Political Science

Political Science: Major

Holy Cross students who major in political science gain in-depth understanding of the American political system, other political regimes, the international system, and political philosophy. In uniformly small classes, students also improve their critical and analytical skills and competence in oral and written expression.

Political science is one of Holy Cross’ most popular majors. The major is rigorously structured so as to ensure breadth as well as depth, with courses required in each of the discipline’s four subfields. Department faculty conceive the most fundamental purpose of the major as helping students to become thoughtful, well-informed, and ethical citizens of a constitutional, self-governing republic. Political science majors have gone on to successful careers in local, state, and federal government, academia,  law, journalism, business, high-school teaching, nonprofit organizations, the armed forces, and the priesthood. 

Program Highlights

Students majoring in political science take courses in four main areas:
 
  • American government
  • political philosophy
  • comparative politics
  • international relations
students and a professor in a class
Subfields

Learn more about the political science department’s four subfields.

students in a classroom with a powerpoint
Charles Carroll Program

The program brings guest lecturers to campus, funds a sophomore seminar and provides paid summer research internships.

Group of students in Washington DC
Washington Semester Program

Many political science majors spend a semester working, studying, and conducting research in Washington, D.C.

Political Science News

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Holy Cross Announces $3 Million Gift for J.D. Power Center for Liberal Arts in the World
College of the Holy Cross has received a $3 million gift from the family of alumnus and pioneer in consumer research and information, J.D. Power III ’53, in support of the College’s Center for Liberal Arts in the World. In …
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Ten Years of Montserrat: Holy Cross’ First-Year Program Invites Students to Challenge, Question from Day One
The sculptures of Shih Chieh Huang’s “Reusable Universe” — built from recycled Tupperware, plastic bags, fans and light bulbs — appeared to float just below the darkened ceiling of the Worcester Art Museum. They had been wired to detect motion, …
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Students Bring Basketball, Mentorship to Juvenile Detention Center
The “John Carroll Ballers” is an innovative social justice project started at John Carroll University, a Jesuit university in a suburb of Cleveland. Last spring, Riley Benner ’20, a political science major and philosophy minor from Rochester, N.Y., brought the …