NOTE: Certain courses and programs require the use and/or handling of hazardous materials or equipment. Students are expected to follow all safety instructions and to take the required safety precautions including, but not limited to, the use of personal protection equipment (PPE) during the course or program to prevent incidences of injury to self or other students.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 3340 or instructor approval. The co-evolution of soil landscapes, important morphological soil properties, and influence of geologic and geomorphic settings on soil development. The role of water in the development of soil horizons. Factors and processes of soil genesis. Lecture/Lab.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 3340 or instructor approval. Soil properties used to determine the suitability of soils for various uses.Tasks and reports involved in soil survey. Methods of soil evaluation and interpretation. Use of electronic database for land use decisions. Lecture/Lab.
3 credit hoursHistory of soil conservation/soil problems in ancient civilizations. Conservation practices with respect to topsoil, soil productivity, and fertility. Land management practices for soil and water conservation. Current issues in soil and water conservation and environmental sustainability. Lecture/Lab.
3 credit hoursPrinciples and practices of designing, installing, and maintaining landscapes in malls, public buildings, and other indoor environments. Lecture/lab.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PLSO 1610 or 4 hours of biology. Theories of agroecology; focuses on sustainable agricultural practices and concepts. The impact of specific agricultural technologies and land use practices on the productivity of agricultural ecosystems, environmental quality, and human health. Examines the environmental science and agronomy of both conventional and alternative sustainable practices including benefits and limitations. Lecture/lab.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 1610 or BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121. The culture of trees, shrubs, and vines in the landscape. Planting, transplanting, fertilizing, irrigation, pruning, problem diagnosis, and damage repair included. Lecture/lab.
3 credit hoursPropagation and other cultural practices for the production and maintenance of plants and flowers in the home. Two-hour lecture and two-hour lab.
3 credit hoursApplication of the principles of design, the use of proportionate-sized woody landscape plants, and other practices to produce low-maintenance-cost landscapes. One-hour lecture and four-hour lab.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 1610 or BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121. Principles and practices of nursery management as a business. Nursery administration, financial management, and marketing. Cultural management of field- and container-grown nursery plants. Lecture/lab.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 1610 or BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121. Anatomical features and physiological principles involved in propagating plants from seed and by division, cutting, budding, and grafting. Use of growth regulators and environmental factors. Two-hour lecture and two-hour lab.
3 to 6 credit hoursPrerequisite: Approval of instructor. Practical experience in a specific area of agronomy, horticulture, or soils. Classroom material related to practical application. NOT OPEN TO STUDENTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED CREDIT FROM ANOTHER SCHOOL INTERNSHIP.
3 credit hoursFocuses on crop/plan physiology and crop/plant-environment interaction. Topics include plant canopy architecture, plant root morphology, physiology of growth and yield, photosynthesis and crop yield, source-sink relationships and crop yield, carbon dioxide and crop yield, physiology of drought in crop plants, and physiology of mineral nutrition.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PLSO 3340; MATH 1010, MATH 1530, or MATH 1710; junior or standing level. Study of concepts related to soil physical properties and processes important for crop productivity and environmental quality. Topics include soil water content and energy, water infiltration, transport of solutes, gas, and heat.
Prerequisites: BIOL 1110/BIOL 1111, BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121, BIOL 3250/BIOL 3251; PLSO 1610. Introduces the process and reasoning behind the human manipulation of plant and animal species for agricultural purposes. Focuses on plant biotechnology with an introduction to animal biotechnology. Topics include plant tissue culture, plant cell transformation, general molecular biology techniques, and molecular marker-assisted breeding techniques. Three hours lecture and two hours lab.
PLSO 4760 - Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal Plants in Our Lives
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PLSO 1610 or BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121. The history, traditional uses, biological basis, botany, cultivation, and applications of specialized plants used as culinary herbs, spices, and in medicine.
3 credit hoursConstitutional principles, functions, and administration of American federal government; Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court. A General Education Social/Behavioral Sciences course.
