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Political Science News

Jessica Vargas, Priyanka Zylstra, and Jon Hale in front of capital.
Student Spotlight: Jessica Vargas
HRI David F. Prindable intern Hafsa Faruqi spoke with Jessica Vargas, a senior majoring in political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Vargas was part of the university delegation attending ...
Teachers Ranked as Excellent. Congratulations. Spring 2023. Image: David Kinley Hall
Spring 2023 Teachers Ranked as Excellent
Congratulations to all the faculty and teaching assistants on the Spring 2023 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent.  A special congratulations to the 15 instructors from the Department of Political Science who are on the list:  Spring 2023 Ekin Alpay PS 100 TA Kristin...
Head shot Emily Sallenback
2023 Senior Thesis Awardee
We would like to congratulate Emily Sallenback, who was awarded the 2023 Senior Thesis Award as part of the Political Science Honors Program. We asked Emily to share a bit about her research experiences and future plans!     What was the title of your Thesis...
Text: Teachers Ranked as Excellent, grey lettering. Background blue with orange ombre circle in center
Summer and Fall 2022 Teachers Ranked as Excellent
Congratulations to all the faculty and teaching assistants on the Summer and Fall 2022 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent.  A special congratulations to the 21 instructors from the Department of Political Science who are on the list:    Summer 2022  Hyo-...
Head shot Thomas Ballard. Tyeese Braslavsky on steps in front of David Kinley Hall
2022 Senior Thesis Awardees
We would like to congratulate Thomas Ballard and Tyeese Braslavsky, who were awarded the 2022 Senior Thesis Award as part of the Political Science Honors Program. We asked Thomas and Tyeese to share a bit about their research experiences and future plans!   Thomas Ballard...
David Kinley Hall
Spring 2022 Teachers Ranked as Excellent
Congratulations to all of the faculty and teaching assistants on the Spring 2022 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent.  A special congratulations to the 14 instructors from the Department of Political Science who are on the list:  ️Seongjoon Ahn* PS 101 TA ️Robert Carroll PS 231...
Wendy Cho
COVID-19 outcomes not consistently explained by race, social vulnerability
In a paper published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Professor Wendy Cho and colleagues studied the racial inequities in health care delivery and outcomes in the U.S. "The big takeaway is that the racial health disparities that we see in the COVID-19 data are really a...
Ukrainian Crisis Perspectives
The Ukrainian Crisis in Regional and Global Perspective
The Department of Political Science held a roundtable discussion on March 7th with our faculty to talk about the Ukrainian Crisis. Chair: Xinyuan Dai (Professor, Political Science) Roundtable Speakers: Nicholas Grossman (Teaching Assistant Professor, Political Science) Konstantinos Kourtikakis (...
John Beck

Alumni Spotlight: John Beck

JOHN BECK (BA ’71; MS ‘74) started at the University of Illinois in 1967 as a student in what is now known as the Division of General Studies. He transferred into the Department of Political Science during his freshman year. As an undergraduate he took classes on a variety of topics throughout the department, but really remembers his time in International Relations. It was this class along with his Constitutional Law class that made him want to become a political science major. For Beck, “these classes were both challenging and interesting and really trained you think comprehensively.” After...

2024 Nominations

Alumni Awards

University of Illinois Political Science alumni have made significant contributions in many fields – academia, the law, government, politics, business, media and others. The Department of Political Science recognizes exceptional alumni each year through its alumni awards program. The nomination process is simple and open to all. We encourage you to nominate a candidate you think is deserving. Awards will be presented at an Alumni Awards Banquet in April each year.

Nominate a recipient
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