Our department is proud of its outstanding record of teaching, research and service. The Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas is home to outstanding scholars and teachers who combine both cutting edge research and award-winning teaching. Our faculty have won the top teaching awards at the University of North Texas more than any other department on campus, including the 'Fessor Graham Award, given annually to the very best teacher on campus by the Student Government Association, and the President's Council Teaching Award, given annually to the best teacher on campus as determined by a faculty selection committee. Political Science faculty have also won the top State of Texas teaching and research award, the Minnie Stevens Piper Award, twice.

The Political Science Department offers a B.A. in Political Science and a Minor in Peace Studies, as well as MA, MS, and PhD programs in American Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Political Theory and Methodology. According to a recent review of political science programs, our department ranks 3rd in “Graduate Training Programs” and 6th in “Affiliation Rankings.” The first of these rankings reflects the productivity of a department's graduate students based on the “average number of Ph.D's granted annually in the last 3 years.” The second ranking measures faculty productivity adjusting for the number of faculty in the department. As such it “identifies several departments that in recent years have had especially productive faculty . . . [and] may be characterized as departments whose achievements exceed their reputations.” The Department is home to International Studies Quarterly and is developing the Institute for Democracy, Development and Conflict Resolution with a grant from the US Department of Education. On these web sites you will find many wonderful opportunities for study in our department and learn more about the exciting research our faculty are involved in. Please contact any of us if you have any questions.

The alumni of the Department of Political Science are many and talented. Through our Alum of the Month feature, we recognize our most outstanding alumni. These individuals have all gone on to achieve wonderful things in their fields of endeavor, and have brought great credit to our Department and UNT. We are proud and pleased to recognize them as alums of Political Science.

Alton C. Todd has spent more than three decades pursuing diverse cases as a trial attorney after graduating from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1971. Chosen as one of the Top Ten Texas Super Lawyers, an honor based on both balloting by attorneys and input from Texas Monthly magazine,he is among less than two percent of Texas attorneys who are Board Certified in Personal Injury and Civil Trial Law. Mr. Todd is a member and Diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas, as well as the Western District of Arkansas. A member of the Million Dollar Advocates forum, in 2007, Mr. Todd was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Trial Attorneys whose membership is by invitation only to lawyers with a minimum of 15 years experience--less than one percent of the lawyers in Texas and the United States have been invited to join.