3 credit hoursMeets part of the General Education Social/Behavioral Sciences requirement. Comparative theories and institutions of government. Law, constitutions, power, political socialization, ideologies, and the media.
3 credit hoursStudy and analysis of significant political thinkers and political ideas. Covers the three historical periods of political thought: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Representative thinkers and ideas from each period used to illustrate important insights differentiated in a variety of historical circumstances. Among the major theorists covered are Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Burke, Mill, Marx, Voegelin, and Rawls.
PS 2000 - Political Science and International Relations as a Profession
1 credit hourTo be taken as early as possible by Political Science and International Relations majors. Provides practical information for majors on career planning and development, including potential careers in law, graduate school and research, government, policy analysis, political campaign management, lobbying, and non-profit management.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. Politics and administration at the state and local level. Legislative, judicial, and administrative structures and processes; major issues and problems.
1 credit hourFor students interested in developing trial advocacy skills; practical course offering preparation for mock trial competition. May be repeated for up to four hours credit. Pass/Fail.
3 credit hours(Same as SPAN 2105, SOC 2105, ART 2105, ANTH 2105, GEOG 2105.) A multidisciplinary, team-taught introduction to Latin America. Covers the cultures and societies of the region: pre-history, history, geography, politics, art, languages, and literatures. Required course for all Latin American Studies minors.
1 credit hourStudents conduct research of legal controversies, prepare briefs, and argue cases before a mock judicial panel. May be repeated for up to four hours credit. Pass/Fail.
1 credit hourPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of department chair. For students interested in developing skills as mediators and advocates in mediation settings. Practical application of theories, methods, and ethical components of mediation. Participation in intercollegiate mediation competition. May be repeated for up to four hours of credit. Pass/Fail.
PS 2130 - Model United Nations and Crisis Simulation
1 credit hourFor students interested in developing skills in negotiation and conflict resolution involving international issues. A practical application of negotiating skills, policy process, and understanding of international conflicts and problems through participation in intercollegiate MUN/crisis simulation competition. Course may be repeated for up to 4 hours of credit. Pass/Fail.
PS 2140 - Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature
1 credit hourStudents work through content and activities on legislative procedures designed to prepare them to participate in the annual Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL). May be repeated for up to 4 hours of credit. Pass/Fail.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. A general introduction to American law and the American legal system; focus on the case system.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of the instructor. Analysis of the legal treatment of women in the home, school, and workplace. Examines development of law, relationship of law to political movements, and current state of law and legal theory on women’s rights and gender equality.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. A comprehensive analysis of the presidency; includes origins of the presidency, political power, the nature of the institutionalized presidency, campaigns and elections, and a careful look at selected presidents.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005. An analysis of the United States Congress; its origins, political power, the nature of the institutionalized Congress, campaigns, and elections.
3 credit hoursAnalysis of political ideas as expressed in motion pictures. Topics include leadership, political biographies, campaigns and elections, ideology, and war.
3 credit hoursA study and analysis of the intersection of politics and literature. Uses imaginative fiction to analyze central aspects of political theory, (e.g., human nature, community, power, constitutionalism, justice, equality, liberty).
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. Examines the public policy-making process in the United States, the stages of policy development and the problems inherent in policymaking. At least one substantive policy area examined in depth; examples: health care, environmental, welfare, agricultural, poverty, or budgetary policies.
3 credit hoursAssesses the institutional impact–past and present–of the civil rights movement on American political institutions (the presidency, Congress, the courts, the executive cabinets, the administrative regulatory agencies, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights). Events and topics include the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1991 Civil Rights Act, voter dilution, felony disenfranchisement and sentencing disparities, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, disability rights, gender discrimination, and majority-minority congressional districts.
3 credit hoursThe evolution of parliamentary government in the United Kingdom and its current distinctive characteristics, processes, and functions in contrast to other parliamentary regimes.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. The state system and national power, balance of power, balance of terror, game theory, psychological aspects of international conflict, decision making, diplomacy and negotiation, war, disarmament, and collective security.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Seminar covering the theoretical literature, methodological debates, and current issues in the field of comparative politics. Offers preparation for upper-division courses in comparative politics.
