| The Government Department has more undergraduate concentrators than any department at Harvard save Economics. There are lots of advantages in this: we have many more faculty members, graduate students, and visiting scholars than most departments. You can find someone here who is an expert on almost any political matter that interests you. Our large numbers also allow us, in conjunction with our related Centers, to sponsor many more talks and events every semester than any human being (even a Harvard undergrad!) could possibly attend.
But a large concentration also has a potential drawback: students may feel as if they have been lost in the shuffle. The mission of the Undergraduate Program Office is to make sure that this doesn't happen to you! We have a variety of people and resources in place to help you get the information and support you need—at every stage—to navigate your way successfully through the Government concentration.
Whether you're new to the concentration or an old hand, we are looking forward to seeing you in CGIS K151!
ADVISING IN THE HOUSES: Concentration Advisers (CAs ):
The Department of Government has a House-based advising system. Each House has a Government Concentration Adviser who is the official adviser for all Government concentrators who live there. Usually the CA is also a Resident Tutor, but if there is no Government resident tutor, another CA will be officially assigned to the House and he/she will hold office hours and information sessions in that House.
Whenever you have a question about requirements, course selection, the direction of your program—whatever it might be—please contact your CA. In addition to signing your study card and most other forms, your CA will serve as your primary resource in the Undergraduate Program. While anyone in the Undergraduate Program Office is available to help you, we strongly encourage you make an effort to meet with your assigned CA so that you will be able to call upon an adviser in the department who knows you. Each CA has regular weekly in-House office hours and can be reached by email.
ADVISING IN THE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM OFFICE (CGIS K151)
Staff and Faculty with offices in the Undergraduate Program Office on the first floor of the CGIS Knafel building are always happy to see Government concentrators and those interested in joining the Department. They can provide a wealth of information about the concentration and can always get you hooked up with the right person for whatever it is you need.
Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies - Karen Kaletka oversees the administrative functioning of the Undergraduate Program Office. She is happy to answer your questions about your progress in the concentration, provide details about the Honors/Thesis program, and answer general advising questions. She can be reached at her office at 1737 Cambridge St., K151B (6-8528) every day 9:30-5:30 or at kbkaletka@gov.harvard.edu.
Student Services Staff Assistant – Tricia Vio is the person whose friendly voice you will first hear when you call the office. She is here to answer any questions you might have about the Undergraduate Program or to put you in touch with the person or persons who can be most helpful to your specific questions or concerns. She is also the person to contact to make an appointment with the DUS or ADUS at tvio@gov.harvard.edu or 5-3249.
Director of Undergraduate Studies/Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies
Cheryl Welch is a Senior Lecturer in Government and the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) in the Government Department. She holds regularly scheduled office hours every week during the term and is available for advising during these hours. To make an appointment with the DUS during her office hours, call 5-3249 or e-mail tvio@gov.harvard.edu.
Francis Shenis a full-time concentration adviser and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (ADUS). He also has special responsibility for organizing Gov 99 (the required senior thesis-writing seminar). To make an appointment with him during his weekly office hours in CGIS, call 5-3249 or e-mail tvio@gov.harvard.edu.
Although your assigned CA is your “official” adviser, either the DUS or ADUS will be happy to talk to you about your particular path through the Government Department or other advising issues. In addition, you must have the explicit approval of the DUS or ADUS in the following cases:
- Before you enroll in courses outside the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (e.g. HKS, HLS), if you wish to get concentration credit for these courses.
- Before you enroll in courses in a study abroad program.
- If you wish to have a senior thesis adviser from outside the Department of Government
- If you wish to make the case that certain courses not specifically listed as counting for Government concentration credit should be so counted.
Faculty Concentration Committee (FCC)
The Faculty Concentration Committee (FCC) is composed of the DUS, ADUS, and other Gov faculty members. They meet at regular intervals to discuss policy issues related to the Undergraduate Program. The Committee also considers joint concentration petitions.
General Faculty advising
You should consider all the professors in the department as supplementary advising resources for you. What this means is that you are free to go to any professor at any time during his or her office hours to talk about your interests in political science, whether or not you have taken a course with that professor. Students frequently report feeling shy about doing this, but faculty members often complain that students never come to talk to them in office hours. Faculty office hours are posted on the Government Department website every term. Keep in mind that you should go to a Concentration Adviser (CA), the DUS, or the ADUS for specific advice on department requirements and regulations. Don't depend on faculty members for this! Government professors know many things, but the specific points of the undergraduate concentration requirements are not always among them. The supplementary advising that faculty members can offer may include, for instance, suggestions about academic sources for a research project you have under way, or advice about grad schools, or recommendations about good courses to take on topics that interest you. Sometimes faculty members are looking for undergraduate research assistants to work on their current projects, and so they may also be able to offer you research experience in an area that interests you.
