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