The Department
The Department of Political Science (then Government) was in place when the University opened in 1925, graduated bachelor’s students with the first graduating class in 1929, and awarded its first MA degree a year later, in 1930. The PhD program was added to the Department’s degree offerings in 1947. Currently the department has approximately 300 undergraduate majors, 65 Master’s in Public Administration (MPA), students, and 45 MA or PhD students enrolled in its programs. Most of its PhD students are seeking an academic career. The department offers graduate study in American Politics (Institutions and Behavior), Public Administration, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. We also offer minor field specialization in research methodology and in various areas of public policy.
Despite its anomalous name, Texas Tech University has never been a technical school, but instead a full university, with the College of Arts and Science always enrolling more students than any other college. Texas Tech University is the only university in the State of Texas, public or private, that contains a Graduate School, School of Law, and School of Medicine residing on the same campus.