2013-14 UC Merced Graduate Studies Brochure

SOCIAL SCIENCES | scsgrad.ucmerced.edu

Social Sciences’ doctoral-degree emphasis is organized into four tracks: anthropology, economics, political science and public health.

• Anthropology explores contemporary and historical cultures and societies by studying the practices and processes that entwine individuals in social structures, social relations and power dynamics. Areas of focus include health and nutritional status, migration, demography, identity, culture and citizenship and globalization. • Economics offers training in applied microeconomic fields, including labor economics, public economics, law and economics, industrial organization and political economy. • Public Health utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to identify the health challenges and problems of populations and it determines ways to improve the health of the population.

Political Science* | polisci.ucmerced.edu

The graduate program in Political Science at UC Merced offers quantitative- ly focused graduate training culminating in the doctoral degree. Students are trained in two broad areas: Political Cognition and Behavior (CAB) and Political Institutions and Political Economy (PIPE). All students take a common, core-research-methods sequence in addition to substantive course- work. The program is research intensive, innovative and tailored to students’ individual interests within the field of political science. The graduate program is small, enabling one-on-one faculty mentoring, and the structure of the program encourages students to work toward publishable research early in their graduate careers. The lack of traditional subfield boundaries allows students to ask and answer cutting-edge and inter- disciplinary questions.

ABOVE: Archaeological study of stone tools starts with understanding the manufacturing process.

*Program pending the approval of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

bottomPHOTO: Showing off his collection of campaign buttons, Professor Nathan Monroe explains that political science students at UC Merced focus their studies on political institutions and behavior.