Winter 2025 New Courses
POLS 270 Career Development in Political Science, Professor Ning Zhang
The Political Science department is introducing a new course that aims to help POLS majors and minors gain knowledge, confidence, and skills to take on the professional world. By enrolling in this course, you will get first-hand advice in order to help you better envision your ideal career path. You will learn to assess your strengths and weaknesses as young professionals, how to build and write your resume, be better prepared for job interviews, conduct meaningful professional communication, grow a healthy professional network, and more. Consider taking this course to expand your already growing number of Cal Poly resources and get ready for launching your career!
POLS 285 Model United Nations, by Professor Craig Arceneaux
Students who enroll in POLS 285-Model United Nations this Winter will have the option to apply the course to their POLS upper division electives requirement. See your advisor for a substitution. In POLS 285, students not only learn about the United Nations, but they also participate in active learning simulations of UN committee sessions. This course serves as a prerequisite for participation at conferences hosted by Berkeley (in winter) and the National Model UN conference in New York (in spring), which includes a visit to UN headquarters and meetings with UN diplomats. Students that attend the conferences receive 2 units of credit for each conference through POLS385, creating a possible total of 8 units of upper division electives, not to mention the memorable experience of conference activity. All courses are open to non-majors. For more information, please contact Professor Craig Arceneaux (carcenea@calpoly.edu).
POLS 337 U.S. and China in the Contemporary World, by Professor Ning Zhang
Why do the U.S. and China miscommunicate and misunderstand each other so much? The reason lies in the fact that these two political systems are grounded in two drastically different “lifeworlds.” A lifeworld consists of a vast web of presuppositions on what constitutes legitimate and justifiable institutions and practices in a given political system. Taking a “lifeworldly knowledge” approach, this course examines how thinkers, politicians and the public in the U.S. and in China perceive, conceptualize and reason about their respective political system, each guided by the values and ideals that are already accepted as rational and justifiable in their OWN lifeworld. Additionally, by examining the “making” of the Western knowledge of China in the Western cultural and historical context, we gain understanding of how the West/U.S. has come to view, understand, and interpret Chinese politics as it does today. From this intersection of political culture, hegemonic power, and knowledge-making, this course offers a critical understanding of the evolving relationship between China and the U.S. in the past two centuries as well as its future prospects. Such an understanding is critical for open-minded, forward-looking, and informed global citizens in the contemporary world.
Fulfill GE Upper Division D requirement.
POLS 431 Issues and Topics in American Politics, by Professor Annie Frew
This upper-division course explores the intersection of community development, the natural environment, pollution, race, and policy through the lens of environmental justice in the United States. Students will engage in empirical research and analyze real-world case studies to understand the complexities of how environmental policy impacts marginalized communities. Emphasizing practical skill-building, the course covers topics such as pollution regulation, racial equity in environmental protection, and the challenges of sustainable community development. Through hands-on projects and critical analysis, students will gain the tools to navigate and influence environmental justice policies at local, state, and national levels.
POLS 470 Criminalizing Immigrants, by Professor Jared Van Ramshorst
Despite overwhelming evidence that immigration is not connected to higher crime rates in the U.S., and that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than their native-born counterparts, immigrants and the act of immigration are continuously linked with criminality. How and when did this happen? Why do government officials, as well as the larger public, continue to associate immigrants with crime, disorder, and illegality? This course addresses these questions and more by examining the growing intersection between criminalization and immigration in the U.S. Engaging both historical and contemporary debates on immigration and crime, it investigates an ever-evolving assortment of laws, policies, and enforcement mechanisms aimed at governing, policing, and regulating immigrants over time.