Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Sustainable Environmental Policy & Global Politics; Shakespeare and Political Theory.

This Fox Leadership and academically based community service seminar will use course readings and students' own observations and interviews in their service learning projects in West Philadelphia schools to analyze the causes and impact of school health and educational inequalities and efforts to address them. Course readings will include works by Jonathan Kozol, studies of health inequalities and their causes, and studies of No Child Left Behind, the CDC's School Health Index, recess, school meal, and nutrition education programs. Course speakers will help us examine the history, theories, politics and leadership behind different strategies for addressing school-based inequalities and their outcomes. Service options will focus especially on the West Philadelphia Recess Initiative. Other service options will include work with Community School Student Partnerships and the Urban Nutrition Initiative.

Political polls are a central feature of elections and are ubiquitously employed to understand and explain voter intentions and public opinion. This course will examine political polling by focusing on four main areas of consideration. First, what is the role of political polls in a functioning democracy? This area will explore the theoretical justifications for polling as a representation of public opinion. Second, the course will explore the business and use of political polling, including media coverage of polls, use by politicians for political strategy and messaging, and the impact polls have on elections specifically and politics more broadly. The third area will focus on the nuts and bolts of election and political polls, specifically with regard to exploring traditional questions and scales used for political measurement; the construction and considerations of likely voter models; measurement of the horserace; and samples and modes used for election polls. The course will additionally cover a fourth area of special topics, which will include exit polling, prediction markets, polling aggregation, and other topics. It is not necessary for students to have any specialized mathematical or statistical background for this course.

This seminar is taught in Washington D.C. for students enrolled in the Washington Semester Program. It includes an orientation to observation and research in the Washington Community and a major independent research project on the politics of governance.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Leadership & Democracy; Conservative Regimes.

This course examines American constitutional development from the eve of WWI through the second Obama administration. Topics include the growth of the New Deal and a Great Society regulatory and redistributive state, struggles for equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women and GLBT Americans, contests over freedoms of religion and expression, criminal justice issues, the Reagan Revolution and the revival of federalism and property rights, and issues of national security powers after September 11, 2001. Lectures are on videos and class time is devoted to in-depth discussions.

This course examines American constitutional development from the eve of WWI through the second Obama administration. Topics include the growth of the New Deal and a Great Society regulatory and redistributive state, struggles for equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women and GLBT Americans, contests over freedoms of religion and expression, criminal justice issues, the Reagan Revolution and the revival of federalism and property rights, and issues of national security powers after September 11, 2001. Lectures are on videos and class time is devoted to in-depth discussions.