3 credit hoursExamines the two major ideologies in contemporary American politics. Designed to illustrate how liberalism and conservatism provide the ideological context in which American politics conducted. Focuses on how public policy, law, political culture, and public discourse shaped by liberal and conservative ideas provide the theoretical foundation and the philosophical assumptions for political action.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005. The nature of democracy, politics, and political parties; party organization and role in government; campaigning; primaries, conventions, general elections; the Electoral College; voting behavior and pressure groups.
3 credit hoursExamines development challenges of the Global South, their origins, the role of globalization in perpetuating them, and the continuing efforts-both domestic and international-being made to resolve them.
3 credit hoursAn analysis of applied politics; how to plan and manage a modern political campaign. Readings, discussions, and hands-on projects; students will learn the strategies, tactics, and varied techniques of political campaigning.
3 credit hoursExamines role of interest groups in American politics and the policymaking process, including the role of lobbyists, money, and politics, and case studies of several specific interest groups.
3 credit hoursAddresses the relationship between courts, policy, and society through the lens of different actors and state institutions. Utilizes legal, policy, and sociolegal scholarship that touches on issues such as bureaucracy, criminal justice, education, environmental regulation, injury litigation, and more.
PS 3370 - American Constitutional Law I: Government Powers
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. Analysis of theories of judicial decision making as well as the establishment of judicial review itself, followed by case studies of major Supreme Court decisions in federalism. Issues covered include commerce, contracts, police, and war powers as well as restrictions placed on state governments after the ratification of the Civil War Amendments. Offered fall only.
PS 3380 - American Constitutional Law II: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. The Supreme Court as a policy-making body in the governmental system. Focuses on case studies of major Supreme Court decisions dealing with civil liberties. Issues covered include racial and gender discrimination, freedom of speech and religion, as well as rights of the criminally accused and the right to privacy. Offered spring only.
3 credit hoursPowers, functions, and politics of municipal governments from the standpoint of city management. Attention is given to problems related to the execution of municipal policy. Offered infrequently.
3 credit hoursThe unique history, content, and form of African American political participation; examines the nature of consequences of African American influence within, or exclusion from, the workings of various American political institutions; the nature and types of issues that influence contemporary discussions in American and African American politics related to the socioeconomic conditions of African Americans. Students who have taken PS 4390 - Special Topics in Political Science (Black Politics in America) may not take PS 3420 for credit.
3 credit hoursSurvey of a variety of primarily black thinkers who examine important topics related to race, equality, slavery, black nationalism, integration, affirmative action, and racial harmony. Thinkers include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, William Du Bois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and President Obama.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. Analysis of the legal and social nature of government budgets emphasizing the procedures and administrative methods of fiscal control. Budget documents at state and local levels. Offered infrequently.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of the department chair. Theory, methods, and ethical components of alternative dispute resolution (ADR); emphasis on various forms of mediation, but including other ADR formats such as arbitration, negotiation, and summary jury trial.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. General principles of modern international law taught by the case study method in a seminar format encouraging debate and discussion. Issues concerning the development of international law and human rights will be studied.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. The relation between politics and economics in international affairs and its implications for global peace, security, ecology, and social welfare.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. A specialized composition course for the student planning to attend law school or paralegal school or to become a legal secretary. Practice in legal research, documentation, and a variety of legal problems.
PS 3550 - Democratic Participation and Civic Advocacy
3 credit hoursFocus on theories of democratic participation, the role and impact of participation in a democracy, and practical approaches to building and working through organizations advocating for candidates or particular policies or working with the government in crafting and implementing public policies.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005. Comprehensive introduction to U.S. environmental policy. Explores federal environmental policy, focusing on the legislation of the 1960s and 1970s, critiques of command and control regulation, the effects of conservatism on environmental policymaking, and the turns to state-level governance, market-based solutions, and collaborative governance.
3 credit hoursFocuses on environmental harms unequally distributed across both U.S. and global populations–low income communities, communities of color, and women suffer disproportionately from environmental harms. Explores a range of conceptual approaches to environmental justice and case studies, including Hurricane Katrina.
