Philosophy and Mission

The mission of the Political Science and Law Department is to provide students with a solid education in both politics and law, within the context of a thorough liberal arts education.  The Department seeks to enhance student knowledge of government, politics, public affairs, the legal process, and the responsibilities of good citizenship.  Our course work stresses each of our disciplines, as well as the close relationship between politics and law.  In so doing, the Department strives to develop a host of intellectual abilities: to reason logically, to analyze complex ideas involving intricate interrelationships, to read with understanding and accuracy, and to write with clarity and precision.

Programs in the Department

At the undergraduate level, the Department of Political Science and Law offers two majors and three minors. The Department’s 33-creditPolitical Science major enables students to pursue areas of interest in American Government and Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory and Philosophy.  An 18-creditPolitical Science minor is alsooffered.  The Department’s Public Administration minor provides essential background for those seeking employment in state and local government. 

The Jurisprudence major is an interdisciplinary program focused on law within a liberal arts framework. As a program with selective admissions criteria, it provides students with an essential understanding of legal ideas and philosophy as they affect institutions and social processes. A Pre-Law Studies minor is also available for students who wish to enhance their preparation for law school by combining law-related study, drawn from several other academic disciplines.

The Political Science curriculum includes five required courses: Introduction to Politics, American Government and Politics, Development of Political Thought to Machiavelli and International Relations.  Students may also choose from among------electives to fulfill requirements for the major.  Our law curriculum includes a Pre-Law minor and the recently created Jurisprudence major.   

The merger of the Political Science and law Departments in fall 2006 has expanded and fortified our curriculum.  Each Department brought a “dowry” of faculty and students, along such courses as Constitutional Law, Law and Society, United States Legal Systems, United States Immigration Law, Ethnic Politics, among others.

College and Program Resources

Montclair State University is committed to excellence in technology. A majority of faculty use Blackboard. Both class instruction and individualized support are provided, usually with great alacrity.  University Hall, the newest building on campus, has excellent technological resources. Individual computers, mini-labs, college and university labs and Smartboard are available to students.

In the last five years the Department has moved to web-based support for students and faculty. We have our own server and web master, Professor Jack-Baldwin-LeClair, and several students often provide assistance. We have made significant progress in using the Web, in terms of providing a wealth of information, linkages, resources, advising assistance and help with coursework.  Student research assignments often include the use of reliable sites on the Internet for research purposes.

New classrooms in University Hall provide excellent technology to support mediated presentations.  The rooms have fixed projectors, DVD, VHS, lectern projection capability, full sound, and SmartBoards that allow capture of electronic class notes for uploading to a technology BlackBoard.