However, students may choose any member of the department as their regular adviser. A faculty member other than the chair serves as principal graduate adviser. This course also counts toward the social science-area requirement within the College of Arts and Sciences curriculum. The department has an active internship program. Information on local, regional, national and international programs of interest to undergraduates in political science is posted on departmental bulletin boards and is available from faculty members.
Credit is given for successful completion of internship programs approved by the department.
The department occasionally invites distinguished political scientists from other universities to visit UMKC to provide lectures for its students and to meet with them for questions and discussions. Additionally, when it is appropriate, public officials, civil servants, foreign officials, and others active in public affairs speak to political science classes as part of the academic program. In either case, without exception, the student must propose a topic for study, have the approval of the adviser and have the written consent of the instructor with whom the tutorial is to be taken before registration for the course. UMKC Honors Program participants may take any course in the department for honors credit by making special arrangements, involving extra work, with the instructor. Honorary Society A chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honorary society, has been active at UMKC since 1975.