs of the Department — not every student is guaranteed to be matched.
Supervision of Undergraduate Students
Faculty supervisors will meet regularly to discuss research objectives, assign tasks, and maintain progress. For Research Fellows, the initial meeting should serve as an introduction of the research question, the methodological approaches used and the rationale behind them, and the project expectations. Subsequent meetings should focus in developing the research and the Junior Fellow by mentoring the conduct of research and tracking the progress made. It is the expectation of the Junior Fellows program that supervisors will teach and mentor their Junior Fellows in the conduct of research and professional development to prepare them for future research opportunities and advanced degrees. Teaching Fellows are expected to be able to attend the course that they are assigned to assist with, and take on additional teaching duties, which may include grading of quizzes or assignments, but also assisting with Zoom lectures/classroom participation.
Seminar Series
All students enrolled as Research or Teach Junior Fellows, regardless of credit hours, must attend the initial introductory session and three additional JF evening sessions; one research presentation (Departmental RSPs, Graham Center, etc.) followed up with a summary of the presentation; and present their JF research/teaching at the end-of-the-semester JF Symposium. The four JF sessions feature a diverse group of scholars to discuss the origins of their research agenda, their own entrance into the discipline, and the reasons why they decided to pursue their particular career path, as well as the wide variety of methods used in political science research. Beyond this initial introduction, students must attend one research presentation of their choice and submit a short critical summary of the presentation. Attendance at the JF sessions, the summaries of the research presentation, the presentation at the Symposium, and the work for the Faculty supervisor are all calculated into the final grade.
Variable Credits
Students and their JF supervisor will determine the number of credit hours the student will earn during the semester (0 to 3), and how many hours the student will work weekly on the faculty member’s research project (which should reflect the number of credit hours being earned). Students should expect to work 3x as many credits they are earning each week (which includes time meeting with the faculty member). In addition to the first JF meeting, each student must attend additional JF monthly sessions for as many credits as they are earning credit (e.g., 3 meeting for those earning 3 credits), and all JF students (research and teaching) must attend a research presentation and submit a write-up of the presentation, as well as a present at the final JF symposium.