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The College of Arts & Sciences
The department of government offers students a variety of opportunities to engage with politics and political science, beginning in the classroom, with the chance to work one-on-one with faculty; by participating in internships, and by drawing on the department's ties with programs across the College of Arts and Sciences.
In classes, research and through the new Cornell Center on Democracy, faculty are collaborating to study democratic declines, as well as strategies for strengthening the republic we still have. Cornell’s role in strengthening democracy is broad – faculty research guides democracies throughout the world, alumni serve in top government and public service positions, public engagement efforts boost community and policy organizations and, perhaps most importantly, students on campus are gaining the knowledge and communication skills they’ll need to move democracy forward.
Francis Fukuyama ’74 has been named inaugural Freedom and Free Societies Professor at Cornell University. The influential political thinker and Cornell alumnus will teach a 2027 course and deliver a public lecture on democracy, institutions and emerging technologies.
Cornell University Winter Session 2027 registration is now open for online courses running Jan. 4–22. Students can earn credits, fulfill requirements, and explore subjects ranging from business and biology to history, psychology, and design.
Cornell’s Society for the Humanities marked its 60th anniversary Sept. 18-19 with events celebrating six decades of humanities research and collaboration. Based in the College of Arts & Sciences, the Society has hosted more than 800 fellows.
Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences will host a Black Critical Thought Symposium Oct. 2. The free event will feature interdisciplinary faculty and student presentations on Black studies, culminating in a keynote conversation with cultural theorist and poet Fred Moten.
A Cornell College of Arts & Sciences professor warns that the U.S. is entering talks with China at a disadvantage, compared with earlier this year. Rare earths, Taiwan arms talks and election pressures could strengthen China’s negotiating position.
Cornell College of Arts & Sciences professor Joseph Margulies advocates forgiveness over punishment in the new book, "Cast Out: A Call for a Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration." Drawing on decades of criminal defense work, he argues for a more humane criminal justice system rooted in compassion.
The Government Department at Cornell is committed to free speech and academic freedom, to creating and sustaining a community all of whose members can teach, study, work and thrive, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, without fear of intolerance, bigotry, harassment, or reprisal. Cornell University is justifiably proud of having committed itself to an affirmative responsibility to protect academic free speech, including extramural speech. It has declared this to be a year of "freedom of expression" at Cornell. We reaffirm.
Our doctoral students are trained in all the main fields of the discipline and have extensive research and teaching experience. Government graduates have gone on to outstanding careers in higher education, public service, and the private sector.