Recent News

Mock Trial wins awards at UC Irvine Tournament
Jan 31, 2018
Congratulations to Cal Poly’s Mock Trial A and B Teams for their awesome performance at UCI this past weekend. Jesse Quiroz and Elizabeth Paxson brought home attorney awards and Lauren Turner and Garrett Rutherford earned witness awards!

Congratulations Fall 2017 Graduates!
Dec 12, 2017
(Photo credit, Victoria Tonikian 2017)
The faculty and staff of the Political Science Department congratulate the Fall 2017 Graduates! We are immensely proud of your work and accomplishments! Please keep in touch and let us know where your next step takes you.

A Partner in Learn by Doing
Nov 22, 2017
Alumnus Tim Humphreys gives back to create more Learn by Doing opportunities for Cal Poly political science students.

Mock Trial Accrues Awards With Alacrity
Nov 14, 2017
Cal Poly Mock Trial enjoyed another successful weekend competing at an invitational tournament. At UC Irvine’s Anteater Invitational, three Cal Poly teams earned invitations and competed against some of the best teams in California and Arizona.
Lauren Turner (ENGL) and Teagan Allen (ARCE) earned “Top Witness” awards, while Marco Tueros (POLS) took home a “Top Attorney” award. Cal Poly Coach, Justin Cooley, also took home the tournament’s coveted “Best Judge” award.
Next week, the Mustang Mockers will be in action again at UCSD’s Wlodarczyk Invitational Tournament.
Cal Poly Named California’s Best Public-Master’s University by Forbes
Aug 16, 2017
Cal Poly is the best public-master’s university in California, and its graduates are among the highest-earning in the nation, according to Forbes’ 2017 Top Colleges rankings. Cal Poly was listed seventh in the state on the America’s Top Colleges list among public universities, behind first-place UC Berkeley (29th overall) and University of California campuses at Los Angeles (48th), Santa Barbara (83rd), San Diego (93rd), Davis (102nd) and Irvine (106th) — all highly active research institutions that offer doctorate degrees as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Cal Poly ranked 38th among all public universities in the nation. Read more here.

Dr. Matthew Moore Appears on Research on Religion Podcast
Jun 19, 2017
Dr. Matthew Moore recently appeared on the weekly podcast series Research on Religion at www.researchonreligion.org where he talks about Buddhism and the Robopocalypse. This interview tackled some pretty interesting philosophical questions such as "can artificial intelligence meditate?" as well as a number of different policy approaches to “near-future technology.”

POLS Major is Cal Poly’s 2017 Panetta Representative
May 18, 2017
Political Science junior, Maryam Quasto, has been accepted into the 2017 Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program. She will join representatives from other CSU campuses for two weeks of training on the Monterey Bay campus in August, followed by 11 weeks in Washington, D.C. The representatives will work full time in the office of a congressional representative.

Model UN attended the 2017 National MUN Conference
May 2, 2017
This Spring Quarter, The Cal Poly Political Science Department's Model UN team attended the 2017 National Model United Nations Conference in New York City.

Confucianism and Chinese Political Culture
May 1, 2017
Ning Zhang’s book, “Confucianism in Contemporary Chinese Politics: An Actionable Account of Authoritarian Political Culture”, draws a packed house and generates engaged discussion.

Michael Latner Receives Voting Rights Fellowship
Apr 20, 2017
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the nation's leading science-based policy advocacy organization, awarded associate professor of political science Michael Latner its Voting Rights Kendall Fellowship.
Michael Latner
This two-year fellowship is hosted at the UCS's newest program — the Center for Science and Democracy in Washington, D.C.