Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• CAS PO 771: Approaches to the Study of International Relations
  Graduate Core Seminar. Focuses on the ongoing conversations in the discipline of International Relations. The course addresses the various ways international relations scholars understand and study the world. It also addresses the types of questions international relations scholars ask and how they answer them.
• CAS PO 786: Conflict and State-Building in Africa
  Meets with GRS IR 786. Examines conflict in contemporary Africa at both the international and domestic levels. Addresses the dynamics of insurgency and inter-state war, as well as the ways in which these conflicts have affected African state-building.
• CAS PO 789: International Relations of Asia-Pacific
  Focuses on the Asia-Pacific region. Analysis of issues that have defined international relations; the impact of the Cold War, of regional economic growth and dynamism, and the emergence of contention over regional identity and its relations to global politics.
• CAS PO 791: Approaches to the Study of Political Theory
  Graduate Core Seminar. An overview of some of the more significant texts for the study of political theory today, with attention to both substantive and methodological issues. Selections may vary from year to year.
• CAS PO 841: Quantitative Research Methods
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Social Science Math Boot Camp or consent of instructor. - An introduction to probability, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and ordinary least squares regression analysis as used in the social sciences. Emphasizes both theory and applications.
• CAS PO 842: Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Political Science
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate student or consent of instructor. - Introduces the analytical tools and methods that underpin qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences. Covers conceptualization and measurement, process tracing, comparative historical analysis, archival research, ethics, ethnography and participant observation, interviews, content and discourse analysis, and mixed methods.
• CAS PO 843: Techniques in Political Analysis: Maximum Likelihood Estimation
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (GRSPO841) or equivalent, or consent of the instructor. - An applied course in quantitative empirical analysis using the method of maximum likelihood. Covers models for binary, ordered, unordered, count and duration dependent variables. Focus is on social science data and computation in R.
• CAS PO 844: Methods for Causal Inference
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: GRS PO 841 or consent of instructor. - Research methods for causal inference in political science. Randomized experiments (lab, survey, and field), natural experiments (including regression discontinuity and instrumental variable designs), difference-in-differences and fixed effects models, multiple regression and matching, comparative case studies, process tracing, and multi-method designs.
• CAS PO 845: Special Topics in Methodology
  Topics vary; may be repeated for credit if the topics are different. Topic for Spring 2022: Survey Methods: Survey research. Methods in political science. Sampling techniques, questionnaire design, survey modes (in-person, phone, and online), interviewing, survey ethics, survey experiments, international surveys, analyzing survey data.
• CAS PO 903: Research Workshop
  Graduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the Political Science PhD program. - This course is for Political Science PhD students of all years. It includes preparation for the second year paper, the dissertation prospectus, the dissertation, job talks, and grant and fellowship proposals.
• CAS PO 904: Research Workshop
  Graduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the Political Science PhD program. - This course is for Political Science PhD students of all years. It includes preparation for the second year paper, the dissertation prospectus, the dissertation, job talks, and grant and fellowship proposals.
• CAS PS 704: Contemporary Trends in Psychology
  A1 section offered in the fall semester is the MA Proseminar. A number of department faculty present their current research. Other PS 704 sections offered in the fall and all sections offered in the spring: Various contemporary trends in psychology presented. Content varies: consult department for topics and descriptions.
• CAS PS 711: Statistics in Psychology I
  General linear models including multiple regression and logistic regression; multilevel models; survival analysis; interaction effects.
• CAS PS 712: Statistics in Psychology 2
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPS711) or consent of instructor. - Statistical analysis with latent variables including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation models, latent growth models, psychometrics.
• CAS PS 716: Psychological Research Methods
  The methodological foundations of psychological research, including issues in general scientific practice, research design, measurement, methods of data collection, and practical and ethical problems arising in the conduct of psychological research.
• CAS PS 718: Advanced Quantitative Methods
  Graduate Pre-requisites: CASPS 711 and CASPS 712 or consent of instructor. - Advanced quantitative methods commonly used in the psychological sciences and related fields are covered. Topics include mixed effects models, the analysis of multivariate data with latent variables, power analysis, nested data structures, and developing analytic plans for grant proposals.
• CAS PS 720: Neurobiology of Animal Cognition
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - Explores the nature of cognition across the animal kingdom. Synthesizes concepts from cognitive science, machine learning and neuroethology to better understand human cognition through the lens of animal behavior. Selected topics include decision-making, collective behavior, reinforcement learning, and mental simulations.
• CAS PS 730: Major Perspectives in Psychology: History and Systems
  Provides exposure to the history of major perspectives in psychology, increases understanding of contemporary literature on fundamental issues in psychology, and promotes an integrated understanding of the link between psychological theories and applied psychological principles.
• CAS PS 734: Psychopharmacology for the Behavioral Scientist
  Basic principles of pharmacology, drugs used in treatment of mental illness, drugs having abuse potential. Current issues in psychopharmacology.
• CAS PS 750: Mind and Language
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPS525 OR CASPS545 OR CASPS546) or equivalent; or consent of instructor. - Seminar examines how language influences cognition. Surveys cognitive, developmental, psycholinguistic, and primate psychology literatures to explore whether cross-linguistic differences cause cross-cultural differences in cognition, and whether possession of a language faculty influences the nature of thought.