Summary
The US onAir Network will be working with volunteers from Pennsylvania universities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations to oversee the curation and moderation of posts, aircasts (online discussions), and in person events for the Pennsylvania onAir Hub … related to federal, state, and local elections and government.
Our first outreach will be to Penn State University partly because of its proximity to the state capital. We have identified many of Penn State University’s civic engagement, academic, internship and research programs related to making democracy and civic responsibility a focus of higher learning on their campus … for students, faculty, staff, and local community. This post, over time, will have similar information on other collaborating organizations in the state.
Contact ben.murphy@onair.cc for more information on how to involve your organization.
OnAir Post: Pennsylvania Universities
About
The PSU University’s onAir chapter will initially focus on training interested undergrad and graduate students on how to curate Pennsylvania onAir content especially submitting Top News articles, events, videos, and information and moderating forums in each post they curate.
Student curators will also work with state senate and house committee chairs to produce aircasts on issues being discussed and bills being proposed in their committees.
During election season, students with other other organizations like the League of Women Voters, will coordinate and produce aircasted debates with candidates.
Penn State University
Source: This Is Penn State
There’s a reason Penn State consistently ranks among the top one percent of the world’s universities. Across twenty-four campuses and an online World Campus, our 100,000 students and 17,000 faculty and staff know the real measure of success goes beyond the classroom—it’s the positive impact made on communities across the world.
Our ideals stem from our origins as Pennsylvania’s sole land-grant institution, which allow us to continue to bring positive impact to humanity through our teaching, research, and engagement mission. And across the world is a community of Penn Staters—more than half a million strong—driven by that same spirit to serve our local and global communities.
From access to state-of-the-art resources to interdisciplinary pursuits in collaborative atmospheres, a Penn State degree is more than an education. The experiences and knowledge gained here will form the foundation for the lives our students build. Their contributions to the world begin with a Penn State degree.
Civic Engagement Programs
Source: Student Engagement Network
OVERVIEW
By enabling even more students to have transformative experiences, the Student Engagement Network is helping to make Penn State a more vibrant place to live, learn, and grow. The network, which launched in 2017, is a comprehensive initiative across twenty-four campuses that connects students with curricular and co-curricular opportunities such as research, student organization involvement, community leadership, study abroad, internships, arts and performances, and more. Out-of-classroom learning accelerates students’ development and enhances their preparation for life after graduation. A joint effort between Undergraduate Education, Student Affairs, and Outreach and Online Education, the Student Engagement Network has built strong programs that impact students, faculty, staff, and communities locally, nationally, and globally.
WHAT WE DO
- Educate the Penn State community about student engagement partnerships and opportunities
- Help students discover engagement opportunities that match their goals and interests
- Prepare and advise students for engagement experiences through the grant program
- Coordinate campus events that showcase student, faculty, staff, and community work
- Provide faculty and staff the opportunity to explore the scholarship of engagement as fellows and scholars
- Connect the Penn State community to experiences that enrich learning and impact
Student Government
Source: UPUA
As a student, you’re constantly faced with obstacles—affording your education, navigating social pressure, managing stress, staying safe. We know what it’s like, because we ARE you. We’re students representing students.
We are the University Park Undergraduate Association, your student government. But, you can just call us “UPUA.” We believe that you deserve to have someone fighting in your corner—for lower tuition, a safer and more inclusive campus, and to make the Penn State experience healthy and prosperous for every student.
Our mission is simple—to be the voice that represents and advocates for all Penn State University Park undergrads. We spend our free time thinking about how we can better serve you, and we’re just getting started.
Internships
Source: Careers and Internships
Where do I find an internship?
Locating an internship is the responsibility of the student. For help with this, check the website of the College of the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network, which offers a database of known positions, including those in government, law, and public policy.
We also recommend that you search for internships online and utilize those people around you to learn about potential openings in fields you want to explore.
Where do students complete internships?
- local, state, and national agencies (for example, the U.S. Department of State, Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, and district attorneys offices);
- international agencies (for example, the United Nations);
- law firms;
- lobbying organizations
- candidates for local, state, and national office;
- public policy think tanks; and
- local, state, and national party organizations.
Internships are not accepted for faculty research projects. You may, however, seek independent study credit if you work on such a project.
Academic Programs
Source: Department of Political Science
Undergraduate Programs
Political science is the study of power – how it is created, exercised, justified, and challenged. As a political science major, you will learn about the institutions, policies, and processes that govern our lives, and how they influence the dynamics within and between groups, such as nations, governments, political parties, social classes and political movements. You will learn how individual interests, behavior, and values are shaped by structures of power and how they can also guide and transform how power is used. Political science includes the study of different forms of democratic and authoritarian regimes, as well as war, repression, diplomacy, law, rights, gender and race politics, trade, political and economic development, and human well-being. It encompasses politics and governance at the local, state, national, and international level.
Political science employs a variety of research methods and draws insights from a wide range of fields, including economics, history, psychology, data science, sociology, anthropology, criminology, mathematics, ethics, neurobiology, and genetics. Consequently, political science appeals to students with many different interests and is a great combination with majors in the humanities and STEM fields. Our department offers several degree programs that give students the opportunity to develop knowledge of sophisticated research methods and strong critical thinking and oral and written communication skills.
Majors and Minors
Graduate Programs
The Department of Political Science at Penn State provides a select group of students pursuing doctoral degrees with opportunities to develop their expertise as researchers and as teachers. The department is an intellectual community of approximately 50 graduate students and 30 full-time faculty members.
Our excellent faculty-to-student ratio and our notable success in securing funding from sources such as the National Science Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation, means that students have the opportunity to work closely with faculty on major research projects in a variety of specialties.
In addition, Ph.D. students have been hired at leading colleges and universities, as well as by public and private sector employers.
All students take core first year seminars on research design, quantitative methods, and pro-seminars that introduce students to their intended specialization.
Students then concentrate in one of our four core fields.
Cross-cutting foci ensure that students work with faculty and fellow students in multiple core fields, creating a matrix of different research specialties.
Dual-degree Programs
We partner with other programs to offer four unique dual-degree PhD programs and an inter-disciplinary certificate program.
- Dual PhD in Asian Studies
- Dual MA/PhD in Women’s Studies
- Dual PhD in African Studies
- Dual PhD in Social Data Analytics
Research Initiatives
Source: Centers and Institutes
The Political Science department collaborates with many departments in the College of the Liberal Arts and other academic colleges at Penn State through interdisciplinary research centers and institutes. These organizations harness a broad set of ideas to tackle big questions that impact politics in the U.S. and around the world.
Within the College of the Liberal Arts
- The McCourtney Institute for Democracy
- Mood of the Nation Poll
- Correlates of War Project
- Quantitative Social Science Initiative
- Africana Research Center
- Justice Center for Research
- The Rock Ethics Institute
- The Center for Global Workers’ Rights
Inter-college Centers
