Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: For several years now there have been a variety of rankings of political science graduate departments based on either peer assessments (For example, this method is used by the US National Research Council and the U.S. News and World Report to rank doctoral programs in the US) or on research productivity (Matsuoka et al 2007b; Hix 2004). In this paper we propose a different approach to evaluating political science graduate programs: an assessment based upon their “productivity” of award winning teachers of political science. Using an original data base derived from content analyses of reported teaching awards to political scientist published in PS and PS: Political Science and Politics from 1968 to 2003, and then tracking where the awardees earned their PhDs (or terminal degrees), we report a ranking of the “best” graduate programs producing award winning teachers. Finally, we offer some tentative explanations as to why these programs are effective at producing award winning teachers.