I am writing to update you on changes in the IR field at UMASS Amherst, and to ask you to refer promising undergraduates to our program for graduate study .(http://polsci.umass.edu/) I am not asking for your "best" students., in the traditional sense. Rather I am asking for highly motivated students whose interests are closest to our niche and strength. We are seeking students with professional goals that range from traditional teaching at Research One Universities to college teachers, NGOs, public service, and the private sector. Our goal is to conduct research, teaching and mentoring for the twenty-first century IR scholar.
The IR field is made up of myself, MJ Peterson (international law and organization), Charli Carpenter (international security, norms, transnational networks), and Laura Reed (security affairs, US foreign policy) and are presently hiring in IPE and IR/Foreign Policy. We share an interest and commitment to research and teaching that combines IR theory and practice in the study of significant international issues, from methodologically diverse perspectives. Many of the faculty share complementary interests: Sonia Alvarez (social movements, Latin America); Jane Fountain (STS policy, institutions); Bruce Desmarais (networks); John Hird (environmental policy, public policy); Jillian Schwedler (local movements, Middle East). The department as a whole has been growing by leaps and bounds. The most recent NRC study, based on a snapshot of the Department in 2006, ranks us from 56-74 which is a significant improvement from the prior NRC study. Since 2007 we have grown and changed dramatically. We are driven by a common vision, encapsulated in our recent hiring initiative which has yielded 13 new faculty since 2007.The department has accounted for 15% of the overall tenure line hires in the University over the past 2 years. Graduate study of International Relations at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst engages with the politics of global governance through policy-relevant research on issues that transcend geographic, methodological and disciplinary boundaries. Our research and teaching emphasize multiple points of authority and influence by states, NGOs, international organizations, social movements, and experts; through a variety of structures such as bureaucracies, formal and informal markets, or networks; and through processes including compromise, coercion, social learning, and normative persuasion. Straddling the Department's shared themes of "Global Forces" and "Governance and Institutions," UMass IR engages frameworks from other fields in political science while retaining a focus on how the global system hangs together in the absence of a central government. Thematic strengths include the sources and effects of authority in global governance, constructivist analyses of cooperation and conflict, the origins and impacts of global ethical standards, international law and institutions, the transmission of scholarly ideas to global policy-makers, and the role of non-state actors and networks (of citizens, scientists, or criminals) in global governance. Substantive expertise among the faculty includes governance of the global commons and common pool resources, dynamics of sustainable development and globalization, and the politics of "human security" including human rights, humanitarian law and arms control. While emphasizing qualitative methods, the program is open to a variety of approaches and encourages the use of multiple methods in research projects. We encourage applied research and help students develop the skill-sets necessary for interacting effectively with scholars and with policy practitioners at local, national, and global levels. Peter M. Haas Professor Department of Political Science 216 Thompson Hall UMASS - Amherst