3 to 6 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Supervised study in a foreign country; familiarizes students with foreign cultures and political systems. Three to six hour classes may be repeated once if country of destination varies. No more than 6 hours may count toward a political science major. Pass/Fail.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Development and prospects of the United Nations Organization and its major approaches to peace–pacific settlement, collective security, international law, arms control, trusteeship, preventive diplomacy, international conferences, functionalism. Offered infrequently.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1005 or PS 1010 and one upper-division course in pre-law. Advanced study in the areas of law, courts, and society. Subject matter varies by instructor and semester. Course may be repeated for credit when subject matter varies.
3 credit hours(Same as GS 4030.) Prerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Fosters critical thinking about human rights by developing skills in weighing powerful but opposing arguments in complex moral situations. Familiarizes students with the role of both national and international organizations in global politics.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: Senior standing, competitive selection, PS 2440, or by permission of instructor. Familiarizes pre-law students with general law office procedures and an active law environment.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Examines political violence, including assassination, terror, repression, and genocide, in comparative and international perspectives. Theoretical and case study approaches used to examine forms, goals of, tactics, and responses to political violence.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005 or permission of instructor. Structure, functions, and processes of Tennessee’s governmental and political institutions. Policy issues studied.
3 credit hours(Same as GS 4000). Human trafficking examined globally in regards to issues of recruiting, transporting/transferring, and harboring/receiving persons through force for the purpose of exploitation. Laws and preventative measures also examined. Students research trafficking issues in global contexts and engage in Experiential Learning activities by volunteering in service projects with registered and certified local non-profit organizations, whose missions are to combat human trafficking locally and globally.
3 credit hours(Same as AAS 3180 and AST 4180.) Prerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Comparative study of selected African political systems with different colonial traditions in the process of rapid change; trends, issues and common themes in African politics. The ideology and politics of development, political system forms and processes, development efforts, and the challenges of state and nation-building.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Comparative study of political institutions, political processes, political dynamics, and behavior in the Middle East and North Africa. Emphasizes historical, socio-cultural, and ideological forces that have shaped politics in the region, including Zionism, Islamism, Arab nationalism, colonialism, and the Palestinian Conflict.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: Permission of instructor. Independent readings in a particular area under the supervision of a faculty member. May be repeated for credit when subject matter varies.
PS 4210 - International Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding the causes of interstate war, intrastate war, and transnational terrorism as well as the social consequences of and policy responses to international conflict.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Experiencing contemporary international politics through the medium of simulation. Particular focus areas include the U.S., F.S.U., People’s Republic of China, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southern Africa.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005, PS 1010, or PHIL 1030. Western political theory from the ancient Greeks through the medieval Christians. Includes Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, stoicism, skepticism, Lucretius, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas More.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Foreign policies in the nuclear age from Kennan and Containment to the present with particular emphasis on contemporary problems and policies.
PS 4260 - The Political Status of Women in the World
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or WGST 2100 or permission of instructor. Comparative examination of the political, economic, and social status of women in the United States and abroad. Particular emphasis on women in developing countries, the relationship between economic and political power, and the impact of both conflict and globalization on the status of women.
, and a 2.50 minimum GPA. Students work for a political campaign, a non-profit or NGO, or an interest group as a volunteer under the joint administration of the organization and the department. Only six hours may count toward a political science major and three hours toward a political science minor. Arrangement for this course must be made in advance.
PS 4271 - Political Campaigns and Politics Internships
3 to 12 credit hoursStudents work for a political campaign, a political party, a lobbying firm, or an interest group engaged in politics, or otherwise engage in political activism. Only six hours may count toward a political science major or a political science minor. Arrangements for this course must be made in advance.
3 credit hours(Same as GS 4275.) Key topics and issues surrounding the political environment and competing pressures that international non-governmental organizations and domestic non-profits confront. Formal readings paired with discussions from practitioners in the field and hands-on professional exercises.