Senior thesis advisers
If you decide to write a senior thesis, one of the first things you will need to do is find a thesis adviser: either a faculty member or an advanced graduate student with teaching experience in the Department. Here again, you should consider all faculty members in the Department (who are not on leave) to be potential thesis advisers, and you should make a point of going to office hours to talk with all those whose interests are close to your own. You may in the end decide on a graduate student instead; the most important thing here is to find someone whose interests and mentoring style are compatible with your own interests and needs as a student. Advising styles vary, but in general what you can expect from your thesis adviser is guidance through the early stages of identifying a worthy question and a sound methodological approach, and feedback on drafts of your thesis chapters. Consult “A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government” or talk to your CA, the DUS, or the ADUS for more advice on finding the right thesis adviser.
Here are a couple of other advising resources that you should keep in mind:
Thesis writers' seminar for seniors: meets regularly throughout the year to provide advising and support for seniors who are in the process of writing a thesis.
Thesis writers' workshops for juniors: meet throughout the spring terms to help juniors who are planning to write a thesis get ready for their projects.
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DIRECTOR OF
UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES |
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Cheryl Welch
OHs: Tuesday 2 - 5:30 pm
and by appointment
Please contact Tricia Vio for an appointment. |
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ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE
STUDIES
Francis Shen
OHs: Tuesday, 11 am- 2pm
Wednesday, 2:30-5:30pm
Thursday, 2-5pm
Please contact Tricia Vio for an appointment.
CONCENTRATION ADVISERS IN GOVERNMENT |
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ADAMS: Michael
Nitsch is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Government Department. His dissertation uses the history of political
thought to consider the role in democratic politics of judgments
about the moral character of politicians. Michael is originally
from just outside New York City, and
he attended Harvard
College, where he was a Government
concentrator and a photographer for the Crimson. Having
now been in the department for eight years as both an undergraduate
and a graduate student, he'd love to talk with you about
the department or about theory more generally. If he's not
around CGIS, you have a good chance of finding him in Adams
House, where he serves as a resident tutor.
Office Hours in Adams House: Fridays
11:30am-1:30pm
Adams Dining Hall
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CABOT: Brandon Van Dyck is a third-year
Ph.D. student in the Government Department. Formerly a theorist,
he realized recently that his main interests actually lay
in the field of comparative politics, with a Latin American
focus. He would be happy to talk to you about course selection,
paper-writing, handling large workloads, or just your own
ideas about what you study. Outside of academe, he enjoys
friends, music, dancing, running, and playing soccer.
Office Hours in Cabot House: Mondays
4-6pm
Cabot Dining Hall
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CURRIER: Brenna Powell is a 5th year in the Government and Social Policy
program. She
is from Seattle, but holds a special love for San Francisco as well. Her research interests
include how racial and ethnic inequality becomes a problem
and how it can be alleviated, and the resolution of war
and social conflict more generally. When these questions
get too large, she spends her time cooking, doing pottery,
running after her nieces and nephew, and running along the
Charles.
Office Hours in Currier House: Tuesdays 7-9pm
Currier Dining Hall
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DUNSTER: Carlos
Díaz is the Allston Burr Resident Dean of Dunster House
and an Instructor in the Department of Government. His
research focuses on the American presidency, public policy,
inter-branch relations, political leadership, and comparative
chief executive politics. Carlos has extensive teaching
and advising experience in the Department of Government, where
he has served as Concentration Adviser for the past few years.
He will be teaching a new course on presidential campaigns
and elections in the Fall, GOV 1359: The Road to the White
House, and a seminar on chief executive politics in the Spring:
GOV 98fg: Presidents, Governors, and Mayors: Chief Executive
Power in Comparative Perspective. He holds undergraduate
degrees summa cum laude in International Relations (BA) and
Civil Engineering (BSCE), as well as graduate degrees in Public
Policy (MPP) and Government (AM; Ph.D., expected). He
is also a fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard.
Office Hours in Dunster House: Fridays 2-5pm
Dunster House Office Room J39
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ELIOT: Suzanna Chapman is a fifth-year
graduate student in the Government Department. Her research
interests lie in the overlapping fields of International
Relations and Comparative Politics. She studies transnational
issues including migration, humanitarian and development
assistance, and international organization. She has a love
for the Big Apple, for traveling almost anywhere, and longs
for sunshine and tex-mex for the entire Boston winter.
