Each Political Science major is assigned a full-time faculty member as his or her advisor. To find the name of your advisor, click here. In general, students are assigned randomly to advisors as they elect to become Political Science majors. It is possible for a student and faculty member to jointly request that any individual student be assigned to a particular faculty member. The request needs to be a joint request to ensure that the distribution of students among the faculty members remains relatively even. Contact the department office (Bldg. 94, Rm. 303; 909/869-3887) if you have questions about who your faculty advisor is or if you are interested in changing advisors.
The advisor has two principal responsibilities. One is to assist students with course selection each quarter. The second is to provide career advice to students who may be wondering "what to do" with their political science degree. This might be advice about graduate or law school or about possible jobs.
For international (non-citizen) students who may have particular concerns relating to their course of study and questions about visa eligibility or immigration status, Dr. Mohammed Al-Saadi (Bldg. 94, Rm. 318; maalsaadi@csupomona.edu; 909/869-3884) is available to talk about these issues.
BroncoCompass, a learning center for students, faculty and staff, provides information and guidance as students move through the different stages of their college experience from admission through graduation.
The Political Science faculty require students to see their advisor whenever they want to register for Winter, Spring, or Summer classes. We do that by placing a hold on your registration that is only released after you have been in contact with your advisor and satisfied him or her that you have carefully thought about what courses you want to take in that term and how those courses fit into your overall academic plan. Ideally, you should meet with your advisor in person, but occasionally an advisor will be willing to release your hold after a phone conversation or an e-mail exchange. The decision is up to the advisor. Before meeting with your advisor, you should review your curriculum sheet (the "pink sheet") and indicate how all of coursework you have already completed fits into your overall program of study. (For an Excel version of the curriculum sheet for your curriculum year and option, click here.) You should also have reviewed the course offerings for the next semester and have identified five or six courses that you think you would like to take that would meet the requirements you have outstanding. In other words, you must be PREPARED for your meeting. Most advisors will meet with advisees on a first come, first serve basis during their office hours. If those hours conflict with your class or work schedule, contact the advisor by e-mail or telephone to set up an alternate time. Do this at least three (3) days before your first scheduled opportunity for registration. Trying to contact your advisor for the first time the night before you are allowed to register may mean that you don't get the hold lifted in a timely manner and you "lose out" on getting in to some popular classes.
The Department of Political Science at Cal Poly, Pomona, supports the "polytechnic" philosophy of "learning by doing" and encourages its majors to undertake an internship as part of their academic program. There are several internships available to students in the California Government every year on a competitive basis and several well-established internship programs in Washington, D.C. There are also many internships that "pop up" unexpectedly. The best approach is to meet with one or more of the internship advisors (listed below) in your sophomore year to let him or her know of your interest in doing an internship in your junior or senior year. They can let you know of the relevant timetables for the established internships and they can keep your name on file for those internships that we learn about at the last minute. For internships in:
The Department is also very proud to be the sponsor of a three-week study abroad program in the Caribbean. Students who may be interested in this program should contact Dr. Jose Vadi (Bldg. 94, Rm. 312; jmvadi@csupomona.edu; 909/869-3881) for more information. Students may find other practical opportunities to put what they are learning in their courses into practice by looking at the "Internships, Exchange Programs, and Other Involvement Opportunities" section of the Political Science Department Web page.
While a student may receive advice about both course schedules and their careers from the same person, many students choose to seek career advice from someone other than their assigned advisor. That is fine. The Department has some faculty members who "specialize" in particular types of advising in addition to their duties as general student advisors. For advice on:
In addition, students should early on in their academic careers become familiar with the services offered at the University Career Center.
© 2005 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Comments About This Site: jlkorey@csupomona.edu Last Modified:
October 3, 2006
