Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T22:56:42.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

College in the State Capital: Does it Increase the Civic Engagement of Political Science Undergraduate Majors?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2007

Jennifer M. Jensen  and
Lauren L. Hunt
Jennifer M. Jensen
Affiliation:
Binghamton University (SUNY)
Lauren L. Hunt
Affiliation:
Albany Law School
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A major public university is located in or very near over half of American state capitals, and political science departments at these universities advertise the special advantages that such a location brings to their students. For example, the political science department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertises its internship programs: “As Lincoln is the seat of state government, students have an opportunity to observe government in action. Political Science has a vibrant internship program where students may intern with the state legislature, the governor's office, and other agencies of state government. Internships are also available with local interest groups, non-profit agencies, corporations, and political parties” (University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2005). Such opportunities for students are meaningful, however, only if they have some significant effect on student learning or engagement. It is reasonable that colleges and universities would emphasize the advantages that their location in a state capital might offer; colleges use both their campus and their local community to appeal to students (Choy and Ottinger 1998). Yet there is scant research to confirm any of the effects that colleges advertise.An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2005 meeting of the American Political Science Association. The authors thank Lindsey Lupo, Charles Turner, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , July 2007 , pp. 563 - 569
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, John R. 2003. “A Lesson ‘In’ Government: Connecting Theory and Practice in the Study of Municipal Government.” PS: Political Science and Politics 36 (2): 233–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choy, Susan P., and Cecilia Ottinger. 1998. Choosing a Postsecondary Institution. NCES 98-080. Project Officer: C. Dennis Carroll. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, Thomas. 2000. “Commentary: Civic Engagement.” In Measuring Up 2000: The State-by-State Report Card for Higher Education. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Available at: http://measuringup.highereducation.org/2000/articles/ThomasEhrlich.cfm. Accessed August 13, 2005.Google Scholar
Eyler, Janet, and Beth Halteman. 1981. “The Impact of a Legislative Internship on Students' Political Skill and Sophistication.” Teaching Political Science 9 (1): 27–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frantzich, Stephen, and Sheila Mann. 1997. “ Experiencing Government: Political Science Internships.” In Experiencing Citizenship: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Political Science, eds. Richard M. Battistoni and William E. Hudson. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.Google Scholar
Gabris, Gerald T., and Kenneth Mitchell. 1989. “Exploring the Relationships between Intern Job Performance, Quality of Education Experience, and Career Placement.” Public Administration Quarterly 12 (4): 484–504.Google Scholar
Galston, William A. 2001. “Political Knowledge, Political Engagement, and Civic Education.” Annual Review of Political Science 4: 217–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galston, William A. 2004. “Civic Education and Political Participation.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37 (2): 263–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gimpel, James G., J. Celeste Lay, and Jason E. Schuknecht. 2003. Cultivating Democracy: Civic Environments and Political Socialization in America. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Gryski, Gerard S., Gerald W. Johnson, and Laurence J. O'Toole Jr. 1992. “ Undergraduate Internships: An Empirical Review.” In Internships: Perspectives on Experiential Learning: A Guide to Internship Management for Educators and Professionals, ed. Andrew Ciofalo. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert. 1979. “Political Participation and the Neighborhood Social Context.” American Journal of Political Science 23 (3): 579–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert, and John Sprague. 1995. Citizens, Politics and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an Election Campaign. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Macedo, Stephen, et al. 2005. Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do about It. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Pederson, William D., and Norman W. Provizer. 1995. “A Comparison of Washington Semesters at Public Colleges and Universities: Who Gets What, When and How.” PS: Political Science and Politics 28 (2): 232–5.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., and John Mark Hansen. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Scannell, James, and Kathleen Simpson. 1996. Shaping the College Experience Outside the Classroom. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 2002. “ Citizen Participation in America: What Do We Know? Why Do We Care?” In Political Science: The State of the Discipline, eds. Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Schwerin, Ed. 1997. “ Service-Learning and Empowerment.” In Experiencing Citizenship: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Political Science, eds. Richard M. Battistoni and William E. Hudson. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. Susan. 1988. “Effects of College Internships on Individual Participants.” Journal of Applied Psychology 73 (3): 393–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2005. “Political Science at Nebraska.” University of Nebraska Department of Political Science web site. Available at: www.unl.edu/polisci/undergrad/undergrad.html. Accessed May 26, 2006.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar