Each student has at least two formal advising relationships in the department each year: a departmental adviser and an adviser for independent work.

Departmental Advisers

The following faculty members are available to advise students on their progress through the undergraduate program in Politics:

Seniors Adviser: James Raymond Vreeland
Juniors Adviser: Nicholas Kuipers
American Ideas and Institutions Adviser: Frances Lee
Political Economy Adviser: Germán Gieczewski
Quantitative and Analytical Political Science Adviser: Gleason Judd
Race and Identity Adviser: Corrine McConnaughy
Cognate Approval Adviser: Nicholas Kuipers
Study Abroad Adviser: Andreas Wiedemann

Advisers for Independent Work

Every year, the department updates its independent work faculty advising directories for senior theses and Spring junior papers (JPs). These directories contain information about the advisers’ availability, specialties, and areas of interest which students are encouraged to review. All active faculty members serve as advisers for independent work, but their availability will vary.

A student writing a Fall Research Prospectus will automatically be advised by the assigned POL 300 Junior Practicum instructor.  For Spring JP advising, students may try to secure a faculty adviser on their own or opt to be matched by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  

The process differs where senior thesis advising is concerned.  Beginning with the Class of 2026, the Director of Undergraduate Studies will match all rising seniors with thesis advisers based on responses to a department survey.  Students are welcome to consult with faculty with whom they might like to work, and/or indicate their faculty adviser preferences directly in the survey.  The latter will be taken into consideration during the assignment process, but please be aware the department cannot guarantee that a student will be assigned to one of their top adviser choices due to various constraints.  Students will receive the survey in late April, and be informed of their thesis adviser assignments by June.