12 credit hoursA cooperative program with the Washington Center that provides for student service with a governmental office in Washington, D.C., on a full-time basis during the fall or spring semester. On-the-job training will be supplemented with lectures and other activities. Students selected on a competitive basis. Only six hours count toward a Political Science major or minor.
1 to 12 credit hoursPrerequisites: Junior standing and 2.50 minimum GPA. Student assigned to a public service agency as an employee under the joint administration of the agency and the department. May be repeated for up to 12 hours of credit, but only six hours of internship credit may count toward a Political Science major or minor. Arrangement for this course must be made in advance.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Comparative analysis of the governmental forms and practices of England, France, Germany, the European community, and others.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Comparative analysis of the governmental forms and practices of China, Japan, India, and other governments in the region.
3 credit hoursContent structured into two sections: domestic and global. The first section examines the origin, development, and future prospects of China’s economy and politics. The second section focuses on China’s global impact by analyzing the nature, extent, and implications of China’s power on the world stage. Students will assess China’s global impact along four major dimensions-economic, political, security, and cultural.
3 to 12 credit hoursA cooperative program with the State of Tennessee that provides for student service with the legislature on a full-time basis during the spring semester. Students selected on a competitive basis. Only six hours may count toward a Political Science major or minor.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or PS 1005 or permission of the instructor. An in-depth study of a special topic significant in contemporary political developments or political science literature. May be taken more than once, as topics change, with up to six credit hours applied to a Political Science major.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005. Covers climate policy at the international, national, state, and city scales; public opinion on climate change; relationship between partisanship and climate change; climate justice; geoengineering; and climate activism.
3 credit hoursCovers how laws and policies create and reinforce identity groups during the creation, implementation, and interpretation of laws and policies, including how government institutions have defined rights and responded to individuals on the basis of their identities.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005, PS 3250, or permission of instructor. Procedural aspects, substantive issues, judicial review of the type of law concerned with the powers and procedures of government agencies and the rights of citizens affected by them.
3 credit hoursIntroduces students to the fundamentals of environmental law. Covers the development of U.S. environmental law, critical environmental cases in U.S. case law, litigation over major federal environmental laws, the basics of international environmental law, and case studies of environmental law.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 3250 or permission of instructor. Human resources administration in government agencies. Patterns of position classification, compensation, recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, promotion, discipline, separation, collective bargaining.
PS 4690 - International Relations of the Middle East
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010, MES 2100, or permission of instructor. Examines framework within which to understand Middle East international relations. Includes Arab/Israeli conflict; oil and Middle East international relations; political Islam; the war on terror; and United States, European, Chinese, and Russian policies in the Middle East.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1005, PS 1010, PHIL 1030, or permission of instructor. Major thinkers and movements in American political thought from colonial times to the twentieth century with special emphasis on the thoughts of the framers of the American Constitution and their contemporaries.
3 credit hoursPrerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. The formation and evolution of the Russian state from the pre-Communist to the Soviet (Communist) and post-Soviet stages of its development. Special attention given to the historical origins and the role of authoritarianism in the Russian political culture and to the ideological foundations, formation, evolution, and the reasons for decline of the Communist system.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1005, PS 1010, and 12 additional hours of political science courses. A reading and discussion seminar designed to integrate knowledge of the subfields of political science through critical reflection on politics, law, ideology, and culture from both a domestic and global perspective.
PS 4801 - Senior Seminar in International Relations
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1010, PS 3001, PS 3210, and PS 3220 as well as 6 hours electives in the major. A reading and discussion seminar focused on the subfields of international relations and comparative politics, the practical application of theories, preparation for professional work or graduate study following graduation, and assessment of student learning outcomes for the program.
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1005, PS 1010, and one upper-division course in American Politics. Advanced study in the area of American politics. May be repeated for credit when subject matter varies.
PS 4830 - Advanced Studies in Public Policy and Management
3 credit hoursPrerequisites: PS 1005, PS 1010, and PS 3250. Advanced study in the area of public policy and management. May be repeated for credit when subject matter varies.