Office Hours in Eliot House: Thursdays 5-7pm
Eliot Dining Hall
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KIRKLAND: Maya
Sen is a third-year student in the Ph.D. program
studying American politics. She attended Harvard College (Class of 2000) and Stanford
Law School
(Class of 2004). For the past two years, she held
various legal positions, including a wonderful clerkship
in Memphis, TN,
on the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, as well as a
fellowship attorney position with a non-profit based in
New York City.
Here in the Government Department, Maya focuses on American
politics, in particular race and politics and public law.
In her free time, she can be found at the law school gym
or watching another Arrested Development rerun. Maya
is happy to talk to students who are thinking about focusing
on American politics or thinking about eventually going
to law school.
Office Hours in Kirkland
House: Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm
Kirkland Dining Hall
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LEVERETT: Oliver Bevan is a second-year Ph.D
student in the Department of Government. Having completed
an undergraduate degree in the UK
in philosophy and politics, his substantive research interests
focus on questions pertaining to the period following the
collapse of the Soviet Union and is a Graduate Student Associate
of the Davis Center. He is especially interested
in factors influencing decision-making in times of extreme
uncertainty, and with improving the tools for making causal
inferences in comparative politics. In his spare time, he
plays soccer (badly), the guitar (worse), and speaks Russian.
He lives with his girlfriend and their hamster in Leverett.
Office Hours in Leverett House: Tuesdays 5-7pm
Leverett Dining Hall
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LOWELL:
Marc Alexander
(www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~malexand)
is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Government and
a doctoral fellow at the Kennedy
School. He is also a resident tutor
and a GLBTS adviser in Lowell House. His dissertation is
on the political economy of health, and his current research
includes statistical modeling, behavioral economics, and
the politics of cooperation and conflict. His teaching includes
GOV 20: Intro to Comparative Politics, GOV 97: Sophomore
Tutorial, and a new junior tutorial on the Middle
East. Prior to coming to Harvard, he studied at Oxford
and at Yale, where he spent his free time playing rugby
and running the Yale Daily News editorial page. After graduation,
he worked as a journalist and a consultant in the private
and the public sector, including major news agencies and
the biotech industry. He enjoys rowing, running and hiking
in New England and California.
Office Hours in Lowell
House: Mondays 5-7pm
Lowell House Dining Hall
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MATHER: Sarah Shehabuddin is
a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the department of Government
and a resident tutor in Mather House. Her research interests
include political Islam, secularist-Islamist relations,
women's rights and civil liberties. She majored in Economics
and Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College
and therefore relates well to students torn between concentrations.
She is from Bangladesh,
was born in the UK,
and has lived in Poland,
Kuwait and France. She has also spent time in Egypt
and Morocco for language study and research and
would be happy to speak to students interested in studying
in the Middle East and/or South Asia.
Office Hours in Mather House: Tuesdays 8-10pm
Mather Dining Hall
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PFORZHEIMER: Brodi Kemp is a G5 in the Department.
She is writing on global distributive justice, a problem
which falls squarely in the middle of her three broad areas
of interest: political philosophy and its connection to
moral philosophy and the law. Brodi received a J.D. in
2004 from Yale Law School and has continued to work
with law students as part of a program called Law Preview,
a weeklong course for first-year law students. Last fall
she taught her own course, Gov 98r Global Justice (junior
tutorial), and served as Head TF for Gov 1183 European Integration.
She served as the Departmental TF for the Government Department
for 2006-07 and 2007-08. Brodi will spend this academic
year as a Graduate Fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics (2008-09) and as president of Harvard's cycling
team (www.harvardcycling.com).
Office Hours in Pforzheimer House: Tuesdays 6:30-8pm
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QUINCY:Eric Lomazoff is a sixth-year
graduate student in Government, with a focus in American
Politics but a perennial soft spot for Political Theory.
He studies institutional development in the Early American Republic, with a focus on fiscal
and monetary institutions. Eric's dissertation tests existing
theories of institutional development against the history
of the Bank of the United
States, an institution not unlike the
modern Federal Reserve. This is his fourth year in Quincy
House.
Office Hours in Quincy House:
Wednesdays 7-9pm
New Quincy Room 401
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| WINTHROP: Nathan
Paxton is a fourth-year resident tutor
in Winthrop House, where he is also the
BGLTS tutor. His subfields are International
Relations, Political Theory, and Research
Methods (primarily qualitative). His research
interests include International Institutions
and Organizations, History of IR in Political
Thought, and International Politics of
HIV/AIDS. He also does a bit of work at
Quad Bikes up in Cabot House and is an
avid fan of the Simpsons, Lost,
and U2. Stop by the dining hall
to talk with him about government stuff
or about pop culture or whatever else
in on your mind.
Office Hours in Winthrop
House: Wednesdays 3-5pm Room I-12
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